Change is inevitable in every walk of our lives. Project, program, and portfolio management (PPP) are no different. However, the way changes are handled will differ in respective P-P-P management.
Projects handle change with respect to the baseline and success is typically measured in terms meeting various constraints such as scope, schedule, cost, quality etc. Programs, on the other hands, takes a group of interrelated projects (and/or subprograms) to deliver benefits, which is otherwise not possible if you manage them individually. Hence, the program success is mainly about delivering coming from program outcomes. In portfolios, it's fundamentally about managing strategic changes.
Hence, I keep on saying in my interactions with Program Managers:
Projects are agents of change. Programs are coordinators of change. Portfolios are strategists of change.
In this case, I'll focus on Program Change Management, which is key topic to know for aspiring Program Management Professionals (PgMPs).
For PMP change management flow, refer to this article. It’s one of the most-read articles.
For PfMP change management, refer to this course: PfMP Live Lessons – Guaranteed Pass, which goes deeper into the strategic change management.
Note: There is no concept of processes or knowledge areas in the Program Management Standard (SPgM). Rather we have various supporting activities and core activity of Program Integration Management.
Program Management is much complex compared to Project Management as it’ll have a number of interrelated components driven together to deliver benefits. Hence, it’s best to simplify in understanding Change Request management for programs. The simplified flow diagram is shown below.
10 Key Points to Understand Program Change Request Management and Flow
Here are the 10 key points about program change request management. The reference for it taken from the Standard for Program Management from PMI.
- A Program Change Request (PgCR) is a formal proposal to modify any program document, deliverable, or baseline. A PgCR can be a corrective action, preventive action or an update to program-level document.
- During program formulation, we have the change assessment in the Program Change Assessment activity. The output of this activity is the Program Change Assessment. It happens with other assessments related to scope, schedule, financial assessment, information, risk, quality etc.
This helps in preparation the Program Charter (PgC), which in turn enables the preparation of the Program Management Plan (PgMP). - Our next activity is the Program Change Management Planning activity in Program Delivery phase. Here we create the Program Change Management Plan (PgCMP). It's a subsidiary plan of the PgMP.
- The Program Change Threshold is also decided in the above-mentioned planning activity. The threshold tells the level of change thresholds that should trigger the change process. For example, above 10% budget impact will be handled at the program level.
- The Program Change Management Plan (PgCMP) has the approach for capturing the change requests, evaluating each change, determining how to dispose the change, and communicating the decisions to the (impacted) stakeholders.
- The PgCMP is then fed into the next activity, i.e., the Program Change Management activity. It has both executing and monitoring & controlling aspects. This activity belongs to the Program Delivery Phase of the Program Life Cycle.
- All Change Requests are logged in a program-level document called Program Change Log. This log is created during the Program Delivery Phase and it’s created in the Program Change Management activity.
- The Program Steering Committee (also known as Program Governance Board) decides to approve or reject a requested change. Whatever may be the decision, it's recorded in the Program Change Log and the decision is communicated. Program Change Control ensures it.
- The PgCR, if approved, is called Approved Change Request. It is then implemented and this can result in the updates to component plans as well subsidiary plans of the PgMP such as schedule management plan, financial management plan, program roadmap etc.
- The Change Decisions are always in the accordance with the Program Governance.
The Program Governance Board or an appropriate body is responsible for defining the types of changes that a program manager can independently authorize/approve or that would require further discussion prior to approval.
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The three key activities in Program Change Management cleanly maps into the various phases of the Program Life Cycle. It's shown in the below table.
That’s it!
Was it difficult to understand? I believe it’s not.
Again, do note that I’ve highly simplified the concept of program change management. As you go deeper, you’ll find many aspects to program change management.
Nevertheless, simple things are always easier to remember, recall, and apply.
Finally, as I close, I'll say this:
For projects, it's about integrated change control.
For programs, it's about program governance and coordinated change control.
For portfolios, it's about portfolio governance and strategic change management.
Change Management:
