PrintChange Control within the System
Unlike EVM analysis, which is straightforward to quantify, change control is often difficult for project managers to evaluate in a systematic manner. While tracking a project's progress may depend more on a project manager's skills with scope, cost, and timing, change control may depend more on a project manager's people skills, such as human resource and communication management. One way to think about change is in terms of the resources that have already been defined for the work scoped in the project plan. Any change will likely be the result of negotiations between project managers, clients, the team, stakeholders, and sponsors.
Communication serves a vital function in the change control process. Much of this communication may be informal, but three types of documents frequently used in change control are the project plan, status reports, and change requests. A project unaltered from its plan requires no change or change control. In this sense, it's tempting to think of the project plan as a closed system. This strategy, however, does not allow the flexibility required within the larger system of the organization(s).
Most effective project managers instead use the project plan as a path drawn on a map into unknown territory. If all goes as planned and no unexpected landscape is encountered, they will end at the proper destination and at the predicted time. Project managers, however, must be militant about reporting the actual path and schedule, including any unplanned deviations. Status reports are an effective method of communicating with all stakeholders regarding how the predicted path compares with the actual. With these reports, any issues with the scope, cost, or timing of a project can be communicated early on and help to redefine the best path for the remainder of the project.
Alternatively, stakeholders may become interested in locales off of the path outlined by the project plan as the project progresses. Unforeseen opportunities may present themselves during the project, or unpredicted obstacles may occur. In this case, the path can be officially altered with change requests. These requests are often negotiated by stakeholders in the project. They may include changes in scope, timing, cost, or quality of the project.
Some of these change requests may not alter the resource requirements of a project. For example, a GIS project may concentrate more resources on data analysis and less on data capture compared to the project plan. Other change requests may require additional time or money for the completion of work.