Manage change requirements

- If there's one thing we can always count on from projects it's that things are going to change. In order to define our scope we need to start off with a good set of requirements, but even after they've been approved those requirements can change. So we need to be ready for it. It could be that we miss some requirements during the elicitation process. We could have learned something once we started working on the project, or something about our business, or our business environment might have changed. The easiest way to track all of this is with a versioning process. First we need to have a process for submitting change requests, and for having them reviewed and approved. It's sometimes handy to have a change request template to make sure that we're getting the necessary information about what the change is, who's requesting it, and why they think it's important. If a change isn't approved, then the person who submitted it needs to be notified. If the change is approved then it needs to be incorporated into the requirements report and everyone needs to be notified. Now the requirements report is a formal document that's been reviewed and approved. So, every time we make a change to the report, we're actually making a new version. In order to keep track of the versions it helps to include a revision number. I also like to add a change log to the requirements report so there's a short summary of the changes in each revision and the data on which they were approved. That makes it easy to see exactly what's changed and when it happened. I've included a template under the change log tab in the course workbook. Last, we need to make sure that everyone who uses the requirements report is working from the most current version of the document. That's pretty easy with electronic documents, because you can just email the most current version out, or store it on a shared drive. But people do need to know about it when requirements change, so it's a good idea to address this scenario in your communications plan. Think about who needs to be notified and how you're going to let them know. Requirements need to be flexible enough for us to keep our projects aligned with the needs of the business. Being prepared for changes and having a process in place to manage them helps to ensure that we can be agile and adaptable in every aspect of our projects.