In today’s complex business environment, many organizations struggle to effectively manage and control the changes that occur within their organization. This can be particularly difficult when the changes involve multiple stakeholders, departments and disciplines within the organization. To help mitigate these risks, integrated change control is a key process that organizations can turn to. Integrated change control is a process used to control, coordinate and manage changes throughout the organization. It is a proactive approach to change management that brings together all aspects of the organization, including all stakeholders, departments, processes and systems, to ensure changes are accurately tracked, analyzed and managed. By utilizing an integrated change control system, organizations can increase operational efficiency, improve customer service and reduce risk. This blog post will look at the various components of an integrated change control system, how it works and how it can benefit organizations.
6 steps for integrated change control
You can use the following six steps to implement an integrated change control process within your company:
1. Create a project management plan
A project management plan is a written document that describes the project’s objectives, specifics, and due dates. Having a baseline project management plan is crucial so you can assess requested changes against the original plan. This makes it easier for you to understand how the changes may affect the plan and other project components.
For instance, a marketing firm must modify its social media strategy for a particular client. They can quickly view the section on social media in a project management plan, determine their current social media marketing strategies, and assess how they stack up against the requested changes. This can facilitate organization and spare them the need to gather the data at the time of the request, which could speed up implementation.
2. Create a log of the change request
The project manager adds the change to a changelog as soon as someone requests a change to the project. The request may come from a team member, client, or other stakeholder, among others. The changelog is a document that lists all modifications that have been requested and made during the course of a project. Project managers can monitor the status of requested changes and review previous requests to determine if any are repetitive by keeping a log of all change requests and their results.
3. Analyze the impact of the change
Before making a change, it’s crucial to consider how it will affect the project as a whole. This analysis is typically carried out by the project manager or a team in charge of evaluating the impact of change requests. Some common questions the analysis seeks to answer include:
Project managers gather data about the project and the change request to perform this analysis. For instance, if a team requests more personnel to speed up project completion, the project manager may inquire as to the precise number and duration of needed personnel. The project manager can more accurately predict the cost impacts using this data. Additionally, they can predict how the schedule will change if they don’t make the change and how it will change if they do.
4. Decide on a course of action
The project manager selects a course of action following a thorough change analysis. They weigh the various factors to decide whether the change is necessary. For instance, a project manager may decide that extending the deadline by a week is preferable to adding more team members but at a higher cost.
5. Communicate the decision
The project manager has two options for communicating their choice regarding the change request once they have made it. Prior to doing anything else, they update the changelog, noting whether they accepted or rejected the change request. Then, they communicate the decision to the relevant stakeholders. Depending on the project or size of the change, this might entail sending an email or setting up a meeting.
6. Update the project management plan
It’s crucial to update the project management plan to account for the new circumstances if the project manager approves the change request. As a result, the document remains current, and the project manager is able to make changes based on the most recent information in the future. For instance, if the project manager rejects the request for additional team members, they might add a new timeline to the project management plan.
What is integrated change control?
The process of reviewing all change requests made within a project, evaluating those requests, and putting approved changes into practice is known as integrated change control. Project managers may have a better structure for changing a project through integrated change control. They can also predict the results of a proposed change before it is implemented, which enables them to make better project-related decisions.
Types of changes
When a request for a change is made, it usually falls under one of these categories:
Tools for integrated change control
The following resources could assist you with the integrated change control process:
Change control board
A group of people who are in charge of evaluating the effects of all requested changes is known as a change control board. The project manager could save time by designating a separate team to handle this task. Additionally, because they have more time to conduct research and analysis, this group can concentrate solely on the effects of changes, enabling them to make more informed decisions. In larger projects where frequent or extensive changes are requested, change control boards can be useful.
Automated software
Automated software can make the integrated change control process faster. With automated software, stakeholders can more easily request changes, and the proper individuals can be informed of these requests. As an illustration, when a team leader requests more money, the software will automatically create a log and send the request to a change control board. By doing so, communication is sped up, and all change requests are automatically recorded.
Communication software
Additional communication tools can enhance the integrated change control process even with automated software. With the aid of communication tools like chat rooms and file-sharing, it is simpler for all project participants to exchange pertinent information about change requests. Additionally, it makes it simpler to put into practice any changes that have been approved because everyone involved can quickly update one another on project developments.
PMBOK 6: Perform Integrated Change Control Change Request Flow
FAQ
What are the main objectives of integrated change control?
The goals of the integrated control change include managing corrective and preventive changes to stop new problems from arising, making sure those requests comply with the project management plan, and making sure those requests can be incorporated into the work.
Why is perform integrated change control important?
- Make sure there is a “compelling case for the change” and define the goals of the change in terms of “people.” ”.
- Assess stakeholders (i. e. , those affected by the change) for their support and readiness.
- Obtain necessary resources and organize to manage the change.
What are key principles of performing integrated change control?
With the aim of lowering project risks, costs, and times, integrated change control enables documentation of all requested, accepted, or rejected changes to the project without taking into account the overall project objective plans.
