What is a change management SOP for operations teams?

A change management SOP is a documented procedure for proposing, evaluating, approving, implementing, and reviewing changes to operational processes, tools, or systems. It prevents unauthorized changes, ensures stakeholders are notified, and creates a record of what changed, when, and why. Operations teams use it to manage tool migrations, process updates, and policy changes without disrupting daily work.

What are the stages of a change management SOP?

Stage	Actions	Owner
1. Request	Submit a change request with justification, scope, and impact	Requestor
2. Assessment	Evaluate risk, impact on existing workflows, resource requirements	Operations manager
3. Approval	Approve, defer, or reject based on assessment	Decision-maker (manager or committee)
4. Planning	Define implementation timeline, rollback plan, communication plan	Operations manager
5. Implementation	Execute the change, update documentation, train affected teams	Implementation team
6. Verification	Confirm the change works as expected, monitor for issues	Operations manager
7. Review	Post-change review — document lessons learned, update the SOP	All stakeholders

What types of changes need this process?

Change Type	Example	Risk Level
Tool migration	Moving from Zendesk to Intercom	High
Process update	Changing the refund approval threshold	Medium
Policy change	New data retention policy	Medium-High
Vendor switch	Changing shipping carriers	Medium
Workflow automation	Adding a Zapier integration	Low-Medium
Minor adjustment	Updating an email template	Low

How do you document change management workflows?

Record the change request and approval workflow in your project management tool using Glyde. The generated guide shows exactly how to submit a request, where to track its status, and how to document the implementation — making the process accessible to any team member.

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This answer is part of our guide to SOPs by role and use case.