Using change Management and change Control within a Project

In any project, change was inevitable whether it comes from within the project or from external sources, therefore it makes Sense to a agreed process in order to identify, assess and control any potential and approved changes to what is O Riginally agreed for the project.

What's needed is a systematic and common approach. Once the project plan and other key associated documents has been approved, these become the project "baselines" and can Only being changed after approval by the appropriate authority, normally the Project Board. Change control was not there to prevent changes, but to ensure that every change was agreed by the relevant authority before implementation.

An important and vital element, was the projects use of the configuration Management (CM). Configuration management may provided as a continuous organisational service or being provided by a Project support Office (PSO). Everything that the project produces are subject to configuration management, this includes management documentation as WEL L as specialist products and deliverables. It is important therefore to integrate the use of change control procedures with the configuration management system used By the project.

The system is set-up to manage change should also include the management of the general issues. An Issue Register should is set up early in the project to capture and assist in the management of change and issues. A Configuration management strategy document must be created as part of planning and this defines the "the" in which changes and issues is to be managed and handled throughout the project.

The difference between an issue and a risk are that the issue have already happened, whereas a risk is something so may or May not be happen at some point on the future.

Whenever an issue was raised, it may was managed informally, usually by the project manager, however if it was to be managed Formally then the project manager would enter it to the issue register before proceeding any further. The PRINCE2 methodology states that a Issue report was created in tandem and contains supplementary information regarding That particular issue.

Changes come in both flavours:

Request for Change (RFC). This comes from the customer or user and was a request to change one of the project baselines in some. If there is any extra costs involved in implementing the RFCs, then the customer would normally pay for it. Since All RFC's is a change to what had been originally agreed, it's normally the Project Board alone would have the Auth Ority to agree such changes.

OFF specification. These is normally raised from the supply side of the project, and details some aspect that should being provided by the Proj ECT, but currently are not, or are forecast not to be provided. This might include products or deliverables that is missing, or a product not meeting its specification or quality Criter Ia.

At the beginning of a project it needs to being decided how changes and issues were to be prioritised, and it's usual that a Ratings system might include terms such as, must has, should has, Could has, or Won ' t has for now. Such definitions need to be agreed.

Another aspect that needs to be decided are whether or not the Project Board or senior management wanted to being involved in Reviewing all project changes. If Many changes is predicted then it could make sense for the Project Board to appoint a change authority who would make de Cisions on such changes on behalf of the Project Board. In such cases, the ' rules of engagement ' needs to be determined.

For example, the change authority would is deal with a low cost changes. Another aspect is setting up a change budget for the change Authority to use to fund any approved changes and their Implem Entation. Such additional budgets should be captured within the project plan before Sign-off.

Onwards to the change control procedure itself ...

Step 1. Whenever a change or issue are raised, it should be categorised and entered in the Issue/change register.

Step 2. An impact analysis should now is carried out and would normally involve relevant specialist team members.

The impact analysis should consider, the change, or issue impact (which may is positive or negative) on a variety of project s aspects such as:

• Time
• Cost
• Quality
• Scope
• Business case
• Benefits
• Risk

The change or issue should is prioritised, first, by the originator, and second, after impact analysis. It is important when carrying out the above impact analysis, which representatives from the project business area, the user S of the end products, and those who is supplying resources to the project, is fully involved so a balanced Decisio n can be reached.

Step 3. Have understood the full impact of the change or issue, the next step was to consider alternative options and proposing t He best actions to take in order to resolve the issue or implement the change. A balanced view is needed and consideration should being given all these options on the projects duration, cost, quality, SCO PE, benefit, and risk performance targets. The advantages gained should is balanced against the impact of implementing the issue or change.

Step 4. A decision is now needed whether, or not, implement the change. For a RFCs, this would normally need escalating to the Project Board for their decision, whereas an off-specification may B E decided by the project manager if they has sufficient authority.

If The project is a using Management by Exception where tolerance boundaries has been set, then should any proposed Impleme Ntation deviate beyond these tolerances, the Project Board must is involved in the decision whether to implement or not.

During implementation, the project manager should ensure, the IT status is reported to the project Board the When the issue or change has been fully implemented.

Using change Management and change Control within a Project