4-quadrant system change triage

An outline of a process to triage system changes.

It is important to get suggestions from staff about possible improvements to a businesses systems, either by modifying existing functionality or adding something new. The process needs to be streamlined, preferably on an internal web page that can use the entered information to route the suggestion to the appropriate triage team. The page would need to refer to a database of the sections and their teams as well as the current emails for those roles.

This article describes a possible triage system that breaks the allocation of suggestions by whether it is to improve existing or add new functionality, and whether it is high or low severity, which can be visualised as a quadrant.

The quadrants of the triage system are:

SeverityExistingNewHigh Triage teamSection Manager facilitatorTeam Leader(s) Business PlanningAffected Team Leader(s) observeBudget:Project maintenance  Triage teamBusiness Planning facilitatorSection Manager Team Leader(s)Affected Team Leader(s) observeBudget:Project contingency Low Triage teamSection Manager facilitatorTeam Leader(s) Affected Team Leader(s) observeBudget:Yearly maintenance  Triage teamSection Manager facilitatorTeam Leader(s) Affected Team Leader(s) observeBusiness Planning observeBudget:Yearly contingency

Quadrant criteria

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The labels indicate the criteria to be applied when deciding which quadrant to tentatively allocate a suggestion to.

The meanings of the criteria are:

Existing: The suggestion is for an existing functionality for the one section.
New: The suggestion is for additional functionality. If it requires any changes to existing functionality, assign that as an Existing action.
Low severity△: The suggestion is for only one team of one section. Should not need changes to the equipment or services of another team or section.
High severity: Any other suggestion.

Some considerations are:

a.Using low severity ensures that the consequences of failure are very limited, especially by limiting the work to one team of one section.
b.If appropriate, the initial triage team can transfer part or all of the suggestion to other teams.
c.The non-observer members of the triage team make the consensus decision of whether to accept, reject, defer or transfer the suggestion.
d.The observers are there to offer technical input or suggestions, and report back decisions or issues to escalate to their manager.
e.Low priority suggestions only need a feasibility investigation to proceed.
f.High priority suggestions need both a business case and feasibility investigation to proceed.

Budgets

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The source of funds to implement a suggestion should be made as reliable and streamlined as possible.

The budget sources breakdowns are:

Project: High severity suggestions will use the project funding pipeline.
Yearly: Low severity suggestions will use the section's yearly budget allocation.
Maintenance△: Suggestions affecting existing functionality will come from the allocated maintenance pool.
Contingency: Suggestions requiring new functionality will come from the contingency pool.

Suggestion information required

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The web form for receiving the suggestions has to capture the relevant information to select the triage team and help them make a decision.

The information required is:

System(s): The list of affected or intended systems.
Justification: A brief summary of why the new or updated functionality would be beneficial, and if it is subject to any timeframe.
Contact details△: Name, email and phone number.