What is Change Control in Project Management? 

The change initiative program is different for different organizations. It doesn’t matter what the change initiative is, you should analyze it, and accept or reject the change request. Today, we’ll discuss what is change control in project management; the various steps involved in the process; integration, and project managers are helping change control.

What is Change Control? 

Change control is a systematic method of analyzing the change request that would influence the baseline of the project. It is a method to acknowledge the change from the recognition point to every step of the change cycle. However, it comprises analyzing the change request, approving, rejecting, deferring, or making adjustments.

The objective of the change control process is to ensure that you won’t change things in the project that doesn’t need changing. The thing you should avoid is wasting valuable time and resources, and disrupting the project without any reason. You need to approve the changes, and then document them.

Some of the key elements of the change control are as follows;

• Change Control board: representative of the project team either to approve or disapprove the change request 
• Request for change: formal petition for change and discusses the reasons for change 
• Change order: approval of change request makes it an order; BOD, stakeholders, and clients sign the document 
• Change log: documenting all the changes made in the project 

Change Control vs Project Management 

Change control and project management are completely different from each other, and they may overlap with each other in some projects. Project management is the process of focusing your resources, expertise, knowledge, and skills to achieve specific results. However, change control is the process of working on the changes in a previously approved project.

What is Change Control in Project Management? 

Change control in project management is a systematic procedure that the team employs to bring changes to an already approved project. It comprises of following areas;

• Budget estimation
• Goalposts and deadlines
• New hiring after the evolution of the project

The project change control makes sure that various stakeholders are on board and they have agreed to the changes in the project; revise the project elements when it comes to it. It streamlines the communication channel, saves time and energy, and refers to the repetitive process for effective change.

Change Control Process – Steps 

Some of the key steps involved in the change control process are as follows;

Changes Proposal

First of all, you should recognize the change, and it would come from the customers, stakeholders, and project team members. The proposal discusses the change in detail and how it would benefit the organization. If the management has got other reasons for change, they should mention them in the change proposal.

Impact Summary

As the name implies, it would discuss how the change would impact the organization, stakeholders, and other variables. It would be in the form of cost, schedule, time, regulatory constraints, and availability of resources.

Decision Making

The project manager would recommend the changes, but they don’t have the authority to make the final decision. The project manager would present the case to the authorized people, and they would make the final decision; whether to accept, reject, defer, or make adjustments to the plan.

Planning Change

After the approval of the change request, it moves to the stage of action planning. The project manager would set the time and schedule for the change program. After the completion of the planning phase, it moves to the stage of final review to identify the problems that would jeopardize the success of the plan.

Closure

The change requesting person would review the final result and analyze whether it satisfies their demands or not. Once they sign the final changes, the team would complete the paperwork and put it in the company’s record.

Integrating Change Control in Project Management

Some of the main steps in integrating change control in project management are as follows;

Developing Change Control System

First of all, you should define the change and the request for the change. If you are including some extra steps in the process, they would impact the deadline and timeline. You should know how you are going to approve, submit, and update the request.

Setting Change Control Procedures

The change leader would communicate the changes with various stakeholders of the company. In order to keep the change request moving forward, it is significant to beware of their responses and reactions. Don’t forget to tell them how the change would impact various stakeholders, schedules, and timelines.

Impact of Possible Changes

It is significant to know the impact of the change program. If your team members have got any questions or requests after communicating the change program, then you should answer them. For instance, if the change program would impact the budget, then you would lose a lot of dollars.

Listing Relevant Tasks & Activities

You should review the change request relevant to all the tasks and activities to find out any conflicts. It is possible that you would find some overlapping areas, and it would reduce the workload.

Drafting Template

If you are following the readymade template, then it would save you time, resources, and energy.

Project Managers Helping Change Control Process 

Some of the main ways in how project managers help change the control process are as follows;

• Tracking Results & Progress
• Coordinating and collaborating with all the relevant changes & Attaching Documents
• Creating and developing a change management plan

Conclusion: What is Change Control in Project Management? 

After an in-depth study of what is change control in project management; we have realized that the change control process is different from project management. If you’re learning about change control in project management, then you should keep in mind the abovementioned process, steps, and integrating process.