The answer is the post-implementation review (PIR) was most likely skipped. This step is critical because it verifies that a change has met its objectives without introducing new issues, such as the intermittent email service described here. In the CompTIA change management process, the PIR is the final validation that occurs after a change is deployed but before it is formally closed; without it, problems like incomplete testing or unforeseen side effects go undetected. On the CompTIA A+ Core 2 220-1202 exam, this concept tests your understanding that marking a change as "completed" does not mean the work is done—the PIR ensures the change actually works in production. A common trap is confusing "implementation" with "verification," so remember that a change is not truly finished until it has passed a post-implementation review. Memory tip: PIR stands for "Prove It's Right" before you close the ticket.
220-1202 Documentation and Change Management Practice Question
This 220-1202 practice question tests your understanding of documentation and change management. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A technician is reviewing the change management log and finds that a previous change to the email server was marked as 'completed' but the email service has been intermittent since then. The technician suspects the change was not fully tested. Which step in the change management process was most likely skipped?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue: "most likely"
Why it matters: Probability qualifier — the question wants the most probable cause or outcome, not a guaranteed one. Eliminate low-probability options.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
A post-implementation review was not conducted
Option C is correct because a post-implementation review (PIR) is the step where the change is verified to have met its objectives without causing adverse effects. Since the email service became intermittent after the change was marked 'completed', the lack of a PIR means the change was not validated in production, allowing the underlying issue to go undetected. In the CompTIA change management process, the PIR ensures that the change has been fully tested and that any residual problems are identified and addressed before the change is closed.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✗
The change request was not submitted
Why it's wrong here
The log shows a change was submitted, so this step was not skipped.
✗
The change was not approved by the CAB
Why it's wrong here
There is no indication that approval was skipped; the change was implemented.
✓
A post-implementation review was not conducted
Why this is correct
A post-implementation review would have caught the intermittent issue and prevented the change from being marked as completed.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "most likely" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
The rollback plan was not documented
Why it's wrong here
While a rollback plan is important, the immediate issue is the lack of a review to confirm success.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
CompTIA often tests the distinction between the approval step and the validation step, trapping candidates who assume that a completed change must have been approved, when the real issue is the failure to verify the change's success through a post-implementation review.
Trap categories for this question
Command / output trap
The log shows a change was submitted, so this step was not skipped.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
In ITIL-based change management, the post-implementation review (PIR) often includes a formal handover to operations, verification of monitoring alerts (e.g., SMTP response times, queue depths), and a check against the expected outcomes defined in the change request. For an email server change, this might involve testing mail flow with tools like Telnet on port 25 or reviewing Exchange/Postfix logs for errors after the change window. Skipping the PIR means the change is closed without confirming that the service is stable, which can lead to undetected configuration drift or partial failures that manifest as intermittent outages.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
→Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
→Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A practitioner preparing for the 220-1202 exam encounters this exact type of scenario on the job. The correct answer here is not the most general option — it is the best answer for the specific constraint described. Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option. Real exam questions reward reading the full scenario before eliminating options, because the constraint defines which answer fits.
Related glossary terms
Concepts from this question explained
These glossary pages explain the core terms tested in this 220-1202 question in full detail.
Documentation and Change Management — This question tests Documentation and Change Management — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: A post-implementation review was not conducted — Option C is correct because a post-implementation review (PIR) is the step where the change is verified to have met its objectives without causing adverse effects. Since the email service became intermittent after the change was marked 'completed', the lack of a PIR means the change was not validated in production, allowing the underlying issue to go undetected. In the CompTIA change management process, the PIR ensures that the change has been fully tested and that any residual problems are identified and addressed before the change is closed.
What should I do if I get this 220-1202 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Are there clue words in this question I should notice?
Yes — watch for: "most likely". Probability qualifier — the question wants the most probable cause or outcome, not a guaranteed one. Eliminate low-probability options.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
About these practice questions
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These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. A company’s change management policy requires that all changes be categorized as standard, emergency, or normal. During a server migration, a technician discovers a critical security patch must be applied immediately to prevent a data breach. Which type of change should the technician request?
medium
A.Standard change
✓ B.Emergency change
C.Normal change
D.Service request
Why B: The scenario describes a critical security patch that must be applied immediately to prevent a data breach, which aligns with the definition of an emergency change. Emergency changes are pre-approved or fast-tracked to address urgent threats or service outages, bypassing the normal change advisory board (CAB) review process. This ensures the patch can be deployed without delay to mitigate the risk.
Variation 2. A company’s change management policy states that all changes must be reviewed by the CAB. An urgent security vulnerability is discovered that requires an immediate patch to a critical database server. The CAB is not available for 24 hours. What is the best course of action?
hard
A.Wait for the CAB to meet and approve the change
✓ B.Apply the patch immediately and document it as an emergency change
C.Apply the patch but do not document it to avoid policy violation
D.Disconnect the server from the network until the CAB meets
Why B: Option B is correct because the change management policy includes an emergency change process for urgent security vulnerabilities. Applying the patch immediately and documenting it as an emergency change aligns with ITIL best practices and the company's policy, ensuring the vulnerability is mitigated without delay while maintaining compliance through post-implementation review.
Variation 3. A technician is preparing to deploy a security patch to 50 workstations. The change request has been approved, and the patch has been tested on a pilot group. During the deployment, five workstations fail to install the patch. What should the technician do next according to change management best practices?
hard
A.Continue deploying to the remaining workstations and troubleshoot the failures later
✓ B.Halt the deployment and execute the rollback plan for the failed workstations
C.Force the patch to install using administrative tools
D.Submit a new change request for the failed workstations
Why B: According to change management best practices, when a deployment encounters failures, the immediate priority is to halt the deployment to prevent further issues and then execute the rollback plan to restore the failed workstations to their previous known-good state. This ensures stability and minimizes disruption, as the rollback plan was already defined and approved as part of the change request. Continuing or forcing the patch could lead to system instability or security vulnerabilities.
Variation 4. A technician is tasked with installing a security patch on 50 company laptops. The change management process requires a full system backup before any patch installation. During the backup of the first laptop, the backup fails due to insufficient disk space. What should the technician do?
easy
A.Skip the backup for this laptop and proceed with the patch installation.
✓ B.Free up disk space by deleting temporary files and retry the backup.
C.Install the patch anyway and create a manual restore point.
D.Report the failure to the change manager and request an exception.
Why B: Option B is correct because the change management process explicitly requires a full system backup before patch installation. Deleting temporary files is a standard, low-risk method to free disk space and retry the backup, ensuring compliance without violating policy. This approach maintains data integrity and follows the established procedure.
Variation 5. A help desk technician receives a complaint that a user’s custom software application stopped working after a Windows update was installed automatically overnight. The technician checks the system and finds the update is not in the approved change log. What should the technician do next?
medium
A.Reinstall the custom application immediately
✓ B.Roll back the Windows update and document the incident
C.Leave the update in place and submit a new change request for the application
D.Disable Windows Update on the workstation permanently
Why B: Option B is correct because the update was installed without authorization (not in the approved change log), violating change management policy. The technician should immediately roll back the update to restore application functionality and then document the incident to ensure proper change control procedures are followed. This aligns with the CompTIA A+ change management process: identify the unauthorized change, reverse it, and report it.
Variation 6. A help desk technician receives a complaint that a shared network printer is no longer accessible after a scheduled firmware update was applied to the print server last night. The change was documented but no rollback plan was included. What should the technician do first?
easy
A.Reboot the print server to clear any temporary errors.
✓ B.Restore the print server to its previous firmware version.
C.Submit a new change request to update the firmware again.
D.Disable the printer in Active Directory and re-add it.
Why B: Option B is correct because the scheduled firmware update directly caused the printer to become inaccessible, and without a documented rollback plan, reverting to the previous firmware version is the safest and most immediate way to restore service. This aligns with change management best practices, which prioritize backing out a failed change before troubleshooting further, as the root cause is clearly the firmware update.
Variation 7. A technician is configuring a new server and follows a documented standard operating procedure (SOP). After completion, the technician realizes the SOP is outdated and omits a critical security setting. What should the technician do?
medium
✓ A.Apply the missing setting and update the SOP to include it.
B.Ignore the missing setting since the SOP was followed.
C.Submit a change request to update the SOP without applying the setting.
D.Revert the server configuration and wait for an updated SOP.
Why A: Option A is correct because the technician discovered a security gap in the SOP that could leave the server vulnerable. The proper action is to immediately apply the missing critical security setting to protect the server, then update the SOP to reflect the correct procedure. This aligns with change management best practices where security findings take precedence over outdated documentation, and the SOP must be corrected to prevent future misconfigurations.
Variation 8. A technician is updating the documentation for a server that had its RAID controller replaced. The technician must ensure that future technicians can quickly identify the new hardware configuration. Which type of documentation should be updated?
hard
A.The network topology diagram.
B.The change management log.
✓ C.The server's asset inventory record.
D.The knowledge base article for RAID troubleshooting.
Why C: The server's asset inventory record (Option C) is the correct documentation to update because it contains the detailed hardware configuration of the server, including the RAID controller model, firmware version, and disk layout. Future technicians rely on this record to quickly identify the exact hardware components without having to physically inspect the server or dig through logs. Updating the asset inventory ensures that the documented configuration matches the actual hardware, which is critical for troubleshooting, warranty claims, and future upgrades.
Last reviewed: Jun 30, 2026
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