Basic OT Change Model playbook

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated July 31, 2025
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    Summary of Basic OT Change Model playbook

    The Basic Operational Technology (OT) Change Model playbook outlines the essential stages and tasks for managing OT changes that do not require approvals. It guides ServiceNow customers through a streamlined process to ensure OT changes are documented, planned, implemented, and closed efficiently while capturing critical information relevant to industrial processes.

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    Initiate

    This initial stage captures the core details of the OT change request and assigns responsibility. Key information collected includes:

    • Change description: brief and detailed description, change category, site location, and notification lists for comments and work notes.
    • Risk assessment: priority, risk amount, and impact on industrial processes to evaluate urgency and potential effects.
    • Assignment: identification of the requester, assignment group (must be OT-type), and assigned individual. Changing the assignment group resets the assigned user.

    Plan

    In this stage, customers add detailed plans and justifications essential for controlled OT change execution. The six key tasks include:

    • Justification: reason for the change.
    • Implementation plan: detailed steps to implement the change.
    • Risk and impact analysis: evaluation of associated risks and impacts.
    • Backout plan: procedures to revert the change if necessary.
    • Test plan: methods to verify the success of the change.
    • Scheduling: planned start and end dates, with the option to use a Scheduling Assistant to select available downtime slots automatically.

    Implement

    This stage involves performing the actual change on the targeted OT devices. Once the change is executed, the stage can be marked complete to indicate progress.

    Close

    After successful implementation, the change record is formally closed. Customers provide:

    • Close code: reason for closure.
    • Close notes: additional details summarizing the closure.

    This structured process helps ServiceNow customers manage OT changes with clarity and control, minimizing risk and ensuring thorough documentation throughout the change lifecycle.

    Learn about the Basic Operational Technology (OT) Change Model playbook stages that an OT change without approvals must go through until it’s completed.

    Initiate

    The Initiate stage of an OT change request lets you capture the details of the requested change and assign the change as necessary. This stage has three tasks.
    Table 1. Describe the change
    Field Description
    Short description Brief description of the change.
    Description Details of the change.
    Category Type of change.
    Site Site where the change takes place.
    Watch list Users who receive notifications about this change when comments are added.
    Work notes list Users who receive notifications about this change when work notes are added.
    Table 2. Capture risk
    Field Description
    Priority Impact and urgency to identify how quickly the change should be addressed.
    Risk Amount of risk that the change poses.
    Impact Measure of the effect that a change has on your industrial processes.
    Table 3. Assign the change
    Field Description
    Requested by User who requests the change.
    Assignment group Assigned group that works on the change. The assignment group can be any group with the type OT.
    Assigned to User who works on this change. If the assignment group changes, the Assigned to field is cleared.

    Plan

    The Plan stage of an OT Change request lets you add a justification for the change, an implementation plan, a risk and impact plan, a backout plan, a test plan, and a time to schedule the change. This stage has six tasks.

    Table 4. Add a justification
    Field Description
    Justification Reason why the change must take place.
    Table 5. Add implementation plan
    Field Description
    Implementation plan Details of how to implement the requested change.
    Table 6. Add risk and impact analysis
    Field Description
    Risk and impact analysis Details of any risk and impact factors that are related to this change.
    Table 7. Add backout plan
    Field Description
    Backout plan Details of how to reverse the change in place if necessary.
    Table 8. Add test plan
    Field Description
    Test plan Details of how to test the implemented change.
    Table 9. Schedule the change
    Field Description
    Planned start date Date that the change takes place.
    Note:
    You can also choose an available downtime slot on the calendar by selecting the Scheduling Assistant button to fill in the planned start date field automatically.
    Planned end date Date that the change ends.
    Note:
    You can also choose an available downtime slot on the calendar by selecting the Scheduling Assistant button to fill in the planned end date field automatically.

    Implement

    The Implement stage of an OT change request provides the details of the following task. You can mark this stage as complete when it's finished.

    Perform the change
    Mark as complete when the change is performed on the targeted OT devices and completed.

    Close

    The Close stage lets you close the change record after the change is completed.
    Table 10. Close the change record
    Field Description
    Close code Reason that the change record was closed.
    Close notes Additional details about closing the change record.