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As learned in PMP and CAPM Certification course - here’s how the process works.
·
Identifying that a change is about to occur
The procedure begins when the customer makes a request that
you believe is outside the project's agreed-upon scope. Your team may assist
you in managing scope, but it is the project manager's role as the final
gatekeeper to raise the red flag when work appears to be requested that is
outside the defined project scope. After all, by allowing the project to spiral
out of control, no one has more to lose in terms of their reputation than the
project manager. Without the advantage of a change order, out-of-scope
adjustments can have severe consequences for the project budget and timetable,
which are two of the three major measuring sticks in assessing overall project
success (the third being customer/stakeholder satisfaction).
· Documenting the change
When a possible modification is found – generally by the
project manager or one of his team members – the first step should be to inform
the client that the work being considered may fall outside of the project's
scope. It's never a bad idea to inform the consumer as soon as feasible. The
last thing you want to do is catch your customer off guard with an unexpected
change request; it won't help you score any brownie points with them. Customers
want to know what's going on.
As learned in PMP and CAPM
Certification course - the next step is to have a detailed
discussion with the entire team about the adjustment. Treat it like a
mini-project, and talk about what tasks are needed, who will execute the job,
and how much time it will take. This data will be included into a formal change
order document, as well as the project timeline and budget projection, to be
presented to the customer. The project schedule will need to be updated to
reflect the new or changed tasks and resource assignments, as well as the
project budget projection to reflect the increased income that will be achieved
as a result of the work.
·
Negotiating, finalizing the project impact
It's time to take the change order to the client for
official approval once your team has agreed on the change order effort, tasks,
and estimate and it's formally documented in the form of a change order. On the
first pass, there's no assurance that you'll receive agreement. If you're
talking about a $150,000 change order rather than a $1500 change order, you may
need to haggle. It's also conceivable that you exaggerated the scope of your task
since you didn't completely comprehend your customer's request. The trick is to
adjust the change order such that the change is clearly recorded and you can
acquire a formal signoff from the client - which effectively creates a
new/revised baseline for the project, its timetable, and budget.
Want to learn more about the same? Take on a project
management or business analysis professional certification today!