From the course: Project Management Foundations

How to set up a change management plan

From the course: Project Management Foundations

How to set up a change management plan

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- [Instructor] The government tax code started out so simple but a deduction here, a new rule there and now we have the complicated tax returns of today. You know changes are going to happen so the only solution is to manage them. A Change Management Plan helps you add important changes into your project while keeping out the ones that don't make sense. First, you identify what you want to control like the project scope, requirements and the schedule or perhaps the entire project plan. The versions you control are called baseline documents. The list of project requirements approved by the stakeholders is your baseline. If new requirements are suggested, you use your change management process to decide whether or not to add them to the requirements list. You also need a group that reviews change requests and decides whether to approve them. It's called the Change Review Board and it's usually made up of key stakeholders. Then you define a change management process. That's what will happen when someone requests a change. The process your organization chooses depends on things like the company culture and project size. Here are the typical components of change management processes. The first process is documenting and submitting a change request. Use a standardized Change Request Form that requesters fill out. It's easier to evaluate changes because each request has the information. the review board needs to make decisions. Include details about the requested change: the reason it's needed, the business justification and the results it should produce. Next, someone has to evaluate the request and estimate its impact. As project manager, you can assign this task to someone on your team. The evaluator determines whether the change is needed. If it is, the person evaluates whether the suggested approach is correct or if an alternative would be better. The evaluator estimates the effort and cost the change would require, the impact on the project and whether it introduces risks. Third, the Change Review Board reviews evaluated change requests. The board might accept or reject the change request. They also might ask for more detail or revisions. Be sure to communicate the decision to the person who requested the change. For approved requests, you update the baseline documents to reflect the change. For example, your project schedule might need new tasks or deadlines extended. Finally, track where change requests are in your process. A change request log shows the status of submitted change requests, who's in charge of the request, the impact estimate, current status and at the end, actual impact. Consider setting thresholds so team leads can decide what to do with smaller requests. That way your change management process isn't overwhelmed with small items. Also, create a process for emergency changes that need a rapid decision between meetings of the Change Review Board. A Change Management Plan helps you include changes that make sense in your project while protecting your project from being overwhelmed with unnecessary changes. To solidify your understanding of change management, draw a flowchart of the change management processes the hospital might use.

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