Approving Change in Projects

The change-control system guides how changes may be approved. Generally there are guidelines based on the size and impact of the changes.

For all major changes that could alter the scope, timing, cost, or quality of the product or project, the change-control board needs to be contacted. The change-control board is composed of individuals from various areas of the company who join together to review and make decisions concerning scope changes to the project. This allows for objectivity concerning resources, scheduling, and financial decisions. The members of this board will make a recommendation and determine the tradeoffs involved in the triple constraints cost, scope, and time for approving the change. In a project, all these areas have an impact on one other. For example, if scope is enlarged, time and cost generally increase as well.

Any emergency changes made without approval of the change-control board need to go through the change-control processes to document the incidents and to provide approval after the occurrence.

Who can authorize change is often a question on the exam.

Once the change is approved or the corrective action is taken, more project reporting is necessary to determine whether the action was successful in bringing the project back on track.