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Oksy, you now have been given a change request as an input to this process.   How do you actually go about evaluating the request so you can either accept or reject it?   The following blog post lists the tools & techniques you will need to use in order to do this.

4.6.2 Perform Integrated Change Control:  Tools & Techniques

4.6.2.1  Expert Judgment

Any time you have a decision-making process, like this one, PMI is going to at minimum recommend two tools:  Expert Judgment and Meetings.   Expert judgment because you want the best inputs into the decision, and Meetings (see paragraph below) because you want the best forum to make that decision.

4.6.2.2  Change Control Tools

Change Control Tools in this context does not mean the Change Control Board alone, but also the tools used, let’s say, if a change request is approved.  (If the change is rejected, it gets recorded in the project document called the change log.)

If a request is approved, that means there will have to be changes in the project management plan.   How can you make sure that everybody working on the project or stakeholders monitoring the project use the “new and improved” version of the project management plan, and don’t up using one of the older, obsolete versions instead?   That is where the configuration management plan comes in.    The details of these activities are contained in the PMBOK Guide.

The other tools used are for managing the change request and the resulting decisions, including action items to implement the change.   These tools have to be accessible to all those who responsible for implementing those changes.

4.6.3.3  Data Analysis

Cost-benefit analysis helps analyze the requested change in terms of costs and benefits:  will the costs of the change be more than the benefits it will create?

Alternatives analysis uses criteria to evaluate the change requests so that they may not only be accepted or rejected, but perhaps modified by alternatives.

4.6.2.4  Decision Making

These techniques include the following:

• Voting–get take the form of unanimity, majority, or plurality (the most votes even if no one block of votes gets a clear majority)
• Autocratic decision making–one individual takes the responsibility for making the decision for the entire group
• Multicriteria decision analysis–a systematic analytical approach to evaluate requested changes according to a set of predefined criteria

4.6.2.5  Meetings

Change control meetings are held by the change control board.   Remember the main work of this meeting is to analyze the impact the proposed change will have on constraints on the project such as time, cost, resources, or risks.    Then the requested changes are discussed along with any alternatives using the data analysis techniques outlined in paragraph 4.6.2.3.   Finally, a decision is made using the decision making techniques outlined in paragraph 4.6.2.4 and the results are communicated to the stakeholders, and the change is managed using change control tools outlined in paragraph 4.6.2.2.

The next post will cover the outputs of this process.

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