What is the Change Request Process and How to Successfully Optimize It?

Change is an inevitable part of any business process or project. Clients, stakeholders, or customers constantly make suggestions or requests to change certain things in the product or process. Satisfying these requests consistently can often be a hectic task.

Moreover, incorporating some of these changes might be necessary and often looked at as an efficient way of improving the performance of the process which simultaneously reflects on the productivity of the organization as well.

Therefore, an efficient process workflow that would seamlessly initiate a change request process is needed to handle all the requests effectively. Read further to learn more about the process, the types, and the benefits it offers to an organization in detail here.

What is a Request for Change or a Change Request?

A change request is a request to change or a formal suggestion to make certain changes to some aspects of a project, system, business process, or workflow. A change request can arise from both internal and external ends.  Externally – when a customer initiates a request for change of the delivered product or service, internally – where a team member or client initiates a change request regarding deadlines, product or process details, or the final output of a process.

Change requests can be multiple as many different processes are simultaneously happening within an organization. Therefore, it is necessary to have a change request process in place to manage all the incoming suggestions successfully. A change request process entails defined procedures and regulations that allow a seamless resolution of all the requests. 

What is a Change Request Process?

A change request process is where the change requests are carried through several stages of the change request workflow. An automated change request workflow can be used to carry out the process by creating a form for registering the request.

The major stages in the process include the initiation of the change request, determining the impact of the change, Listing the requests based on priority, approval or rejection of the requests, and the final step is the implementation of the suggestion or change. The steps in a change request process will be discussed in detail in a later section. 

What is a Change Request Form?

A change request form is a standardized form on which change requests are registered or forwarded to the concerned department. A change request form is also used to approve, implement, and track the change requests. These forms contain the basic details regarding the requests submitted. The form also helps the higher officials and managers to track  In simple words, a change request form carries the basic and general details about the change or suggestion that is initiated. 

When Does the Change Request Process Must be Used?

A change request process is an essential part of any business organization. It is a mode of communication through which more clarity and precision can be brought into the processes before reaching the final output. So, when can a change request process be initiated through a change request form? The process is especially vital between the planning and the action phases and will help navigate the process in the right direction. Certain instances where change requests are initiated are as follows

• When an item required for a process goes out of stock
• When the clients’/customers’ needs change and demand the organization to deliver different outputs based on the scope, budget, or schedule of the project. 
• When the team members want clarification or extra resources to conduct a process or want to suggest changes to the execution plan. 
• When a process exceeds the stipulated time, the team members can initiate a request for the necessary changes that have to be made. 
• When the organization is implementing a new technology into the system. 

What Does a Change Request Form Entail?

There is some mandatory basic information that has to be in all the change requests. They are:

• Title
• ID number
• Information about the requester
• Type of request
• Who approved the request
• Source of the request (whether internal or external)
• A short description of the change request
• The degree of urgency of the request

Apart from these basic requirements, some extra details must be submitted in case of an internal change request. For instance, if a system is affected, the request must specify which system is affected and the system’s location. It could also be a request regarding a business process’s stages or rules that have to be changed or updated. 

Who Can Initiate a Change Request?

With proper authorization, any person, whether internally or externally, can initiate a change request. With the help of the change request form, the initiator can file a change request. In case the person who wants to file a request is unfamiliar with the filing procedures of an organization, the help desk or the change request department can help file it for them. 

What is Change Request Management?

Change request management is the comprehensive handling of all the change requests that come up in an organization. Management processes, systems, and different tools are used to document, monitor, and implement change requests. With a systematic management solution like this, standardization is achieved in the process. The requests are handled in a much more seamless yet consistent manner, hence, it reduces the scope for any errors in the process and improves the overall process. 

The ultimate aim of the change management request process is to improve the efficiency of the process which would enhance the experience of the request initiator as well as the end customers. With a management process in place, unnecessary change requests that will complicate the process can be taken care of. 

Change request management is an essential solution in the IT sector. With numerous processes running at a time, employers spend more time in the maintenance of the process rather than developing it. Therefore, the IT change request process is an essential part of the business operations in the IT sector. 

Types of Change Requests

Based on the objective of the change requested and the degree of execution, change requests are classified into four categories. They are:

1. Standard changes
2. Normal changes
3. Major changes
4. Emergency changes

1. Standard Changes

Standard changes are the most basic level of changes that do not carry much risk. These changes can happen daily just like how suggestions or corrections are requested very often for a project, a process, or even a workflow. These are simple and minor modifications that will not require a complete readjustment of the feature that already exists. 

2. Normal Changes

Compared to the standard changes, a normal change would create a significant change to the existing systems, infrastructure, or processes. Even though they have a significant impact on the working of the organization, they are common and have considerable effects on the process as well. When a normal change is initiated, many individual standard changes are generated. 

3. Major Changes

Major changes are extensively impactful on organizational functions and require significant financing. Major changes are made with long-term benefits in mind and also come along with potential risks that could compromise the resources and efforts put into the process. It is also important to note that major changes are rare occurrences and have to be executed with proper planning. Most of the time, major changes will have a backup plan. If not, it is most likely to get rejected. 

4. Emergency Changes

Emergency changes are the requests that are taken up when the change has to be immediately. This type of change request will always be a higher priority than any other change request. These changes can be like fixing bug issues that are a threat to the security of data. An emergency change can also be implemented when any particular issue is causing a complete disruption of the business operations. 

What are the Steps in the Change Request Process?

Here are the major steps that go inside the change request process.

Step 1: Collect Important Documentation and Information

The primary step of a change request process is the initiation of a change request. The request cannot be randomly made with any relevant backing up. There must be clear and accurate documentation and information to show requested change is valid at this stage in the process. This is where a change request form is used that would require the requestee to fill out certain details on it to officially process the request. 

Step 2: Understand the scope of the change

Once the requester has initiated the request, the department that handles the change requests in an organization is required to study the scope of the change that is requested. It is important to determine the requirements within the organization, ensure that enough data is available, and that the stakeholders and other concerned people are aware of this request.   

Step 3: Evaluate the Impact of the Change

Apart from figuring out the scope of the change, it is equally important to determine the impact this change would create on the project or process. If it is a major change, it is crucial to remember that it would affect the project’s onward journey and the budget, or it can have implications for the employees who are working on it. Having these points cleared will allow the team to decide whether to approve or reject the initiated change. 

Step 4: Prioritize the Change Requests

Once the impact of the income requests is determined, it is now easier to list down the requests based on their priority. The requested changes can be classified into the four types discussed earlier. Emergency changes are the top priority and have to be attended to immediately. The rest can be implemented during the right stage. The department that processes these requests has to follow specific guidelines to determine the priority levels of the requests. 

Step 5: Approve or Reject the Change Requests

Several factors have to be taken into consideration before a request is approved or rejected. Some of those factors are the amount of labor to be employed, the level of approvals that are required depending on the scope of the change, etc. Therefore, it is decipherable that the more work required or the more the scope the more levels of approvals needed. Hence, the approval process should also have proper guidelines or framework for each approval stage. Having a framework will allow the approver to view the requests objectively. 

Step 6: Plan and Communicate the Implementation

Once the approval stage has been finished, an implementation plan has to be generated for the approved changes. This stage is highly crucial as it will significantly affect the flow of the existing processes. Hence, a strategic plan that will seamlessly allow the change to be incorporated and will not stagger the process much. Once the plan is ready, it has to be effectively communicated to all the stakeholders and concerned entities. 

Step 7: Implement The Approved Changes

After the approval and the building of a strong plan, the initiated change can be finally implemented into the process. If the initiator is from the external sphere, they have to be intimated on the change that is made. 

Step 8: Evaluate the Effectiveness of the Change

The change request process does not end with the implementation. The process has to move on to the evaluation stage, where the effectiveness of the change has to be studied. To achieve this, here are some questions to answer.

• What is the impact of the change, both short-term and long-term, on the organization?
• Is the change affecting any other processes internally or externally and what is the remedy process to it?
• Is the implemented change temporary or permanently adopted?
• How sustainable is the change?
• Does this change demand more funding, if so, by how much? 
• Does the change impact the existing timeline of the project? How to tackle the slowing down of the process?

Benefits of a Change Request Process

Having a clear-cut and defined change request process flow enhances and streamlines the task of resolving the raised requests. It widens the scope for improvement and aids in elevating productivity through proper communication and coordination among different departments. Apart from these a proper change request workflow also brings numerous other benefits to the table as well. They are:

Enhances Communication

Change request management tends to keep all the factors like employees, stakeholders, clients, etc., that are involved in the processes updated with the changes that are made. Using a change request workflow will allow all these entities to understand what the requested change is, why it has been initiated, what impact it will create on the processes, and how it will affect them as an employee. So, with enhanced communication, the deliverables of all the processes are accurately made. 

Improves Transparency

Any change to the processes or working of the organization needs to be visible to all the entities of the organization. With the change request process, there is a systematic and standardized procedure involving all the participating members and allowing them to be on the same page with the changes that are made. 

Increases Success Rate of Projects

Communication, accuracy, transparency, and deeper understanding are garnered with the change request management process. Achieving these factors automatically leads to an increase in the success rate of the process and eventually the project that the organization is working on. 

Heightens Satisfaction

Having an effective change request process removes the possibility of any pitfalls in the process. A change request process in place will provide a space for the right suggestions to be raised at the right time, hence, not allowing the process to proceed to result in undesired outputs. Due to this accuracy can be maintained to a great extent. At the end of the day, The satisfaction heightens because of the better performance of the processes. 

Log of Official Records

With a systematic process like the change request process, there is proper logging of all the changes that are made to the processes. This helps when businesses are working on multiple projects simultaneously. Even in cases where the change does not create much impact, it can be accessed later and studied to understand why it did not work out. An automatic inventory is created to enable the team members to perform better. 

Facilitates the Management of Change Requests

Having a standardized process will ensure the proper and seamless management of the multiple change requests that come in. 

Identifies Opportunities for Improvement

The change request process is always beneficial to any organization as it helps the timely correction of possible errors and drawbacks from the process. When working on bigger projects, small-degree changes can create a tremendous impact on the project’s outputs. Improvements can be consistently made and this will positively result in performance as well as productivity. 

Improves Scalability

With a change request process, all the business operations become highly flexible and can be easily molded to fit the growing needs of the organization or the clients. Therefore, the change request process improves the scalability of the organization as well. 

How to Measure Change Request Process Impact?

Measuring the success rate of the change is essential for improving the performance in the new setup. There are several ways through which this evaluation can be performed. One way this can be done is by understanding the user’s perspective, that is, how well they are coping with the change. Moreover, the entire organization or the department whose processes were altered has to be evaluated for their performance. Not all changes affect the entire organization. 

For example, if the change is regarding some arrangements in the cafeteria, then all the employees who work in the organization have to be aware of the changes. However, if the change is incorporated into the security guidelines of the organization, the change will impact more on the employees who have to bring systems and equipment in and out of the building often. 

Examples of Change Request Process

Here are some examples and use cases of the change request process that will help organizations know where it can be effectively implemented. 

Change Request Example 1

Consider a situation where the team is working to create a JavaScript application for their client’s website. At some later stage, the client puts forward a change request to the team to shift to Python. The change request is analyzed and approved if the change seems to be possible. Once the approval is given, the team will carry out the necessary procedures to meet the agreed terms of the deal. 

Change Request Example 2

For a multi-department-oriented process, the stages in the process have to be completed by employees from more than one department. In such a setup, the entire process runs on a fixed schedule. In case, the task in stage one requires a longer time to complete, which is done by the first department, they will have to let the other departments know about the rescheduling of the timeline. If the rescheduling is approved, the timeline can be changed accordingly. This ensures the flow of the process.  

Cflow and Its Robust Change Request Process

Cflow is one of the most sought-after no-code workflow automation tools that has the potential to handle the change request process efficiently. The platform offers a change request workflow template, that allows the users to initiate the request through an elaborate change request form. Cflow is a profound and user-friendly software, where productivity is at the focal point. Some perks that will help you achieve a streamlined change request workflow:

• Easy generation of the workflow
• Readily available workflow template
• Standard process of initiating a change request
• Improved accuracy in business processes
• High employee/customer satisfaction

Conclusion

An agile change request process is what any organization would aim for. Such a process will erase the hectic process for the employees to manually handle all the requests. Instead, a tool like Cflow that offers a robust workflow for the process effectively optimizes the process for the organization. As mentioned at the beginning, change is inevitable, therefore, the key is in how well an organization handles it.

To acquire a dynamic change request process, visit Cflow and sign up now!