1. A system for managing changes in a network datacenter, comprising: a configuration management database containing a plurality of configuration items describing every known resource in an information technology datacenter, wherein the configuration management database models one or more relationships between the plurality of configuration items; and a change management engine that receives a request proposing a set of one or more changes to the information technology datacenter, wherein one or more processors cause the change management engine to: identify one or more of the plurality of configuration items involved in the one or more proposed changes to the information technology datacenter; approve the proposed changes without human intervention in response to determining that one or more of the plurality of configuration items potentially impacted from the proposed changes do not describe any of the known resources that are deemed essential or critical; and manage an impact workflow that coordinates interaction between one or more human participants to determine whether or not the proposed changes should be approved in response to determining that the potentially impacted configuration items describe any of the known resources that are deemed essential or critical.