Techniques for a configuration change service to transition a network controller into a frozen state, causing network users submitting configuration changes associated with the network to refrain from deploying the configuration changes for a period of time are disclosed. A first user configured as a stager role may submit data representing a proposed change to the configuration change service, where the proposed change may be stored in association with a list of proposed changes. A second user configured as an approver role may submit data representing an approval or disapproval of the proposed changes to the configuration change service, where a modified list of proposed changes may be generated. A third user configured as an administrator role may submit data configured to transition the controller to an unfrozen state and/or deploy the changes included in the list of proposed changes to the network controller, subsequent to the period of time.