A brief introduction to change control procedure

Change control procedure pertains to the process of handling changes to an item or project. Proper change control procedure will make sure that each stakeholder will have a say in how changes are carried out.

Below you will find a generic change control procedure that might be useful:

Identification of potential change:

This can happen when customer requires a new functionality, when a customer encounters a problem or when the customer proposes that a change be made.

Analysis of change request

The project manager needs to assess whether the change is feasible and that the benefits from the change will exceed the cost.

Evaluation of change request

Based on the information received from the project manager, the change committee should decide whether to go on with the change or disregard it.

Planning for change

Proper plan should be made on how the changes should be implemented. For instance there are companies that might want to implement their changes in one go while others may want to do it little by little.

Implementation

At the implementation stage it is important that there is proper control to make sure that the change is implemented effectively.

Reviewing and closing

Proper verification should be made by the project manager to make sure that everything is done according to the plan. Then the change cycle is completed.

Change control procedure can be quite simple and at the same time can be rather complex. It will all depend on the nature of the change and the project.