Change Management Policy - SME

The P05S Change Management Policy is carefully tailored for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), focusing on the need to manage IT and business system changes in a streamlined yet compliant manner. The policy’s stated purpose is to ensure that all modifications, whether to IT systems, configurations, business applications, or cloud services, are planned, risk-assessed, tested, and formally approved before being put into effect. This helps to minimize operational disruptions, decrease the likelihood of security incidents, and prevent unwanted service outages. Designed with SMEs in mind, the policy explicitly simplifies roles and responsibilities, making change management approachable for businesses without full-time IT departments or a dedicated security operations center. For example, the General Manager is made ultimately accountable for significant or sensitive changes, embodying a governance model that works in resource-constrained environments. IT changes may be proposed by employees or department managers, but all significant actions undergo either the approval of an IT provider or, for major changes, sign-off by the General Manager. This aligns the change process with real-world SME management structures. Comprehensively, the policy covers both planned and emergency changes across software, hardware, network configurations, cloud services, and critical business processes involving information systems. It prescribes straightforward procedures for submission, documentation, risk and impact assessment, approval, testing, and rollback. Notably, a Change Log must be maintained, by spreadsheet, helpdesk system, or any digital tracking system with version history, to ensure all changes are traceable, support audits, and evidence process adherence. The policy is constructed to meet ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certification requirements, specifically formalizing the planning and operational handling of changes. Risk-based decision-making is integral: every change request is evaluated for potential impacts on system uptime, data confidentiality, and business continuity, and is assigned a risk level. Emergency changes, while permitted for urgent threats or outages, must be retrospectively reviewed and logged to ensure transparency and enable learning from incidents. Enforcement sections make clear the consequences of unauthorized or undocumented changes, emphasizing corrective action and future process improvement. Documentation and communication are mandated throughout the policy lifecycle. Annual reviews and reviews after security incidents or system introductions are required, and updates must be formally approved and communicated throughout the organization. Organizational effectiveness is further supported by linkage to other related SME policies, including those on access control, onboarding/termination, incident response, and backup/restore, ensuring coherence across the compliance framework. This policy is therefore not only practical and actionable for SMEs, but also directly aligned with international standards and regulations, such as ISO/IEC 27001:2022, NIS2, and EU DORA.