It’s inevitable. You will have changes to your project. For the PMP Certification Exam, it’s important to realize that change requests can come from anywhere. The PMBOK Guide shows a change request as an output from 16 different processes. The question, then, becomes whether you will manage them, or whether they will manage you.
The structure you documented in the project management plan to manage change as well as the degree to which you adhere to that structure determines the answer to that question.
You will be managing changes to the project from inception until final close-out. You will have project changes, product changes, changes to plans, and changes to project documents. All need to be analyzed and a decision made whether to accept, reject, or defer the change.
Using a childcare center example, here are some changes that could occur:
Project change: The core team member from legal has taken another job, so you need to bring a new team member onto the project.
Product change: To keep down costs, management decided to have one large playground instead of two separate playgrounds.
Project management plan change: The schedule was just shortened by a month.
Project document change: The city has a new regulation that impacts the childcare center. This is now a requirement that needs to be entered into the requirement documentation and the traceability matrix.
There are 14 different processes that generate change requests. Perform Integrated Change Control is where all the change requests come for analysis and a decision on whether to approve the change requests. The approved changes get implemented; the others don’t. Before getting into too much more detail, review some of the key definitions associated with this process and managing change.
Perform Integrated Change Control. Reviewing all change requests; approving changes and managing changes to deliverables, organizational process assets, project documents, and project management plan; and communicating their disposition.
Change Control. A process whereby modifications to documents, deliverables, or baselines associated with the project are identified, documented, approved, or rejected.
Change Request. A formal proposal to modify any document, deliverable, or baseline.
Change Control System. A set of procedures that describes how modifications to the project deliverables and documentation are managed and controlled.
Change Control Board (CCB). A formally chartered group responsible for reviewing, evaluating, approving, delaying, or rejecting changes of a project, and for recording and communicating such decisions.