The change management plan will include the following:
Purpose: A brief introductory statement defining the purpose of the change management plan, such as:
The change management plan describes the processes and procedures to influence and manage program changes. It outlines the approaches to follow when there is a program change and assesses its impact on the overall program.
It also analyzes the impact of changes on the overall outcome of the pro-gram and assigns roles and responsibilities to ensure the impact of the change is assessed accordingly, especially since each program involves changes. It focuses on factors that may influence program change to maximize them for the ben-efits of the program. It helps to coordinate changes across the program.
Although the plan is drafted early in the program, it is an iterative document that should be further refined as the work of the program continues throughout the various phases in its life cycle. It involves redirecting or modifying the pro-gram as required based on changes that do in fact occur. It identifies standard change process information used within the organization as well as program-specific information. It should be provided to all program stakeholders.
Definition of the change process: This section describes the change process to be followed in the program. It differentiates between program changes and product/services changes accordingly but integrates the product/services changes into the overall plan. It notes that changes may be either internal to the program or external to it. It identifies the key stakeholders who may be involved and the communication process to follow. It describes how the program manager must communicate the importance of changes to affected stakeholders. The program manager must plan for change, provide resources and support for changes, monitor and track changes, provide feedback on changes to stakeholders, and manage any issues stakeholders may have with each change. It states that changes may be approved, deferred, or rejected; the priority of the change; and its severity in terms of the program. It describes the specific roles and responsibilities of the program stakeholders regarding change management.
Change type: This section shows the types of changes that may occur in the program. Some changes may be mandatory, while others are ones that may benefit the program or may clarify an existing requirement. Regardless, dif-ferent types of changes will then require difdif-ferent levels of detail to be pro-vided concerning the change, and will require different approval conditions.
Some changes will involve more risks than others. The type of change also
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may impact other program documents that may require modification if the change is approved and implemented.
Identification of controlled/configuration items: This section describes the controlled items in the program, sometimes referred to as configuration items.
The emphasis of the identification of these items to be controlled should focus on physical items, documents, forms, and records. They are items that may be legal and regulatory requirements, health and safety guidelines, ones that are sent to contractors, ones that have an impact on the process or deliverables that are outside of the current program, and ones that involve the program’s deliv-erables. For example, certain program artifacts, such as the program charter, program work breakdown structure, program management plan, approved schedule, approved budget, risk register, metrics, and contracts, are examples of possible controlled items or configuration items that require control. Each configuration item should be uniquely identified for control, processing, and tracking. Ideally, the configuration item should be linked to the program work breakdown structure program package identification number.
Change evaluation and approval processes and procedures: This section describes how a change request is to be used, how the change request will be analyzed, how decisions will be made based on the change impact analysis, and metrics to be reported as to the impact of the change. It notes the impor-tance of documenting all change requests. It also describes how notifications to stakeholders regarding the disposition of the change will be made, states the process to implement the approved changes, and verifies that the imple-mentation has occurred.
Change control: This section describes the process to be followed for change control. It explains how the change management process is integrated with the program management information system. It notes the importance of a full audit trail and reporting of the status of change requests. It describes how specific change control systems, such as those for contracts or cost, are part of an integrated change control system across the program.
Change status accounting and metrics: This section describes how informa-tion about the changes is communicated and acinforma-tions are validated. It serves as a feedback mechanism for the overall program change management pro-cess. It describes the process to follow to acquire and enter information about the change into the appropriate repository. It also provides the data through established metrics to validate if the approved changes have been consistent with the program’s objectives and can be tracked to its scope and evolution.
The status of approved changes is tracked to inform the program manager and other stakeholders about the results of an approved change. Metrics are part of the change management plan and include items such as what was changed, when it was changed, what impact it has on the previously captured data and potential effects of new data, and the impact on other related programs and projects. The purpose is to assist the program manager
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in identifying trends in the productivity of implementing various changes, determine if estimating techniques are still valid, track customer satisfaction, and track rework. The metrics should be ones that are analyzed and used to facilitate communication across the program. Ad hoc and periodic reports to be prepared for stakeholders are included in this section.
Change verification and audits: This verification process of this section ensures the program change management goals are achieved through a systematic comparison of requirements with the initial, interim, and final results. The audit process of this section ensures the program configuration items have been handled according to their defined documentation. The actual process used is compared to the documented process to uncover any deficiencies or areas for improvement. This section also describes how results from the audits will be communicated to program stakeholders.
Approvals: This section contains the written approval of the change management plan by the program sponsor, program manager, program management office, members of the program board or governance board, and other stakeholders.
Change Management Plan Template
<Insert Program Name>
Change Management Plan
Program name:
Program manager: PM’s email address here as a hyperlink Program sponsor:
Actual start date:
Approved end date:
Program no.:
Revision history:
Business unit:
A. PurPoSe
A brief introductory statement defining the purpose of the change management plan, such as:
The change management plan describes the processes and procedures to influence and manage program changes. It outlines the approaches to fol-low when there is a program change and assesses its impact on the over-all program.
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B. DeFInITIon oF The ChAnGe ProCeSS
This section defines the change process to be followed in the program. It notes the different changes that may affect the program, the key stakeholders and communications processes to follow, the disposition of changes, the priority of changes, and the roles and responsibilities of the stakeholders.
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C. ChAnGe TyPe
This section shows the types of changes that may occur in the program. It explains that based on the types of changes, different levels of detail to be provided concerning the change will be required as well as different approval requirements. The section also states the effect of the type of change on the impact of other program documents if the change is approved and implemented.
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D. IDenTIFICATIon oF ConTrolleD/ConFIGurATIon ITeMS
This section describes the controlled items in the program or configuration items.
Each one should be uniquely identified for control, processing, and tracking.
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e. ChAnGe evAluATIon AnD APProvAl ProCeSSeS AnD ProCeDureS This section describes how a change request is to be used, how it will be analyzed, how decisions will be made based on the analysis, and how metrics will be reported. It also includes how notifications to stakeholders concerning the disposition of the change request will be made, the process to implement approved changes, and the process to verify that implementation has occurred.
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62 Implementing Program Management: Templates for Success
F. ChAnGe ConTrol
This section describes the process to be followed for change control and explains how the change management process is integrated with the program manage-ment information system. It notes the importance of a full audit trail and report-ing on the status of change requests.
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G. ChAnGe STATuS ACCounTInG AnD MeTrICS
This section describes how information about changes is communicated and actions are validated. It describes the process to follow to acquire and enter information about the change into the appropriate repository and provides data through established metrics to validate if the approved changes are consistent with the program’s objectives and can be tracked to its scope and evolution. The metrics to be collected are described in this section as well as various ad hoc and periodic reports to be prepared.
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h. ChAnGe verIFICATIon AnD AuDITS
This verification part of this section states how the program change management goals have been achieved through a systematic comparison of requirements with the initial, interim, and final results. The audit part of this section states that the program configuration items have been handled as planned and compares the actual process used to the documented process. It also describes how results from the audits will be communicated to stakeholders.
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I. APProvAlS
This section contains the approval of the change management plan by the pro-gram sponsor, propro-gram manager, propro-gram management office, members of the program board or governance board, and other key stakeholders.
SignatureSand date approval obtained
Program manager ____________________________________
Program sponsor ____________________________________
Program management office director ____________________________________
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Governance board chairperson ____________________________________
Governance board member 1 ____________________________________
Governance board member 2 ____________________________________
Governance board member N ____________________________________
Stakeholder 1 ____________________________________
Stakeholder 2 ____________________________________
Stakeholder N ____________________________________