Project Change Control Plan

The project change control plan is developed early on in the project planning process. It lays out,

1. How change requests are documented and submitted,
2. Who has responsibility for what, and
3. Sets up the steering committee.
   
   

How change requests are documented and submitted

For change requests that require steering committee approval the Integrated Change Control Procedure is used. For small change requests the "Change Log" component of the Integrated Change Control Procedure may be all that is needed. The following table can be used as a guide to determine when a change request may be approved by the project manager and when it should be escalated to the steering committee.

PM = Project Manager
SC = Steering Committee

For small changes to a project the Project Manager (PM) has the discretion of approving and documenting the change without the formality of invoking the change control procedure. Whenever a Steering Committee (SC) is needed the complete change control procedure is used.

Who has responsibility for what

In addition to the authority outlined in the table above the Integrated Change Control Procedure details responsibilities for each step in the procedure.

Sets up the Steering Committee

The steering committee is a group of project stakeholders with the responsibility of reviewing the analysis of change requests, making an implementation decision, and documenting that decision.

Typically steering committee membership follows the guidelines for project approvals and oversight found in the Process Guidelines Table. Project managers may wish to include other key project stakeholders and subject matter experts as necessary.