What is a Change Advisory Board? (Overview, Roles, and Responsibilities)

  • By: Adam Wire
  • April 14, 2025
Change Advisory Board
Reading Time: 4 minutes

Businesses and other organizations experience many types of changes as they evolve. Poorly managed changes have the potential to cause significant business disruptions. That’s why a board of directors will often create a change advisory board to manage major changes.

A change advisory board is responsible for ensuring changes are implemented smoothly, efficiently, and with minimal disruption. Members could be internal or boards may form an advisory council made up of change management professionals. 

Read on for an overview of what a change advisory board is, what its roles and responsibilities look like, and why it plays such a vital role in effective change management. 

What is a Change Advisory Board?

Change is an integral part of an organization, and managing it effectively is crucial to the long-term success of the business or nonprofit. A change advisory board (CAB) is responsible for reviewing, evaluating, and approving/rejecting components of a change management strategy. An effective CAB ensures that changes are implemented smoothly and with minimal disruption to the business or nonprofit. 

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Types of Changes

In change management, changes are typically categorized based on their perceived impact, urgency, and complexity. Here are 5 common types of changes:

  1. Standard Change: Pre-approved, low-risk, routine changes that follow a set process.
    Example: Updating user access permissions.
  2. Normal Change: Requires assessment of approval of a CAB due to potential impact.
    Example: Deploying a new feature within a software application.
  3. Emergency Change: Urgent and high-priority change required to solve critical threats.
    Example: Fixing a system outage or applying a critical security patch.
  4. Major Change: High-impact, complex changes that require extensive planning. Example: Migrating to a new cloud provider.
  5. Minor Change: Low-risk, small-scale changes that do not require approval. Example: Updating internal documentation.

Change Advisory Board Roles and Responsibilities

Change advisory boards have a wide range of responsibilities, which can vary depending on the specific needs of each organization. Here are 5 of the most common roles a CAB can fulfill. 

1. Change Evaluation and Risk Assessment 

Not every proposed change is a good fit for every organization. A change advisory board is responsible for carefully evaluating the potential benefits and risks of each proposal to determine whether it is likely to support your organization’s objectives. This includes risks that directly impact your organization itself and those that might affect other key stakeholders. This assessment helps change advisory board members build the strongest possible understanding of the specific ways in which approving each potential change might positively or negatively impact the organization. 

2. Approving or Rejecting Changes 

After a thorough evaluation, a CAB will use the evidence that was gathered to decide whether to approve moving forward or reject a particular change that is proposed. These decisions are based on a wide range of factors, such as whether a proposed change supports business objectives or carries risks that are too significant for the organization to manage adequately. 

A CAB will likely also consider whether a particular change is important enough to be prioritized for the resources that will be needed to implement them. In some situations, a CAB might also request that the details of a particular change proposal be adjusted to better align with what they are seeking rather than rejecting the change outright. 

3. Ensuring Compliance and Governance 

The CAB plays a crucial role in maintaining governance and compliance standards throughout the change management process. They verify all changes adhere to internal policies and procedures, ensuring consistency and reducing risk. The board also takes responsibility for ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements relevant to the organization’s industry and operating regions. 

Change advisory boards  maintain proper documentation of the change process from proposal through implementation and review, creating an important historical record. The CAB enforces separation of duties where necessary to prevent conflicts of interest or security vulnerabilities. By preserving comprehensive audit trails, they establish accountability for all aspects of the change. 

The board also works to align changes with enterprise architecture standards, maintaining the integrity of the organization’s technical ecosystem. This governance function ultimately helps organizations manage risk effectively and maintain the integrity of their systems and processes while implementing necessary changes.

4. Communication and Coordination

Effective change management requires strong communication throughout every stage of the process. Implementing changes without inadvertently causing problems for the organization is only possible when the various teams and stakeholders involved are intentional about keeping one another informed about current and upcoming changes and how they will affect each other. Strong communication includes providing regular updates about the status of each step in the process and addressing any concerns stakeholders might have about each change.  

5. Post-Implementation Review and Continuous Improvement 

A change advisory board must also oversee efforts to ensure new changes function properly and continue to do so over time. Performing an initial post-implementation review is an important step in helping stakeholders understand how well the change process worked. Continuing to monitor data that is related to that change over time can help a change advisory board identify areas in which the change is not performing well. The CAB can then strategize solutions for making improvements in those areas. 

Members of a Change Advisory Board

The CAB includes key stakeholders who review, assess, and approve changes within an organization. Of course, the exact composition of the CAB may vary depending on the industry, size of the organization, and perceived impact of the changes.

Here is a list of members found within a typical CAB:

  • Change Manager: Facilitates CAB meetings, ensures change processes are followed, and coordinates change approvals.
  • IT Operations Representative: Ensures proposed changes do not negatively impact information technology infrastructure and services.
  • Product Owner: Represents business interests and ensures changes are well-aligned with the goals and objectives of the business.
  • Security & Compliance Officer: Assesses security risks and ensures changes comply with evolving regulatory requirements.
  • Senior Executive: Provides high-level approval and ensures alignment with business strategy.

A change advisory board may collaborate with a board of advisors at a regular advisory board meeting. It may also call an emergency board meeting for urgent matters.

OnBoard Supports Change Advisory Boards

Even the best changes for your organization can be challenging to implement smoothly. Board management software programs like OnBoard help boards of directors and change advisory boards stay organized while closely monitoring every stage of the change process. 

Some key features that make us a top choice among change advisory boards include smooth integration with the rest of an organization’s IT infrastructure, secure messaging among the many stakeholders involved in changes, and a wide range of templates that simplify overseeing the change management process. 

Our software is also a secure and easily accessible option for storing board meeting agendas, executive summaries, board reports, board term limits, and other key documents. 

Download our board management software buyer’s guide to learn more about what to consider when choosing the best platform for your organization. 

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About The Author

Adam Wire
Adam Wire
Adam Wire is a Content Marketing Manager at OnBoard who joined the company in 2021. A Ball State University graduate, Adam worked in various content marketing roles at Angi, USA Football, and Adult & Child Health following a 12-year career in newspapers. His favorite part of the job is problem-solving and helping teammates achieve their goals. He lives in Indianapolis with his wife and two dogs. He’s an avid sports fan and foodie who also enjoys lawn and yard work and running.