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| # OPS-SOP-019: Change Management Process | |
| **Effective Date:** 2025-08-01 | |
| **Revision:** 1.1 | |
| **Owner:** Project Management Office (PMO) | |
| ## 1. Purpose | |
| This Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) establishes a formal process for requesting, evaluating, approving, and implementing changes to a project's scope, timeline, or budget. The objective is to control "scope creep" and ensure that any changes are properly assessed and approved before being acted upon. | |
| ## 2. When to Use This Process | |
| This process must be initiated when a change is proposed that affects any of the "triple constraints" of a project: | |
| - **Scope:** Adding or removing features, deliverables, or requirements. | |
| - **Timeline:** Any change that could impact a major milestone or the final delivery date. | |
| - **Budget:** Any change that results in an increase or decrease in the approved project budget. | |
| ## 3. The Change Management Steps | |
| ### Step 1: Submission of Change Request | |
| - **Who:** Any project stakeholder can propose a change. | |
| - **How:** A formal **Change Request (CR)** must be submitted using the designated Jira ticket type. | |
| - **Content:** The CR must include: | |
| - A clear description of the proposed change. | |
| - The business justification (the "why"). | |
| - The perceived benefits and risks of implementing the change. | |
| ### Step 2: Impact Analysis | |
| - **Who:** The Project Manager (PM) is responsible for leading the analysis. | |
| - **How:** The PM works with the project team to assess the impact of the change on scope, timeline, budget, and resources. | |
| - **Output:** The PM documents the findings of the impact analysis directly in the CR Jira ticket. This must be a quantitative assessment (e.g., "This will add 80 hours of development work and delay the UAT phase by 3 days"). | |
| ### Step 3: Approval by the Change Control Board (CCB) | |
| - A Change Control Board (CCB) is established for each project. The CCB's composition is defined in the Project Charter, but typically includes the Project Sponsor, PM, and key technical/business leads. | |
| - The PM presents the CR and the impact analysis to the CCB. | |
| - The CCB makes one of three decisions: | |
| - **Approved:** The change is accepted. | |
| - **Rejected:** The change is not accepted. | |
| - **Deferred:** The change may be considered at a later date. | |
| ### Step 4: Implementation & Communication | |
| - If the CR is approved, the PM is responsible for: | |
| - Updating the project plan, budget, and other relevant documentation. | |
| - Communicating the approved change to all project stakeholders. | |
| - Integrating the new work into the project's backlog and schedule. | |
| ## 4. Emergency Changes | |
| In rare cases where a change is required to fix a critical issue, an expedited process may be followed with verbal approval from the Project Sponsor, but a formal CR must be submitted retroactively within 48 hours. | |
| ## 5. Related Policies | |
| - **Project Kickoff Procedure (OPS-SOP-018)** | |
| ## 6. Revision History | |
| - **v1.1 (2025-10-20):** Clarified the role of the Change Control Board (CCB) and added a section on emergency changes. | |
| - **v1.0 (2025-08-01):** Initial version. | |