Lead time to CAB?

I have recently been dealing with an issue surrounding a lead time notification requirement to the CAB for changes at a significant level.  There was much discussion on lead time for authorization of the change vs. lead time for release readiness review.  It is true that these lead time notifications, if at all, are unique to the size and scope of the company you are implementing in, but I am curious as to what your experiences have been with setting this.  Please leave a comment or email me directly from the links above.

We resolved to setup a minimum of two review cycles by the CAB for release readiness to reach a “go/no go” decision.  It is the duty of the change manager to ensure that if the nature of the RFC is such that multiple review meetings might be necessary, to notify the CAB accordingly and allow the proper time for information gathering, review, and adjustment to any of the plans.  Without the lead time in place, too many “the vendor is already scheduled to come in and I can’t change the date even if release readiness is a no-go” issues were arising.  We have also built into the authorization phase detail more strict requirements on production scheduling to allow proper review.

As a reminder, typical components of the Release Readiness Review include:

• Testing Plan
• Training Plan
• Communications Plan
• Risk Assessment
• Rollout Plan
• Rollback Plan