When are UAA IT Services' Change Freeze Windows?

Background

A change freeze window is instituted to prohibit or limit system updates which may have an adverse affect on university business. These schedules aid in mitigating the risk of an outage or issues during important business cycles (e.g. student class registration, final exams, etc.), but also permits IT Services to schedule resources to get important system work done during non-freeze periods.

Note that this schedule has been created based upon input from the university community - if you feel your area and business processes have not been included, or are inaccurately represented, please contact UAA IT Services.

Ultimately, the goal of all parties is to reduce risk to users by performing system maintenance during times which have the lowest risk to a business segment in the unlikely event that something were to go wrong with the update.

Change Freeze Windows

The specific dates of the Spring and Fall semester change freeze windows will fluctuate based upon both the calendar cycle, and specific academic calendars for a specific year. The change window can usually be summarized as follows:

Change freeze for the start of a semester (Spring/Fall) begins the Sunday, the week prior to the first day of classes, and ends Friday the week after classes start.

Change freeze for the end of a semester (Spring/Fall) begins the Sunday, the week prior to the week of final exams, and ends the day after grades are due.

Be sure to take these periods into consideration when planning changes.

Definitions

Change

The addition, modification or removal of anything that could have an effect on IT services. The scope should include changes to all architectures, processes, tools, metrics and documentation, as well as changes to IT services and other configuration items.
Useful Reference: What is a Change?

Change Freeze

• Intent to prohibit all changes to production systems.
• Goal of maintaining the ultimate in system stability.
• There is a "NO GO" assumption for changes within the scope of the Change Freeze - one must justify need if an emergency change is necessary.
• Exception Criteria: changes must be approved by any impacted units, and the Change Advisory Board.

Normal Period

• All changes are acceptable, assuming UAA change management processes are being followed.
• Goal of allowing the highest level of change available while maintaining system stability.
• There is a "GO" assumption for changes, assuming UAA change management processes are being followed.