Managing Project Changes: Instructor Hamza Ejaz

Lecture 17
Managing Project Changes
Instructor
Hamza Ejaz
Outline
• Changes to a Project
– Unfunded changes
– Client-funded changes
– Non-economic factors
• Change administration and approval procedure.
• Change Implementation and Integration
• Two Dimensional Approach to Project Structuring
Introduction
Definition: the process, tools and techniques to manage the people side of change to
achieve a required business outcome.
• "What is change management?" This is a question you may have heard from

colleagues or coworkers in passing or in formal presentations. While many of us
know intuitively what change management is, we have a hard time conveying to
others what we really mean.
• In thinking about how to define change management, it is important to

provide context related to two other concepts: the change itself and project
management. Change management and project management are two critical
disciplines that are applied to a variety of organizational changes to improve
the likelihood of success and return on investment.
The Goal of Change: Improving by Altering How Work is Done
When you introduce a change to the organization, you are ultimately going to be
impacting one or more of the following:
– Processes
– Systems
– Organization structure
– Job roles
• While there are numerous approaches and tools that can be used to improve the
organization, all of them ultimately prescribe adjustments to one or more of the
four parts of the organization listed above.
• Change typically results as a reaction to specific problems or opportunities the
organization is facing based on internal or external stimuli.
• While the notion of becoming “more competitive” or “closer to the customer” or
“more efficient” can be the motivation to change, at some point these goals must
be transformed into the specific impacts on processes, systems, organization
structures or job roles. This is the process of defining the change.
Defining Change Management and Project Management
• It is not enough to merely prescribe the change and expect it to happen; creating
change within an organization takes hard work and an understanding of what must
actually take place to make the change happen.
• To begin, let’s look at the formal definitions of change management and project
management, two key disciplines required to bring a change to life. These are two
commonly accepted definitions that help us begin to think about these two
distinct but intertwined disciplines:
Project Management: Project management is the application of knowledge, skills,

tools and techniques to project activities to meet project requirements.
• Project management is accomplished through the application and integration of
the project management processes of initiating, planning, executing, monitoring
and controlling, and closing.
Change Management: Change management is the process, tools and techniques to
manage the people side of change to achieve the required business outcome.
• Change management incorporates the organizational tools that can be utilized to
help individuals make successful personal transitions resulting in the adoption and
realization of change.
Changes to a Project
Project changes are foremost evaluated on the basis of funding
requirement, although there are a lot of changes that can be
incorporated in project without no cost increase or only a negligible cost
increase. Therefore, changes are first assessed on the whether they are:
1. Unfunded changes: These are the changes in which the sponsor

refuses to foot the bill.
2. Client-funded changes: These are changes in which the sponsor is
willing to accept costs and fund the change.
3. Non-economic factors: These are the changes having
no economic importance or implication.
Additional Information (Perspective of Development Economics): According to this

classification, labour, capital, land or natural resources, technology, management etc.,
are considered economic factors and culture, religion, tradition etc. non-economic
factors. There is still an ambiguity about the situation of knowledge - which has an
important role in economic development.
Integrated Change Control
• Integrated change control involves identifying,
evaluating, and managing changes throughout
the project life cycle
• Three main objectives of change control:
– Influence the factors that create changes to
ensure they are beneficial
– Determine that a change has occurred
– Manage actual changes when and as they
occur
7
Integrated Change Control Process
8
Change Control in Projects
• Former view: The project team should strive to do
exactly what was planned on time and within budget
• Problem: Stakeholders rarely agreed up-front on the
project scope, and time and cost estimates were
inaccurate
• Modern view: Project management is a process of
constant communication and negotiation
• Solution: Changes are often beneficial, and the
project team should plan for them
9
Change Control System
• A formal, documented process that describes
when and how official project documents and
work may be changed
• Describes who is authorized to make changes
and how to make them
• Often includes a change control board (CCB),
configuration management, and a process for
communicating changes
10
Change Control Boards (CCBs)
• A formal group of people responsible for
approving or rejecting changes on a project
• CCBs provide guidelines for preparing change
requests, evaluate change requests, and
manage the implementation of approved
changes
• Includes stakeholders from the entire
organization
11
Making Timely Changes
• Some CCBs only meet occasionally, so it may
take too long for changes to occur
• Some organizations have policies in place for
time-sensitive changes
– “48-hour policy” allows project team members to
make decisions, then they have 48 hours to reverse
the decision pending senior management approval
– Delegate changes to the lowest level possible, but
keep everyone informed of changes
12
Configuration Management
• Ensures that the products and their descriptions are
correct and complete
• Concentrates on the management of technology by
identifying and controlling the functional and
physical design characteristics of products
• Configuration management specialists identify and
document configuration requirements, control
changes, record and report changes, and audit the
products to verify conformance to requirements
13
Suggestions for Managing Integrated
Change Control
· View project management as a process of constant
communications and negotiations
· Plan for change
· Establish a formal change control system, including a
Change Control Board (CCB)
· Use good configuration management
· Define procedures for making timely decisions on smaller
changes
· Use written and oral performance reports to help identify
and manage change
· Use project management and other software to help
manage and communicate changes
14
Two Dimensional Approach to Project Structuring
The classic two-dimensional method of project structuring involves the following
components:
• work breakdown structure (WBS)
• organization breakdown structure (OBS)
• cost accounts
• work packages/activities
• a coding system based on the above
• cost breakdown structure (CBS)
• a WBS dictionary that defines the elements and cost accounts.
Questions?

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Lecture 17

Managing Project Changes

• "What is change management?" This is a question you may have heard from

• In thinking about how to define change management, it is important to

Project Management: Project management is the application of knowledge, skills,

1. Unfunded changes: These are the changes in which the sponsor

Additional Information (Perspective of Development Economics): According to this

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