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a change is requested. It helps determine whether a change has occurred and is also

used to determine whether a requested change is aligned with the overall goals and
objectives of the project.

The project management plan is also used as a communication tool for the sponsor,
stakeholders, and members of the management team to review and gauge progress
throughout the project. As such, it’s a good idea to obtain sign-off from the sponsor
and key stakeholders on the final plan. This helps assure a common understanding of
the objectives for the project, the budget, and the timeline and will ideally prevent

misunderstandings once the work of the project begins. It will also help serve as a
baseline when the change requests start rolling in and stakeholders want “one more
little feature” that may or may not be in keeping with the scope of the project. The
project management plan should be updated once a change request is approved.

After-the-Fact Plan

I once was involved on a large project where the project management plan was
being created as the project work was being performed. This created a scenario

where the project manager, the project team members, and other stakeholders did
not have a plan to guide execution of the project, nor did they know what could or
should be changed as the requests came in.

As you can imagine, confusion was rampant, and to no one’s surprise, the project
was quickly off-track.

A project management plan is not a reflection of what has already occurred; it is a
plan for future work that will meet the goals and objectives of the project. It will be
used to determine whether the project was performed within the constraints (time,

scope, cost), to determine whether the milestones were completed, and to validate
change requests.

Implementing Change Control Systems

Changes come about for many reasons, and most projects experience change during
the project life cycle. Some of the common causes of project changes include the

following:
Timeline change

Funding change

Risk events

Requirements change

Quality change

Resource change

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