SDLC and IT Change Management the same? 1526



  • Any help on this please. Are these two the same or part of each other. Can anyone elaborate on this?
    Thanks.



  • Hi Tom and welcome … This can be a ‘yes’ if folks use their System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) and Change Management synonomously with each other and I’ve definitely seen that.
    However in thinking of the terms themselves, I would say ‘no’ to this for the following reasons:
    SDLC = The standard process for IT projects addressing needs from conception of the vision to the finished production product. The SDLC often includes Change Management as a process within it to control the promotion of source and run-time code to test and production environments.
    Change Management = This is usually both a versioning and communications process in the workflow. As an example, we use change management to let key folks know that a major system or series of programs might be released and they might move from version 3 to 4 in the process.



  • Hi,
    Change Management
    Change Management generally addresses the following areas:

    • Authorizing changes
    • Testing changes
    • Documenting changes
      Thus, it is more of an IT ‘maintenance’ concept as it relates to IT system and application changes.
      SDLC
      System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is generally divided into the following phases:
      Project Initiation
      Feasibility Study
      Design
      Development
      Implementation
      Post Implementation Review
      Comparison
      So although SDLC and Change Management may have some common aspects, they are not the same concept. They may have differing SOX implications depending upon the IT infrastructure, IT applications in use, and other IT considerations within the Company.
      For SOX purposes, many companies tend to focus on change management and a good change management process may have significant on internal controls over financial reporting (ICFR).
      You might consider performing a search on this site for the term ‘Change Management’ and I am sure that you will find other information and posts by other experienced SOX professionals.
      Hope this helps,
      Milan

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