Change Control, Change Requests, and the
CCB: PMP Concepts
4 Project Integration Management
Change is inevitable. Yes, I know that statement might seem different than what you have
read in our other PMP Blogs. In most blogs we spend a large portion of our post highlighting
the importance of good planning. We might even go so far as to say that you should be able
to account for every risk with a subsequent action plan to deal with the risk.
Well the good news is I am not contradicting the importance we have put on planning;
instead, I am providing another area that you, as the PM, will need to plan for within a
project. For every project you should create a well thought out change management plan,
because as we said above, change is inevitable, so we have to plan for it.
Change management is a part of the Integration Management knowledge area and contains
processes within the Planning and Monitor and Control process groups. Again, it is so
important that you understand what my previous sentence is referencing. If the words,
process groups or knowledge areas mean nothing to you, please consider spending some time
reading our blog about the PMP Process Chart.
Within change management, there are a few key topics you need to know. Let’s spend some
time learning more about change control, change requests, and the change control board.
Change Control
Within your change management plan, you should detail your change control. What does that
mean? Ultimately, during your planning process group, you should outline who and how
change can be processed for your project.
Some companies have set policies on change control and have established change control
systems. In these organizations planning for change is much easier as it is already decided for
you.
As you are reading this you should be thinking about those OPAs you have learned about in
my peers blog. A change control system is absolutely an example of an OPAs.
Change Request
While your project is in the execution process group you should be constantly monitoring and
controlling progress. (Yes, Monitor and Control is another process group, but should be done
in tandem with execution). Is your project tracking on schedule, on budget, on scope?
If not, during your trend analyses, you might determine corrective action is needed. If action
is needed this will result in a change request.
You should complete a change request based on what you have learned about your project
and the action needed to bring the project back in line with expectations. This request is
submitted to the Change Control Board.
Change Control Board (CCB)
The Change Control Board should be created during the planning process group. You want to
know who is needed to approve any requested changes. The Change Control Board is the
only group that can approve a change to the project.
The CCBs can look different for different projects, but it is critical that you have this group to
ensure only appropriate or realistic changes are made to the project.
Change Management In Total
Within your project, you will experience change at some point. Stakeholders have different
opinions and most project members are working on other tasks. With just these two very
simple items you can receive a lot of requests for changes to the project plan.
Having a well thought out plan on how to handle change when it is requested is critical to
your success. Not every change is beneficial to the project, so having a well-informed and
thoughtfully appointed CCB is extremely helpful.
Remember you didn’t do anything wrong if change is needed for your project; you just need a
good change management plan to address what comes up!
