Why is Change Management Important in Project Management?

Change management is an approach of dealing with the transformation or change in the goal of an organization. The process of change management takes in consideration the impact of the adjustments made to the existing processes of the organization. Documentation therefore is an important part of change management. It is a plan that guides an organization in successful adoption of a change with an aim of driving the organization to success. The report discusses the impact of change management in time, cost and quality of a project along with the associated risk.

Considering a software project that requires change management, it can be assumed that the change to be incorporated will need an extra five days. For implementing the change, along with the change in schedule, an extra task might be pushed into the project that will have a considerable effect on the time, cost and quality of the same. However, a change is incorporated in the project in order to improve the quality of the project and therefore, it is expected that the change implemented will have a positive impact on the project (Nastase, Giuclea & Bold, 2012). Implementation of a change in an ongoing project indicates addition of an extra task into the project, which will require an additional cost (Schwalbe, 2015). Implementation of a change in the project is expected to change the project schedule as well.

Management of change within an organization is a complex task and therefore need proper management. Use of different change management tools helps in managing and implementing the change within an organization. Two major change management tools include use of a checklist and process map and a change request form for proposing and managing a change. Having a proper communication plan is an important aspect of change management as communicating the change to the team members is important for successful implementation of the required change in a project (Hornstein, 2015).

The different options to satisfy the change request include determining the scope of the change along with the evaluation of scope of incorporating the change in the project. After evaluation of the scope it is necessary to draft the change request from to be approved and communicated among the project team members.

The different risks associated with implementation of a change in a project are as follows-

1. Resistance to change: Often it is found that the project team members are resistant to any change that is incorporated while the project is in its execution phase (Cavalcanti et al., 2014).
2. Scope creep: scope creep is another risk that is associated with the change in management.

3: Risk in costs due to project delays, missed milestones and budget overruns, due to which the project fails to deliver the expected results (Hu et al., 2013).

Tools and Techniques Used for Managing Change

However, if the change management is applied effectively, it is possible to mitigate all the risks that are associated with the project. An improper change request or change management has a negative impact on the customers as well (Kerzner & Kerzner, 2017).

1.) SUBMITTER – GENERAL INFORMATION
CR#	01
Type of CR	ü  Enhancement	Defect
Submitter Name	Project Manager
Brief Description of Request	The change is to be implemented in the testing phase which includes change in the code to make the application more user friendly.
Date Submitted	01/20/2018
Priority	Low	Medium	High	ü  Mandatory
Reason for Change	The testing phase unveiled the presence of certain bugs in the code of the software to be developed that might have a great impact on the users’ experience with the application. Hence a change request is initiated for improving the software before release.
Assumptions and Notes	It is assumed that the requested change will have a little impact on the project schedule as the an extra 5 days will be required to implement the change.
Comments	This change cannot be implemented after project release as some important modification is needed to be done in the project code.
Approval Signature	[Approval Signature]	Date Signed	[mm/dd/yyyy]

2.) PROJECT MANAGER – INITIAL ANALYSIS
Hour Impact		60hrs
Duration Impact		5Days
Cost Impact		Additional $5000 is required
Comments	The change required is although not huge, but it is mandatory since customer satisfaction is an important aspect of a business.
Recommendations	Proper communication is necessary for implementing the change that is propose.
Approval Signature	[Approval Signature]	Date Signed	[mm/dd/yyyy]

3.) CHANGE CONTROL BOARD – DECISION
Decision	Approved	ü  Approved with Conditions	Rejected	More Info
Decision Date	03/05/18
Decision Explanation	The change request plan has been approved by the board with the condition that no further delay will be accounted for the project.
Approval Signature	[Approval Signature]	Date Signed	03/05/18

Scope creep generally refers to the changes, continuous or uncontrollable growth in the scope of the project at any point of time after the project has started its execution. Scope creep generally occurs in a project when the project scope is not properly defined or controlled before the project execution. In short it indicates how the requirements of a project tend to increase over a project life cycle (Suma & LakshmiMadhuri 2013).

The techniques involved in managing the scope creep include understanding and documenting the scope identified for the project in the initial stages of the project. The project should further include a process for changing of the scope if needed. This should define the process of requesting and implementing a change in a project.

Use of different project management software for managing the scope creep along with a proper communication plan is major tools that are used for managing the scope creep of a project (Thakurta, 2013).

Conclusion

Therefore, it can be concluded that in order to implement a change in a project, proper planning and communication is necessary. Change request can be implemented when a change in project processes benefits the successful implementation of the same. Proper identification of project requirements might help in managing the scope creep associated with a project.

References 

Cavalcanti, Y. C., Mota Silveira Neto, P. A., Machado, I. D. C., Vale, T. F., Almeida, E. S., & Meira, S. R. D. L. (2014). Challenges and opportunities for software change request repositories: a systematic mapping study. Journal of Software: Evolution and Process, 26(7), 620-653.

Hornstein, H. A. (2015). The integration of project management and organizational change management is now a necessity. International Journal of Project Management, 33(2), 291-298.

Hu, Y., Zhang, X., Ngai, E. W. T., Cai, R., & Liu, M. (2013). Software project risk analysis using Bayesian networks with causality constraints. Decision Support Systems, 56, 439-449.

Kerzner, H., & Kerzner, H. R. (2017). Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.

Nastase, M., Giuclea, M., & Bold, O. (2012). The impact of change management in organizations-a survey of methods and techniques for a successful change. Revista de Management Comparat International, 13(1), 5.

Schwalbe, K. (2015). Information technology project management. Cengage Learning.

Suma, V., & LakshmiMadhuri, K. (2013). Influence of Scope Creep on Project Success: AComparative Study between Conventional ApproachVerses Agile Approach. In IEEE International Conference on Advanced research in Engineering and Technology (ICARET).

Thakurta, R. (2013). Impact of Scope Creep on Software Project Quality. Vilakshan: The XIMB Journal of Management, 10(1).