An additional report, another interface or an adjustment shortly before acceptance: In the customer meeting, the request seems manageable. The project team begins with the implementation. Only later does it become clear that development, testing and coordination cause more effort than expected.
If additional services are not recorded as such, your company bears the costs. Change Request Management helps to transparently evaluate changes and agree them with the customer before unplanned effort arises.
What is Change Request Management?
Change Request Management is the regulated handling of change requests in project management. It examines how a desired change affects the agreed scope of services, effort, costs and schedule.
The responsible persons then decide whether and under what conditions the change will be implemented. A change request is therefore initially a proposal, not yet a work order.
The aim is to enable further developments and to make their consequences comprehensible for both sides.
When does a customer request become an additional service?
The crucial question is: Is the requirement already part of the agreed scope of services?
To do this, the team needs a reliable basis. Offers, service descriptions, documented assumptions and acceptance criteria must be sufficiently specific. If this clarity is missing, discussions arise about what was originally meant.
An incorrectly implemented, agreed function is to be treated differently than a new requirement. Even a technical specification is not automatically a change subject to a fee. This classification should be made before the team makes a commitment.
In the case of project-based consulting and IT services, this boundary becomes blurred particularly quickly. Customer needs develop further during implementation. At the same time, employees want to help and move the project forward. Without a coordinated approach, this results in services whose remuneration remains unclear.
Why small changes have
a bigger impact The pure implementation time rarely fully reflects the actual effort. An additional interface may also require adjustments to the data model, new test cases, documentation and further coordination.
In addition, there are effects on other tasks. If a specialist is deployed at short notice for an additional request, work packages that have already been promised may be postponed. The schedule changes, although the individual requirement initially seemed uncritical.
Scope creep is particularly problematic: the project scope grows step by step without budget, resources and deadlines being adjusted accordingly. Every change seems small. In total, a different project is created than originally calculated.
A streamlined process for change requests
1. Clearly identify
the requirement Document what is to be changed, what the business purpose of the change is, and who requested it. The description must be so specific that the client and the project team expect the same outcome.
2. Fully evaluate
the effects In addition to the implementation effort, check tests, dependencies, resources and deadline postponements. Record assumptions and open questions. An estimate with unclear assumptions should also be recognizable as such.
3. Bring
about a decision The customer needs an understandable basis for decision-making: What will be delivered additionally? What costs will be incurred? Which deadlines will change? A postponement or exchange for another service can also make sense.
The release should be documented in a comprehensible manner. For urgent cases, a clearly regulated exception with defined decision-making authority is required.
4. Update
planning and billing After approval, the change must arrive in everyday project life. Tasks, resource planning and budget must be adjusted. Additional expenses should be able to be assigned to the approved change.
If only the approval is given while the team continues to work with the old plan, the economic control remains incomplete.
What role does Dynamics 365 Project Operations play?
For companies that use Dynamics 365 Project Operations, the change process should be linked to operational project management. Approval in the e-mail inbox alone does not ensure that additional services are taken into account in planning and billing.
Determine how approved changes are mapped in your system landscape: What project information is updated? How are additional services assigned? Where can the reference to the customer agreement be traced?
The concrete implementation depends on your contract structure, the functions used and the configuration. A consistent connection between requirements, decision, implementation and commercial processing is crucial.
How to tell if your process is working
Effective change request management can be checked by asking specific questions: How many changes are decided before work begins? What additional expenses are incurred without approval? Are approved services actually billed?
Also check how long decisions take. A cumbersome process can lead employees to circumvent it. For small changes, a simplified procedure with clear value and decision boundaries can therefore be useful.
Clear agreements also relieve the burden on the customer relationship
Transparent change processes give customers a choice. They can decide whether an additional benefit justifies the effort or whether other requirements take precedence.
At the same time, your project team gets clarity about which services have been promised and when implementation can begin. This reduces later discussions about invoices and postponed deadlines.
INKUBIT supports you in coordinating project processes and Dynamics 365 Project Operations. A sensible starting point is the question of where additional requirements lose their way into your planning and billing today.
Frequently asked questions about change request management
What is the difference between change request and scope creep?
A change request is an explicitly recorded change request. Scope creep refers to the creeping growth of the project scope without corresponding adjustment of agreements and planning.
Does every change request have to be charged additionally?
No. First of all, it must be checked whether the requirement has already been agreed. In the case of an actual additional service, a decision can then be made on remuneration, prioritization or an exchange of services.
Who should approve a change request?
The approval should be carried out by people who are allowed to decide on the scope of services, budget and deadlines. Responsibilities and decision-making boundaries should be defined at the beginning of the project.
