CM-13: Formal Change Management Methodology

# Change Management Policy

## 1. Purpose and Scope

This document establishes the formal change management methodology for all computerized information systems, applications, databases, infrastructure, and related technology within [Company Name].

### 1.1 Scope
- All production applications and databases
- Infrastructure components (servers, networks, storage)
- Configuration changes
- Security updates and patches
- Third-party integrations
- Development and testing environments

### 1.2 Objectives
- Minimize risk and disruption to business operations
- Ensure changes are properly planned, tested, and approved
- Maintain system stability and security
- Provide audit trail for all changes
- Enable rapid response to critical issues

## 2. Change Management Process

### 2.1 Change Request Submission
All changes must be submitted through the formal change request process:

1. **Change Request Form**: Complete the standardized change request form
2. **Impact Assessment**: Evaluate potential impact on systems and business
3. **Risk Assessment**: Identify and assess potential risks
4. **Resource Requirements**: Determine personnel, time, and infrastructure needs
5. **Rollback Plan**: Define how to revert changes if needed

### 2.2 Change Classification

#### Emergency Changes
- Critical security patches
- System outages requiring immediate resolution
- Regulatory compliance deadlines
- Security incidents

#### Standard Changes
- Routine maintenance
- Planned feature releases
- Configuration updates
- Performance optimizations

#### Major Changes
- New system implementations
- Major version upgrades
- Infrastructure migrations
- Significant architectural changes

### 2.3 Approval Workflow

#### Standard Changes
1. Technical Lead Review
2. Security Team Review (if applicable)
3. Change Advisory Board (CAB) Review
4. Management Approval

#### Major Changes
1. Technical Lead Review
2. Security Team Review
3. Architecture Review
4. Change Advisory Board (CAB) Review
5. Management Approval
6. Executive Approval (if required)

#### Emergency Changes
1. Immediate Technical Lead Approval
2. Post-implementation CAB review
3. Management notification

## 3. Implementation Standards

### 3.1 Development Workflow

#### Phase 1: Planning and Design
- **Product Team Scope Preparation**: Product team defines requirements and scope
- **Design Phase**: Providing design specifications for sprint planning
- **Sprint Planning**: Development team estimates and plans implementation

#### Phase 2: Development and Testing
- **Implementation**: Development team starts coding while QA team writes test cases
- **QA Testing**: QA team tests implementation in development environment
- **E2E Test Development**: QA creates end-to-end test cases for new functionality
- **Regression Testing**: QA runs E2E tests on previously completed functionality to ensure no regressions
- **Bug Fixes**: Development team addresses issues found during testing in development environment

#### Phase 3: Demo and Approval
- **Demo Environment Deployment**: Code is deployed to demo environment
- **Product Team Review**: Product team reviews and requests additional changes if needed
- **E2E Testing**: Full end-to-end test suite is executed in demo environment
- **Multi-Team Approval**: Production deployment requires approval from:
  - Team Lead
  - QA Team
  - Product Team
  - Successful E2E test execution in demo environment

#### Phase 4: Production Deployment
- **Production Update**: Only after all approvals and successful demo E2E testing
- **Post-Deployment Verification**: Monitoring and validation in production

### 3.2 Development Standards
- Code review requirements
- Documentation requirements
- Version control procedures
- Branch management and merge policies

### 3.3 Deployment Standards
- Environment promotion process (Dev → Demo → Production)
- Deployment verification steps
- Rollback procedures
- Monitoring and alerting

### 3.4 Configuration Management
- Configuration version control
- Environment-specific configurations
- Secret management
- Infrastructure as Code (IaC)

## 4. Testing Requirements

### 4.1 Security Testing
- **Pre-commit Security Scanning**: Automated security checks before code commits
- **Development Phase Security Testing**: 
  - Static Application Security Testing (SAST)
  - Dependency vulnerability scanning
  - Security code review
- **Pre-deployment Security Testing**:
  - Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST)
  - Vulnerability scanning
  - Penetration testing (for major changes)

### 4.2 Unit Testing
- Automated test execution
- Test result validation
- Code coverage requirements

### 4.3 Manual Testing
- **Exploratory Testing**: Manual testing to discover edge cases and unexpected behaviors
- **Usability Testing**: Manual validation of user experience and interface design
- **Ad-hoc Testing**: Unscripted testing based on tester experience and intuition
- **Cross-Browser Manual Testing**: Manual verification across different browsers and devices
- **Mobile Device Testing**: Manual testing on various mobile devices and screen sizes

### 4.4 End-to-End (E2E) Testing
- **Regression Testing**: E2E tests for existing functionality to prevent regressions
- **New Functionality Testing**: E2E tests for all new features

### 4.5 User Acceptance Testing
- Business requirement validation
- User interface testing
- Accessibility testing

## 5. Documentation Requirements

### 5.1 Technical Documentation
- Architecture diagrams
- OpenAPI documentation
- Configuration guides

### 5.2 Operational Documentation
// ...

### 5.3 User Documentation
- User manuals
- Training materials
- Release notes

## 6. Monitoring and Review

### 6.1 Post-Implementation Review
- Performance metrics
- Error rates
- User feedback
- Business impact assessment

### 6.2 Change Success Metrics
- Deployment success rate
- Rollback frequency
- Incident rate post-change
- User satisfaction scores

## 7. Compliance and Audit

### 7.1 Audit Trail
- All changes logged and tracked
- Approval records maintained
- Implementation evidence preserved
- Rollback records documented

### 7.2 Regulatory Compliance
- SOC 2 compliance requirements
- Industry-specific regulations
- Data protection requirements
- Security standards compliance