Those new to ITIL will often assume that the role of the CAB is to authorise the major or vital change. Well, yes and no.
The Amendment Advisory Board (CAB) may be a concept outlined in ITIL V2 and V3's Amendment Management method and could be a body that exists to support the authorization of amendment and to assist Modification Management in the assessment and prioritization of change. The CAB is usually consulted for important change that have a broad or major impact to the organisation. The CAB might be asked to contemplate and advocate the adoption or rejection of change appropriate for higher level authorization and then recommendations will be submitted to the appropriate Amendment Authority.
Similar in concept to the CAB is that the Emergency Modification Advisory Board (ECAB). This is often done as half of the Emergency Modification procedure which is used to process a change request connected to fixing miscalculation in the IT infrastructure that has major impact to the business if it's not fastened quickly, hence the Emergency Change. An ECAB is essentially formed since there is often not enough time to convene a traditional and larger scale CAB meeting.
So, who authorises change? ITIL defines the role of Amendment Authority that, as the name stated, authorises change. This is often a task which will be given to an individual (e.g. Modification Manager, department manager) or a group of individuals (e.g. CAB or ECAB). The amount of authorization for a explicit type of modification ought to be determined by the type, size or risk. A serious or important amendment in a large enterprise that affects many distributed sites could need to be approved by a higher-level authority like the Board of Directors. A lesser one with restricted scope and impact to the business or IT infrastructure might be authorised by a person. A easy, low risk modification may even be pre-approved or pre-authorised.
Figure 4.5 in the ITIL V3 Service Transition book is misleading when taken out of context and typically leads a reader to wrongly believe that the CAB or ECAB's role is to authorise Change. That figure only shows an example where the CAB or ECAB is given the role as a Change Authority.
In outline, a CAB or ECAB's main role is an advisory one, that is to support and assist the Amendment Authority in making to decision as to whether or not asking for modification ought to be approved or rejected. The CAB or ECAB will not authorise a Modification unless they're specifically given the role as a Amendment Authority as well.
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Clara Brooks has been writing articles online for nearly 2 years now. Not only does this author specialize in Change Management, you can also check out his latest website about:
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