Emergency Technology Change Request Process for Religious Organizations

Emergency Technology Change Request Process for Religious Organizations

In urgent situations, such as a critical service outage, technology changes may need to be implemented quickly to restore services and minimize impact on your congregation.

When to Request an Emergency Change

An emergency change request should be submitted for high-priority incidents, such as:

• Critical system or application outages impacting multiple users
• Security vulnerabilities posing significant risk
• Temporary workarounds required to restore service while a permanent solution is pending

Emergency changes are exceptions. All efforts should be made to follow the standard change management process for non-emergency changes.

How to Request an Emergency Change

To request an emergency change, follow these steps:

1. Open a high-priority ticket describing:
   • The issue, outage, or vulnerability
   • The need for an emergency change
   • Proposed change details (implementation plan, downtime, testing, and backout strategy)
2. The Technology Change Manager will review the request urgently.
3. If approved, instructions will be provided for scheduling and implementing the emergency change.
4. A change advisory board will convene to evaluate next steps.

Final approval from leadership and stakeholders is required based on criticality and risk assessment.

Rules for Emergency Changes

When implementing an approved emergency change, adhere to these rules:

• Assemble a qualified team to execute the change quickly
• Have rollback and backout plans vetted in case of issues
• Provide detailed communication about impacts and downtime
• Follow standard procedures like peer review and testing as much as possible
• Document everything during and after the change

Emergency changes are subject to audit, so meticulous records are required. Request an emergency change when necessary—the IT team is here to assist and resolve issues promptly.