Best Practices in Change Management (Virtual Instruction)

The change management practice is one of the most important yet most misunderstood and misapplied practices in service management. Change management can either enable a business’s success or be the cause of its failure. Organizations have struggled to effectively manage change to IT infrastructure and services for as long computers have been around. Frequently, major IT initiatives run over budget, take longer than expected to implement, or don’t deliver the business’s functionality.

This leads to frustration in the customer and user communities, which, if left unaddressed, can destroy the reputation of the IT organization and potentially lead to the wholesale outsourcing of IT.

Many organizations mistakenly believe that if they gather a group of technical resources in a room to discuss a requested change just before its implemented, they will somehow protect the business and its consumers from any adverse consequences of that change. Nothing could be further from the truth. If you are only talking about a change with stakeholders just before you want to change things in the production environment, it’s too late. You have already lost.

To manage change effectively, there must be a change management practice established and utilized enterprise-wide. It needs to be implemented and embraced by everyone in the IT organization and become part of the culture.

We have created an in-depth training program to help organizations understand what this practice should look like and to give them ideas of  what to consider when attempting to modify the culture of your IT organization so that people in IT can accept the new ways of thinking and working when managing change.

To help you successfully create or improve your change management practice, we share best practices with you in our workshop.  We take you through all of the key elements of developing and managing a change management practice, including instruction and exercises on:

  • Purpose, Goals, and Objectives of Change Management
  • Policies associated with managing change
  • Change management process activities, inputs, outputs, and inter-process relationships
  • Key activities of change management
  • Elements that support the management of change such as change models, the change management process, the change authorities, the change advisory board, and structured change reviews
  • Review of the roles and responsibilities within the change management practice
  • How to successfully manage different change types balancing both stability and agility
  • How to monitor and report on the change management practices performance
  • How to use data and information collected about change management to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the practice over time 

In addition to the instruction and interaction in class, you will also receive:

  • An electronic copy of the course manual
  • Template for a change management policy
  • Template for change management role descriptions
  • Templates for change agendas
  • Access to the recorded training session for 90 days after the completion of the course 

The course is delivered 100% online through our video conference tools. Master instructor Michael Link leads the course in a ‘live’ virtual classroom environment over two days. We have several hands-on in-class exercises that focus on the practical application of change management practice.

 

$1,499 per Student

What is Change Management?

 

Change management is both a practice and a process used by IT organizations to identify and manage risks associated with the addition, modification, or removal of anything that could impact an IT service. The benefit of this practice is that it helps maximize the value of change and, at the same time, maintain stable infrastructure while making changes quickly.

The business considers an IT organization a strategic partner ‘if it has the ability to quickly implement changes to IT services without negatively impacting customers and users’ because when an IT organization that has ability to quickly develop and implement new or changed services for its customers ultimately gives the business a substantial competitive advantage.

 Although it’s elementary to understand the need for modern IT service providers follow a detailed process when requesting and reviewing change, many IT organizations find themselves unable to keep up with the volume of changes requested. This leads to the practice spending more time on ‘process related work’ and less time on essential changes.

Some organizations change management practices devolves into nothing more than box-checking which, creates no real benefit for the customers and users of a service. In these organiations, the success of individual changes are then left to chance.

Our course removes all of the mystery around this practice and goes much deeper into ‘a day in a change manager’s life’. In addition to what a change manager would do, we look HOW to do it.

This course is based loosely on many of the principles and practices found in the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL). 

The ITIL framework has also provided thousands of IT organizations a common language to support meaningful communication across departments, organizations, and geographies, often resulting in increased effectiveness and efficiency. 

 A benefit of having everyone in the IT organization speaking the same language and following a standard approach when managing change is that it enables better communication between various silos or departments in the IT organization. Having a common frame of reference helps provide an increased focus on what is important to the business. This focus helps drive increased value for money from IT.

During the course we identify how change management and other processes/practices in the ITIL framework can be used in unison to help the IT organization better identify and manage risks with making change, use best practices to address identified risk, and reduce the number of change related incidents over time.

ITIL® is a registered trademark of AXELOS Limited, used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved. 

Check out the video below for a brief overview of ITIL.

Course Curriculum

Your Best Practices in Change Management Course Includes:

'Live' instruction from Master Instructor Michael Link

The course is delivered using our virtual classroom tools and includes a number of ways to interact and engage with our instructors throughout the course.

Michael has helped thousands of individuals accomplish their certification goals and has created more ITIL Experts than any other instructor on the planet.

Hands on practical exercises

The first portion of the course reviews basic concepts associated with services and service management.

We then dive deeper into the change management practice and review it from start to finish .This enables a precise understanding of exactly what this practice does and its boundaries in the IT organization. 

Ultimately, we put that knowledge to use with our hands on exercises where we apply many of the concepts in class through guided exercises and activities.

The skills gained along with the templates provided in the class can be taken immediately from the classroom and be applied in the learner’s organization the very next day.

Video Instruction

In addition to the instructor lead training, we provide access to the recorded session through your account on the best practice training website. The class room instruction is edited and uploaded for your review.

Electronic Copy of the Course Manual

A digital copy of the course manual is included with the course and is available immediately upon sign up. You don’t have to wait for the start of class or chase down a fed-ex delivery to get your course manual.

You can begin your training right away!

'Office Hours' with the Instructor

We understand that even after attending an amazing course, people still may have questions. We differentiate ourselves from other video based instruction by giving you access to the person you have gotten to know in the videos. 

Each week, the instructor sends out a message with a time and instructions on how to attend their ‘Office Hours’ session. During this time you can join the call, asks questions and get them answered. You are getting your questions answered by the our expert.

Course Completion Letter

When you finish the course, and pass the final quizzes with a satisfactory score, you will be provided a course completion letter which you can use to validate and verify your participation in the course. This completion letter can be useful in satisfying CEU or PDU requirements for other certifications you may possess and for meeting HR skills inventory requirements.

Frequently asked Questions

When does the course start and finish?

The live instruction is based on the class schedule. This will vary from one week to the next. When you register, you will sign up for a particular class date.

The in class delivery part of this course is 2 day in length.

The video based part of the instruction will be available immediately to help give you a head start on the learning. You are free to view the recorded videos at your own pace before, during and after the course is finished. 

Outside the ‘live’ class, you will have 90 days to access the course. The videos, courseware, and quizzes are available 24×7 during your access for your convenience.

How long do I have access to the course?

In the near future there will be two access options.

1. You may purchase 90 day access to this course only. The course will be available 24×7 during that time frame.

2. A monthly subscription based model.

Currently the only the first option is available.

Can I have face to face interaction with Instructor?

In Class

Yes, during the live classroom instruction, you will connect to the training via Zoom. You can interact with the instructor the way that you would for any other video conference. 

After Class

One of the things that we do that is different from other video based courses is we give you access to the actual instructor through what we call ‘Office Hours’. Once a week the course instructor will open up a video call which you can attend. During that time you are free to ask any questions about the course and get them answered real time. 

If the questions that are asked by learners are consistent, the instructor may record the answer to the question and place it in a course FAQ page. 

 The office hours will be communicated to course attendees through inner website email. 

Anytime

In addition, if during the course you have a question that is simple and straight forward, you are free to contact the instructor via our direct messaging system from the member’s area.

Does this course offer a completion certificate to verify my training hours?

The course offers a course completion letter to show that you have attended the training. 

Does the price include the cost of the actual certification exam?

No, there is not a certification examination associated with this course. This is a course that is focused on the application of the knowledge and not on exam prep. 

Who should attend?

The course is open to anyone and is attended by individuals at the start of their journey in service management. It is very appropriate for  ITSM Managers and aspiring ITSM Managers, individuals working in other parts of IT with strong influence in service delivery, and existing ITIL qualification holders wishing to update their knowledge.

Typically job descriptions or titles of learners who attend include but are not limited to:

  • Service desk agents
  • Service desk managers
  • Project managers
  • Program managers
  • Application developers
  • Application managers
  • Network engineers
  • Network technicians
  • Service level managers
  • Business analysts
  • Database administrators
  • Tool administrators
  • Desktop support
  • Field service technicians
  • Chief Information Officers
  • Chief Technology Officers
  • ITSM tool administrators
  • IT Consultants
  • Bench technicians
  • Customer service representatives
  • Hardware technicians
  • Sales representatives
  • Business relationship managers
  • IT Asset managers
  • Change analysts
  • Change managers
  • Change administrators
  • Service Management Office (SMO) members
  • IT Portfolio managers
  • Functional team leads
  • and many more…
Are there any prerequisites to attend?

No, this course is open to anyone of any experience level within IT. There are no minimum experience or educational requirements. Everyone in IT or anyone who is interested in getting into IT is encouraged to participate.

Although it is not a requirement or a prerequisite, it is recommended that participants have the ITIL foundation certificate.

Does your organization offer this course in a 'live' format?

Yes, we have a number of options which are available if your organization has the need for some classroom training.

Option 1 – Public Course

Occasionally, we will offer public courses where learners can sign up an attend if they happen to be in the area or would like to travel to join our class. This class is a 3 day instructor led course and a paper based exam is administered at the end of the course. 

Just think, you are only 3 days away from being ITIL 4 Foundation certified!

Option 2 – Virtual Course

We offer instructor led courses covering the same material but in a dynamic format which can focus more more on individual learners needs. This is typically done over a 3 day period with a virtual exam voucher provided at the end of class.

Option 3 – Onsite Course

If your organization has several people that need to become ITIL 4 Foundation certified, we can provide an instructor to come to your facility and provide instruction over a three day period. At the end of the class, an paper based exam will be administered. 

In each of the options listed above, learners will be given access to the site and will be able to view the training videos, the courseware, and the test engines prior to the start of class to give them a bit of a running start.  

If you think your organization could use or would benefit from one of the delivery options listed above, please contact us @ sales@bestpractice.training for a quote.

Does your organization offer discounted rates for organizations with multiple learners that want to get certified?

Yes, depending on how many learners you have, we may be able to offer some attractive pricing. Please contact sales@bestpractice.training for details.

Does your organization offer a military discount?

Yes, Best Practice Training is a disabled veteran owned business. We understand the need for veterans to get the training and skills to succeed in today’s job market. We want to be a part of their success. 

As a company, we appreciate and value the sacrifice our brothers and sisters have made for our country and offer a discount on any of our video based training course for active duty or reservists from branch of the Armed Forces of the Unites States as well as veterans who have honorably service.

To be receive your discount code, please contact sales@bestpractice.training to validate your military/ veteran status. 

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