PRINCE2 effective change control guidance
The starting point for all projects will be to identify whether there are any corporate, programme management or customer policies and processes that need to be applied, and incorporate them into the project’s change control approach.
If the project is within a programme or portfolio, then maybe a requirement that the project uses their policies and processes
In a commercial environment, a project may be required to adopt change control procedures and process is defined in the contract
Issue management and change control may be treated as separate process is or procedures provided the relationship between them is defined. The approach may be tailored to reflect any tools used, in terms of roles, workflow and terminology
PRINCE2 Project size, scale and complexity
Ensure that the change control approach is appropriate to project size, scale and complexity. It is important to ensure that the change control approach to a project provides support for effective decision-making on the project and does not create undue burden or bureaucracy.
In general, smaller, simple projects will need correspondingly simpler issue management and change control arrangements.
PRINCE2 Managing product baselines
All projects need an appropriate approach to creating, maintaining and controlling product baselines for both management and specialist products.
For simple projects, document management procedures will generally suffice
More complex projects will usually need some form of formal configuration management, and their management or product management process, are often supported by specific tools
Regardless of size, scale and complexity, the project team needs to determine:
The appropriate level at which products need to be baselined. This is generally determined by breaking down the projects products on two levels reached at which component can be independently released, installed, replaced or modified.
However, the level of control exercised will be influenced by the importance of the project and the complexity of the relationships between its products
How configuration items are identified. Generally, a coding system of some type will need to be established, providing a unique identifier for each configuration item
The specific authorities’ and authorization is needed to approve and baseline configuration items
What information about configuration items needs to be captured and maintains in configuration item records, if used
It is good practice to periodically verify that the actual status of products reflects the authorized state of products as they are registered in the configuration item records, looking for any discrepancies.
This is usually through reviews or audits, typically undertaken at the end of each stage and at the end of the project
PRINCE2 The project delivery approach
Is important that the approach to managing issues and changes works with, and supports, the project chosen delivery approach, rather than working against it.
For example, a change control approach that defines that there will be a monthly review of proposed changes is unlikely to effectively support an agile delivery approach with reviews happening every week or two weeks
The appropriate definition of product descriptions, quality criteria, quality tolerances and work packages is important. It may be reasonable to leave this authority in the hands of the project board.
But for projects where there are likely to be many changes, the project board may choose to delegate some decisions to a person or group, called the change authority
The project manager and/or the people with delegated project assurance responsibilities, may act as the change authority.
In practice, most of changes will be generated at work package level
It is important to ensure that the change authority for work packages have sufficient delegated authority so that changes can be made without having to escalate decisions to the project board for approval.
PRINCE2 Establishing a change budget
A change budget is a sum of money that the customer and supplier agree will be used to fund the costs of requests for change, and possibly also their analysis costs
Unless the anticipated level of change on the project as low, it is advisable for a budget to be set up to pay for changes
This arrangement can reduce the number of trivial exceptions arising in projects where the frequency of requests for change is forecast to be high.
Including the change budget provides for a more realistic expectation of the overall costs/timeframe of the project
Where a change budget is given to a change authority, the project board may wish to put a limit on:
- The cost of any single change
And
- The amount spent on change in any one stage without reference to the project board
The change control procedure would then be defined in such a way as to control access to the change budget. If used, the change budget is documented in the relevant plan.
The project board should decide the need for a change budget
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