Changes > About DS Change Management
Decision Support follows a multi-step process to determine the feasibility and appropriateness of changes to the production Data Warehouse environment. The Decision Support Change Management Process enables us to:
- Identify potential Data Warehouse modifications and enhancements
- Determine scope and priority for such changes to features and functionality
- Track production changes in the Data Warehouse
- Communicate availability of new features, functionality, or fixes to the user community
What Does Change Management Include?
The Change Management Process includes minor changes to the Data Warehouse tables & views, processing logic, and BusinessObjects universes. The Change Management process is designed for defect corrections and additions or enhancements to functionality that are not a large enough work effort to be considered a project.
How Does DS Identify Changes?
DS identifies changes through a variety of means, including via direct contact with users or user-filed Clarify support cases; during User Acceptance Testing prior to new project implementations; through ideas generated by Change Management Advisory Committee members and DS staff members; and as a result of business solutions analysis and DS strategic direction.
To make a change request or report a defect, please follow the instructions listed on "Requesting Data Warehouse Changes".
Who Decides What Changes Will Be Made?
All requested changes are documented and analyzed by DS business analysts, and then submitted for review at bi-monthly Change Management Advisory Committee meetings. Three Change Management Advisory Committees (CMACs) are comprised of representatives from the Data Warehouse user community. The CMACs include users from colleges and departments, functional offices, institutional research offices, and Decision Support. CMAC members meet every other month to review the list of requested changes for their respective data areas (HR, Finance, and Student), and prioritize the top 5 changes. Decision Support then reviews the combined list of the top 5 priorities from each CMAC group to provide additional input and determine an implementation schedule for each change.
When Are Changes Implemented?
Changes, including defect corrections and additional or enhanced functionality, are bundled into monthly releases, typically scheduled for the 3rd Thursday of each month.
How Can I Find Out About Changes?
Pre-Release Notes are issued prior to each monthly release and provide information in anticipation of scheduled changes. After each release is implemented, Release Notes are issued to detail technical information about each change and how it impacts users. You can also view a list of all prioritized and scheduled changes, and all implemented changes in the
Scheduled Changes and Implemented Changes sections of this website. If you would like to be notified when new Pre-Release and Release Notes are available, please
contact us.
