1 © 2021 ServiceNow, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
CAB owner CAB members
Questions addressed:
Page 1:
• What is a change
advisory board
(CAB)?
• Do I have all the
elements of an
effective CAB?
Page 2:
• Do I have all the
elements of an
effective CAB?
(Continued)
• Why is having an
effective CAB
important?
Page 3:
• What are the steps
to improve my CAB
or start a CAB?
How do I set up an effective change advisory board?
Do I have all the elements of an effective CAB?
There are two components of a best practice CAB: 1) The right people and 2) An effective CAB meeting structure.
What is a change advisory board (CAB)?
A CAB is a group of people who run formal CAB meetings to assess, prioritize, authorize, and schedule changes as part of the
change control process.
1. The right people
Responsibilities
• Review changes prior to the meeting.
• Assess and recommend the approval or rejection of proposed
changes in a timely manner. If a CAB member doesn’t approve
a change, make sure they explain why.
• Attend scheduled CAB meeting(s) or send a qualified
representative.
• Act as a liaison between the CAB and its team regarding
change management policies, procedures, questions, or
enhancements.
Description
The CAB should include at least one representative from
all groups
affected by the changes on the agenda (including non-IT groups if
applicable) and can include managers or non-managers, such as
a network engineer or business user. It is likely to include groups
from functional and technical disciplines such as the service desk,
application support, server support, etc.
Responsibilities
• Develop the vision and strategy for CAB meetings.
• Lead CAB meetings and make sure the required
representatives attend (representatives from all
groups affected by changes).
• Define and communicate the CAB members’ roles
and responsibilities.
• Document and communicate the CAB meeting
agenda before CAB meetings and decisions after
the meeting.
Description
The CAB owner acts as a chairperson and should be a
CAB member. This person is typically a change
manager or on the change management team.
2 © 2021 ServiceNow, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
How do I set up an effective change advisory board? (Continued)
Do I have all the elements of an effective CAB? (Continued)
Practitioner insight: The CAB owner should identify and define
continual service improvement items (CSIs) to make sure the CAB is
continually supported and effective. This can include quantitative
CAB performance data, such as failed changes, or qualitative
data such as opinions on efficiency. The CAB owner often does this
through reporting analysis and/or surveys.
2. An effective CAB meeting structure
A regular CAB meeting schedule
CABs usually meet once a week
or more depending on the
changes on the agenda
and the
business need. For example,
DevOps/Agile teams may meet
daily; global teams may meet
multiple times a week. Try to
keep it as consistent as possible.
All required attendees
All teams affected by a
change should be
represented in the CAB
meeting.
A comprehensive meeting agenda
The meeting agenda should include, at a minimum:
Ø All high-risk changes and changes marked as required by the CAB
Ø A review of all failed and backed out changes
Ø Change management process updates
Ø Reviews for each change that include:
• A risk/impact assessment (on the business)
• The effects on the infrastructure and customer service as defined in the SLA as
well as on capacity and performance, reliability and resilience, contingency
plans, and security
• The impact on other services that run on the same infrastructure (or on
software development projects)
• A resource assessment, including the IT, business, and other resources required
to implement and validate the change
• The effect, risk, and/or impact of not implementing the change
• Other changes being implemented on the schedule of change
• Technical capability and technical approval required
Why is having an effective CAB important?
A change that goes into production can impact many teams, including management, customers, users, IT, and other departments. If you don’t consider
all technical impacts of a change, there is a higher risk of a system outage or malfunction. This makes an effective CAB essential because it provides
awareness of the changes for impacted teams and makes sure all technical aspects of a change are considered.
3 © 2021 ServiceNow, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Confirm the CAB owner.
Identify the CAB owner who will be accountable for CAB owner duties.
3
Confirm the CAB’s standard agenda.
CAB meeting agenda items may vary from meeting to meeting, but it’s important to create a standard agenda template so the meetings
are thorough (based on CAB meeting best practices).
4
Confirm the CAB meeting cadence.
The frequency of CAB meetings can sometimes change based on the change items on the agenda, but still confirm a regular cadence to
avoid non-emergency ad hoc occurrences.
5
Host CAB meetings and iterate.
Host a CAB meeting and take notes to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the processes, and iterate.
6
What are the steps to start a CAB or improve my CAB?
Related resources
• Product Docs – Managing a CAB meeting with CAB Workbench
• Optimize change management with the ServiceNow Change Management application
If you have any questions on this
topic or you would like to be a
contributor to future ServiceNow best
practice content, please contact us.
Assess gaps (if any) in your current CAB.
If you don’t have all of the elements of a best practice CAB (people and process), document the gaps to plan remediation. If you don’t
have a CAB, document who would participate in a CAB and confirm the CAB owner.
1
Get approval to change or improve your CAB (or to create a formal CAB, if it doesn’t exist).
Engage your leadership and CAB stakeholders to discuss your gap analysis from the previous step and gain support to improve your CAB.
Here's a Community post about the benefits of a CAB, if you need further justification.
2
How do I set up an effective change advisory board? (Continued)
