Microsoft Project 2013: The Missing Manual

Managing Changes in Project

The work of the change review board and your work in Project are closely intertwined, both when the board is evaluating changes and after changes have been approved. The board typically compares the benefits of a proposed change with the costs (in dollars or days) and risk. To make that comparison, the board needs to know how a change request affects the project. After approval, the board wants to know how change requests are progressing. Updating progress on change request tasks is no different from updating original project tasks. But you do need a way to distinguish change request tasks from the original work packages.

In this section, you’ll learn how to create simple or extensive what-if scenarios based on the level of information the change review board needs. You’ll get tips about updating your project plan—including the best ways to use baselines in conjunction with change requests, updating and adjusting information, and checking finish-date and budget targets.

Finding the Effects of a Proposed Change

The change review board may want to know how long the finish date would be delayed or how much more the project would cost if it approves a sizable change request. Project does a great job of number-crunching to come up with this information. However, be sure to preserve the original Project schedule. If the board decides to nix the change, then you want to be able to remove the what-if changes quickly, and you don’t want to accidentally leave a remnant ...