MaxIron Portal
Approve each Maximo change before production deployment.
A change is raised with its scope and test results. The right person reviews it. Only then does it go to production. The request, the decision and the outcome sit on one record if an auditor asks.
Change Control is provided through MaxIron Portal. Scope and price depend on environments, approval routes and the change types brought under control. Quote on request.
The boundary
What goes into production, who approves it, and what is written back
Your change policy defines the approvers, evidence and permitted window. Change Control checks those requirements before a release can proceed.
| What moves | From | Direction | To | Signed by |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Configuration and screen changes | Test environment | → | Production | Named change authority |
| Automation scripts and integration mappings | Test environment | → | Production | Change authority, with the integration owner named |
| The approved window | Change authority | → | The promotion path | Change authority |
| Promotion outcome and timestamp | Production | ← | The change record | Written by the gate |
| Anything promoted outside the gate, as an exception | Production | ← | The change record | Written by the gate |
What never crosses
- A change with no approval naming this scope and this window. An approval for a similar change last month is a different record.
- A change approved by the person who implemented it. Approver, reviewer and implementer are role separated on every record.
- Anything that was not attached when the reviewer read it. The change is locked to its artefacts.
- The judgement about whether the change is a good idea. That stays with your people, and the gate records who made it.
One crossing, as a record
CHG-4182, from request to production outcome
One completion code rule, one automation script, three environments. Each line was written at the moment it was decided, by the person deciding it.
| Reference | CHG-4182 |
|---|---|
| Change | Work order status transition refuses to close without a completion code |
| Scope | One tenant, three environments, production last |
| Artefacts | Automation script SCR-118, one security group change, test result TR-9042 |
| Raised | Monday 09:12, by the Maximo analyst who built it |
| Reviewed | Monday 14:40, Maximo service owner. Returned once, rollback step not written out |
| Resubmitted | Wednesday 11:05, rollback step and retest evidence attached |
| Approved | Wednesday 16:20, named change authority, for the Thursday 20:00 window |
| Promoted | Thursday 20:14, by the pipeline. Nobody signed in to production |
| Closed | Thursday 20:31, production outcome recorded against this reference |
An illustrative record. The reference and the times are examples; the fields are the ones the gate requires before it opens.
The five gates
What passes each gate, and what is held back
Your policy decides how much of this path a low-risk category walks. It does not decide whether the record is written.
-
Gate 1 Raise against a named scope
Signed by The person raising it
Passes
A change naming its tenant, environments and artefacts, with those artefacts attached at the point of raising.
Held back
A change described in prose, with the artefacts to follow.
-
Gate 2 Classify by your policy
Signed by Your change policy, as configured
Passes
Routine categories take the fast lane your policy defines.
Held back
A sensitive category routed as routine because the window is tight.
-
Gate 3 Review with test evidence
Signed by Maximo service owner
Passes
A reviewer holding the artefacts and the lower-environment results, whose comments stay on the record including a return.
Held back
A review held on a screen share, with nothing attached to the record.
-
Gate 4 Approve by role
Signed by Named change authority
Passes
Approval by a named role, for this change, this scope and this window.
Held back
Approval by the analyst who built the change.
-
Gate 5 Promote
Signed by Written by the gate
Passes
The promotion the approval names, on the environments it names, inside the window it names.
Held back
A promotion whose approval covers a different scope, or a window that has closed.
What an auditor receives
An auditor asking for twelve production changes from last quarter receives twelve packs, not a reconstruction.
The request, test results, approval and deployment outcome are retained as the change proceeds. Engineers can retrieve that evidence for an audit instead of reconstructing the decision from tickets, emails and screenshots.
Demonstrated, not described
Five things we demonstrate before you govern a live estate with this
Run in a test tenant on your own change policy, with your people watching.
- T1
Produce the full pack for one change from your last quarter
- Passes when
- Request, artefacts, review comments, approving role, window and outcome sit on one record, with nothing assembled by hand.
- Witnessed by
- Your internal auditor and Maximo service owner
- T2
Refuse a promotion whose approval names a different window
- Passes when
- The gate holds, and the attempt is recorded as a refusal against the change.
- Witnessed by
- Your change authority
- T3
Refuse an approval from the person who implemented the change
- Passes when
- Role separation blocks the approval and names the conflict on the record.
- Witnessed by
- Your change authority
- T4
Show a promotion made around the gate
- Passes when
- It appears as an exception in the change record rather than among the governed changes.
- Witnessed by
- Your Maximo service owner
- T5
Route a sensitive category and a routine category from the same policy
- Passes when
- The routine change clears the fast lane; the sensitive one walks the full path.
- Witnessed by
- Your change manager
Scope and boundaries
Three boundaries on Change Control
Settle each of these during procurement, not at the first audit.
It does not decide whether a change is a good idea
Whether a script should exist, whether the timing suits the operation, whether residual risk is acceptable: those stay with your people. Change Control makes sure the right role decided, and that the decision is on the record.
It cannot create evidence for changes made around it
A change promoted by hand outside the gate has no pack, and none is produced after the event. It is recorded as an exception instead of blending in with the governed changes.
It complements your ITSM rather than competing with it
The production gate on every regulated Maximo estate MaxIron operates, including utilities, oil and gas, transport and public sector. Your service management tool stays the enterprise change record; Change Control holds the gate for Pipelines and higher-impact Autoheal playbooks, and supplies the Maximo-specific evidence underneath the ticket.
MaxIron Change Control, frequently asked questions
- What is in the evidence pack for a single change?
- The request and the scope it named, the artefacts attached to it, the review comments including any that sent it back, the approving role and the person holding it, the approved window, and what reached production. Every line is written at the point the fact is known first hand.
- How does this sit with our ITSM?
- Your service management tool stays the enterprise change record. Change Control integrates with it and supplies the Maximo-specific evidence that sits underneath the ticket.
- What happens to a change promoted outside the gate?
- It has no pack, and none is manufactured after the event. It is recorded as an exception, so exposure appears in your own record rather than in an audit finding.
- Does it slow a routine change down?
- Routing is set by your policy. Routine categories take a fast lane; the categories your policy treats as sensitive walk the full path.
- Can it act as the gate for Pipelines and Autoheal?
- Pipelines uses Change Control as its production gate, and higher-impact Autoheal playbooks request approval through it before they run.
- Why a Maximo-specific change product?
- The approver reads the change in Maximo terms: which tenant, which environments, which script, which integration mapping, against which test result. Change Control complements IBM Maximo and MAS by holding that gate in the promotion path.
MaxIron products
What sits either side of the gate
See Change Control with one production change
We take one of your own changes and build the record that would have existed on the day it went into production.
Bring this to the first call
- Your change policy, and the categories it treats as sensitive
- The evidence request list from your most recent audit
- One representative production change from last quarter
- The roles designated to approve, and the list of people who currently can