Prioritising Change Requests

This forum is for members to share and gain knowledge of Project Management. Got a question about project management? Need help with a problem? Wish to offer tips and advice? Post here.
Post Reply
francohoops
New Member
New Member
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri 02 Dec 2016 5:01 pm

I'm working on a project where a number of changes have been requested. There is a limited budget, and previous change process was not effective and is being revised.

I am working on a framework which will prioritise the changes that should be progressed into the implementation phase. I am looking at cost and time impacts. I'm also asking the business to score the changes to reflect importance to the organisation.

Question is, at what point should I request the business to score the CRs in order of priority? Before or after I have the cost and time information? The business will argue to make that decision they'll need to know the costs and time of each change. I'm just conscious that cost and time impacts will influence how important that the business views the change.

My view is that the business should rank changes independently in order to identify the must haves from the should, coulds or won'ts, before cost and time data is introduced and then a further review can take place.

Thoughts welcome
FH
ympairwe
New Member
New Member
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon 05 Dec 2016 6:53 am

It's always important to list priorities first, so that one is able to develop a smart PMP. This caters for any new changes.
User avatar
dhaughey
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 495
Joined: Sat 19 Dec 2009 4:39 pm
Location: London

I agree with your two phase approach. First, review and rank the changes in the order of priority purely from a business need perspective. Using MoSCoW for the ranking is a good idea. Second, cost each change and have a second review to refine the list based on available time and budget. This way, you make sure the business need is considered first and that cost and time don't unduly influence the decision.

Has anyone a different approach?
Post Reply