Change
Control
Changes
to specification or scope can potentially ruin any project unless they are
carefully controlled. Change is, however, inevitable. The control of change
means the assessment of the impact of potential changes, their importance,
their cost and a judgmental decision by management on whether to include them
or not. Any approved changes must be reflected in any necessary corresponding
change to schedule and budget.
In PROMISE
all potential changes are dealt with as Project Issues.
This
chapter looks at the control of changes to specialist products, not management
or quality products. Two important points need to be made:
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If a product is to be
changed, its Product Description should be checked for any necessary changes |
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If a product has been
approved by the Project
Board, that product cannot be changed without the
Project Board's agreement. |
One
consideration at Project Initiation should be who can authorise changes to what
the project is to produce. In a project where few changes are envisaged, it may
be reasonable to leave this authority in the hands of the Project
Board. But
projects may be in a dynamic environment where there are likely to be many
requests to change the initial agreed scope of the project.
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Is the Project Board
prepared to make the time available to review all change requests? |
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Does it wish to consider
only the top priority changes and delegate decisions on minor changes to
another body? |
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How will changes be
funded? |
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Will the Project Board go
back to corporate or programme management for extra funds each time a change
is desired? |
In
some projects the Project Board may choose to delegate consideration of changes
to a group, here called a 'Change Authority'. A budget to pay for changes is
normally given to this Change Authority. This arrangement can avoid a number of
Mid Stage Assessments in projects where the frequency of Project Issues is
forecast to be high.
The
Project Board needs to decide before the project moves out of Initiation where
the authority for making changes lies, and these responsibilities must be
written into the appropriate job definitions.