Change management activities start when a product change is requested by someone. In this initial phase it is not expected to have a detailed specification of the change, because that is exactly what needs to be investigated. To be able to accept the change request the goal of the modification needs to be clearly described, in other words: what will be solved and what are the consequences if the change request will not be executed. Based on the description the change is processed further or already rejected at the start.

The requested change is investigated on how the product (the design) can be modified to solve the problem (conceptual approach). Options are noted and the chosen option is in detail described as the proposed modification.

An impact analysis is performed to determine and specify what need to change. This step determines if the execution of the change will go smoothly and turn into a success or not. A thorough analysis results in the specification of all affected documents, such as drawings related to design or to manufacturing, assembly tooling or instructions, or specifications to source materials, or calculation reports, or compliance documents. The costs of the change is estimated.

An implementation plan is determined. In this step it is important to kow what the urgenty of the change is, to be able to decide on how to implement the change: in what time frame and with whom. This affects the costs of the change. Based on the impacted documents, the proposed implementation plan and the costs it is decided to execute the modification.

The modification is executed: documents and drawings, as specified in the change, are modified according to the implementation plan. This results in a modified product.

The results are verified and are approved. The change can be closed and the modified product can be released.

Increase the speed for implementation of changes

Dealing with changes can be a full-time job of a lot of people if this process is not well organised.