An organization has implemented a change management process for all changes to the IT production environment. This change management process follows best practices and is expected to help stabilize…

Question

Options

• ANumber of change orders rejected
• BNumber and length of planned outages
• CNumber of unplanned outages
• DNumber of change orders processed

• A
  6% (1)
• B
  12% (2)
• C
  82% (14)

Explanation

Unplanned outages (C) directly measure the outcome that change management is designed to prevent - instability and availability failures caused by poorly controlled changes. If the process is working, the number of unplanned outages should decrease over time, making it a clear effectiveness indicator tied to the stated goal of stabilizing availability and integrity.

Why the distractors are wrong:

• (A) Number of change orders rejected - A high rejection rate could indicate an overly restrictive process or poor change quality, but it doesn't tell you whether the environment is more stable as a result.
• (B) Number and length of planned outages - Planned outages are intentional and controlled; they don't reflect whether the change process is preventing unintended disruptions.
• (D) Number of change orders processed - Volume of processed changes is a throughput metric, not an outcome metric. Processing more changes says nothing about environmental stability.

Memory tip: Think "effectiveness = did it achieve its goal?" The stated goal is stability and availability. Only unplanned outages directly measure whether that goal is being met - the others measure activity or inputs, not outcomes.

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