Change Management Plan Company Name

Change Management Approach

Definitions of Change

Change Control Board

Roles and Responsibilities

Change Control Process

Change Management is an important part of any project. Changes must be vetted and managed to ensure that they are within the scope of the project and are communicated to all stakeholders if they are approved. The process for submitting, reviewing, and approving changes must also be communicated to all stakeholders in order to properly set expectations. If changes are allowed to be submitted or are implemented in and unorganized way, any project is sure to fail. All projects must include a Change Management Plan as part of the overall Project Plan.

The Change Management Plan was created for the Inventory Services (IS) Project in order to set expectations on how the approach to changes will be managed, what defines a change, the purpose and role of the change control board, and the overall change management process. All stakeholders will be expected to submit or request changes to the IS Project in accordance with this Change Management Plan and all requests and submissions will follow the process detailed herein.

Change requests are very likely to occur at certain steps during a project and it is thus essential to design a system that can deal with them efficiently. The Change Management Plan is initially going to diagnose current circumstances and determine the best approach for implementing changes. This phase is also going to address the degree to which the company's members are going to be involved in the process and each individual's specific role. At this stage stakeholders are also going to play a more active role in developing the change strategy. The likely effects of the change process are going to be considered and addressed individually in order for restructuring to be as effective as possible.

Change Management Approach

This section describes the approach the organization will use for managing change throughout the project. Throughout a project's lifecycle there may be very few or very many submitted changes. The approach taken to manage these changes must be consistent and repeatable in order to provide a quality change management plan and process.

The Change Management approach for the IS Project will ensure that all proposed changes are defined, reviewed, and agreed upon so they can be properly implemented and communicated to all stakeholders. This approach will also ensure that only changes within the scope of this project are approved and implemented.

The Change Management approach is not to be confused with the Change Management Process which will be detailed later in this plan. The Change Management approach consists of three areas:

Ensure changes are within scope and beneficial to the project

Determine how the change will be implemented

Manage the change as it is implemented

The Change Management process has been designed to make sure this approach is followed for all changes. By using this approach methodology, the IS Project Team will prevent unnecessary change from occurring and focus its resources only on beneficial changes within the project scope.

Constancy is going to be a key aspect of any changes that are going to occur during the project, as this would make it possible for project managers and all individuals involved to be able to act in agreement with a set of regulations in order to avoid coming across issues that would either slowdown the project or lead to other changes. By being acquainted with the attitudes they would have to adopt in order to improve the way that change is being implemented, persons involved in the project are more likely to come up with solutions that address issues individually and thus make it possible for the project as a whole to progress separate from these respective issues.

Definitions of Change

This section defines the different types of changes that may be requested and considered for the project. These changes may include schedule change, budget change, scope change, or project document changes. Most changes will impact at least one of these areas and it is important to consider these impacts and how they will affect the project.

There are several types of changes which may be requested and considered for the IS Project. Depending on the extent and type of proposed changes, changes project documentation and the communication of these changes will be required to include any approved changes into the project plan and ensure all stakeholders are notified. Types of changes include:

Scheduling Changes: changes which will impact the approved project schedule. These changes may require fast tracking, crashing, or re-baselining the schedule depending on the significance of the impact.

Budget Changes: changes which will impact the approved project budget. These changes may require requesting additional funding, releasing funding which would no longer be required, or adding to project or management...

May require changes to the cost baseline.
Scope Changes: changes which are necessary and impact the project's scope which may be the result of unforeseen requirements which were not initially planned for. These changes may also impact budget and schedule. These changes may require revision to WBS, project scope statement, and other project documentation as necessary.

The project manager must ensure that any approved changes are communicated to the project stakeholders. Additionally, as changes are approved, the project manager must ensure that the changes are captured in the project documentation where necessary. These document updates must then be communicated to the project team and stakeholders as well.

Change is not going to only address current issues, as each modification to the schedule is going to be recorded in order for future actions to consider them. This would enable stakeholders to be acquainted with potential issues and to what the reason for these might be, given that unforeseen changes can cause problems that they did not initially consider. As previously mentioned, communication is a key concept in the project, with all individuals involved having to stay in touch and provide each-other with essential information they are probable to require while implementing a change. Considering that change itself can bring on issues that have not been initially considered, better connections between stakeholders and project managers can guarantee a less problematic progression.

Change Control Board

This section describes the Change Control Board, the purpose of the board, and the members and their roles on the board. The change control board is the approval authority for all proposed project changes. If a change is not approved by the control board then it will not be implemented with the project. The size and function of change control boards may vary depending on the organization but their purpose and the roles and responsibilities are consistent.

The Change Control Board (CCB) is the approval authority for all proposed change requests pertaining to the IS Project. The purpose of the CCB is to review all change requests, determine their impacts on the project risk, scope, cost, and schedule, and to approve or deny each change request. The following chart provides a list of the CCB members for the IS Project:

Position

CCB Role

A. Smith

IS Project Sponsor

CCB Chair

T. White

IS Project Manager

CCB Member

B. Brown

IS Project Technical Lead

CCB Co-Chair

J. Jones

IS Project Operations Lead

CCB Member

As change requests are submitted to the IS Project Manager by the project team/stakeholders, the Project Manager will log the requests in the change log and the CCB will convene every other Friday to review all change requests. For a change request to be approved, all CCB members must vote in favor. In the event more information is needed for a particular change request, the request will be deferred and sent back to the requestor for more information or clarification. If a change is deemed critical, an ad hoc CCB meeting can be called in order to review the change prior to the next scheduled bi-weekly CCB meeting.

The Change Control Board is going to consist of individuals that have a complex understanding of the project and that thus have the experience needed in order to determine whether or not a particular change should occur. At the same time, these people should be able to be in control of specifics regarding a change process -- factors such as the time period the change should occur in, the investments it would require, and the individuals involved in it should all be considered in order for them to be on top of the matter.

Roles and Responsibilities

This section describes the roles and responsibilities of project team members in regards to the change management process. It is important that everyone understands these roles and responsibilities as they work through the change management process. These roles and responsibilities must be communicated as part of the change management plan to all project stakeholders.

The following are the roles and responsibilities for all change management efforts related to the IS Project:

Project Sponsor:

Approve all changes to budget/funding allocations

Approve all changes to schedule baseline

Approve any changes in project scope

Chair the CCB

Project Manager:

Receive and log all change requests from project stakeholders

Conduct preliminary risk, cost, schedule, scope analysis of change prior to CCB

Seek clarification from change requestors on any open issues or concerns

Make documentation revisions/edits as necessary for all approved changes

Participate on CCB

Project Team/Stakeholders:

Submit all change requests on standard organizational…