Change Control System and Change Control Board


A change control system (PMBOK 3rd edition) "includes the documentation, tracking systems, and approval levels necessary for authorizing changes. It includes the paperwork, tracking systems, processes, and approval levels necessary for authorizing changes." In practice, this describes a way of determining how the project manager will deal with changes and also a way of tracking whether the changes have been accepted. If you don't write the changes down and make them a permanent part of the project record, problems will probably occur later. Make sure you keep track of changes. If you do not have the information about how you, the project manager, should deal with changes, then meet with functional managers and the sponsor to get this information recorded.

One of the systems that you need to put in place immediately upon beginning the execution of a planned project is a Change Control Board. This group is the one through which all changes to the project are channeled. It is not always necessary to have a CCB, particularly on fairly small projects. But as the projects get larger, it is important to have a board that controls changes.

Who is on the CCB? The first person on the CCB is always the project manager of the project. You do not want to have changes going on as a project manager without the capacity to give input into how the changes will affect the project. If possible, you should include the sponsor. This may be problematic if the sponsor is a high-ranking manager in the organization who does not really have the time to look at each change. In that case, get someone to represent the sponsor. It is also possible that a project manager may be able to sign off on changes up to a certain dollar amount or a certain time span. If the change in question goes above the approved dollar or time amount, the sponsor or the sponsor's representative should be on the CCB.

Often technical experts are included on a CCB. For an IT project, several functions are needed to complete a project. You may choose someone from marketing or someone from development to sit on your CCB if his or her particular expertise is useful. You are looking for someone who can evaluate the impact of the requested change on the projectin particular, someone who can explain how the change will impact his or her specific functional area during the project.

Q.

The one function that must be on the CCB is the:

 

A.

Sponsor

 

B.

Executive manager

 

C.

Team lead

 

D.

Project manager


The answer is D. Once again, the project manager is an indispensable part of the whole project process. Hooray for project managers!

You do not want to have a massive CCB that moves slowly. Much of the time, the requested changes impact the project immediately. Failure to have a CCB that is available to act quickly on change requests can back up a project and frustrate everyone working on the project. After the change request is approved, you immediately need to inform the project team. How to do this is discussed more in the information control sections. If the change request is denied, you should save the request anyway. Note who was on the CCB and what the reasons were that the request was turned down. It is possible that the same request may be resubmitted later, in which case it is helpful to have some historical perspective on what happened the first time. It is also possible that the request will be accepted the second time it goes past the CCB. Again, it is helpful for the project manager to keep records of change requests so that he or she can refer to them throughout the project.

One of the major parts of a change control system is a formal system of accepting or rejecting change requests. One of the most insidious problems a project manager can have is a series of small changes that are done without formal recognition. This may happen when one of the team members is meeting with his or her manager and agrees to make a small change in the baseline. Often this is done verbally. (I do not know why, but these small changes always seem to be requested in the company cafeteria.)

What happens when you have one small change that isn't recognized formally? Well, actually not too much. But the problem is compounded when dozens of "small" changes are made to the project without formal acknowledgment. This is known as "Scope Creep," and it can cause the project to fail as much as any other factor. Every change must be formally requested and noted. Unless this is done, you will find that lack of control, either using a CCB or doing Scope control by yourself, will cause you problems.

Finally, it is extremely important that whoever is on your Change Control Board is flexible in handling change requests. This means that they have the authority to act for the organization on major changes to the project and are available to consider the changes. Nothing is quite so frustrating as having a CCB without authority, where from time to time someone says, "I must take this to my boss." If this happens, reconstruct your CCB to get the necessary authority in the meeting. It also means that CCB members should be available on short notice for reviewing changes. Change requests can come at any time during the project, so the CCB, if you have one, has to be able to react quickly.

Q.

After a change request has been denied, you should:

 

A.

Record it and save it

 

B.

Get on with the next request

 

C.

Forget it

 

D.

Tell the project team


The answer is A. Keeping track of all change requests is valuable as the project goes on.

Q.

Change requests are made against the:

 

A.

Charter

 

B.

SOW

 

C.

Executive summary

 

D.

Project baseline


The answer is D. All change requests are made against a project plan that has the project baseline. If a change is desired in the baseline, a change request should be submitted.

Q.

Change requests should be:

 

A.

Formal

 

B.

Timely

 

C.

Interesting

 

D.

Long


The answer is A. This makes the process the same time after time and gives a record of changes requested.

Q.

If change requests are not done formally, this often leads to:

 

A.

Management excellence

 

B.

A new scope statement

 

C.

Scope creep

 

D.

Information creep


The answer is C. Track everything that changes your original planning. Scope creep is a killer as the project goes on. It can also bring the project to a grinding halt.

Q.

The Change Control Board should:

 

A.

Be flexible

 

B.

Have appropriate authority

 

C.

Include the project manager

 

D.

All of the above


The answer is D. All of the questions in this section point out that the control of changes is one of the major tasks of a professional project manager. Here is a question that reflects the reality of having a senior manager making change requests without going through a system.

Q.

The CEO comes into your office (cubby). He or she asks for changes to be made in the scope of the project but doesn't have enough time to go through a formal procedure, and because everyone on the project actually reports to him or her, it is expected that you get these things done. You should:

 

A.

Run like hell.

 

B.

Make sure the project team knows you are important enough to talk to the president.

 

C.

Determine what will happen if the change is made and then report that to the president.

 

D.

Run like hell.


I know that A and D are the same, but it is a human reaction to want to get out of a bad situation. The answer is C. At least make an attempt to let the CEO know what his or her change requests will do to the project. That is about the most you can do. Unless you have another job waiting, that is.

Project Management Information System (PMIS)

Although this topic gets little explanation in the PMBOK 3rd edition, it turns up on the exam, so it is a good idea to understand it. According to the PMBOK 2nd edition, a PMIS consists of "the tools and techniques used to gather, integrate, and disseminate the outputs of project management processes." In this case, there is a formalized understanding of the various means of getting information about the project, putting it together, and sending it out to the appropriate people on the project. Although the concept is good, it often isn't done formally but rather becomes a de facto part of running a project.

You can use either electronic documents or paper to implement this system. For the most part, today people keep documents in electronic form, particularly on IT projects. If you are working on large construction projects with paper blueprints, then some of your management systems will be on paper.

Q.

The tools and techniques used to gather, integrate, and disseminate the outputs of project management processes are called a:

 

A.

SOW

 

B.

Scope Statement

 

C.

Management system

 

D.

PMIS


The answer is D. This is an example of two answers that are alike. You could argue that a PMIS is in fact a management system, and it is. However, you are going to take the exam, so remember the definition of a PMIS.



Passing the PMP Exam. How to Take It and Pass It
Passing the PMP Exam: How to Take It and Pass It: How to Take It and Pass It
ISBN: 0131860070
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 167
Authors: Rudd McGary

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