A change request (CR) is a formal ask to change what the project agreed to deliver. Every CR states its impact in three parts: what it does to the budget, what it does to the timeline, and who must approve it before the work starts.
Change requests live with the scope they change. Open the project menu: Scope, then Scope. On the Requirements registry page, select the Change requests view next to Primary baseline.
What it's for
Without a CR log, scope grows quietly and nobody can say why the budget moved. The log shows every change against the baseline, and the summary beside the registry tells you how many CRs are approved and how many are still awaiting a decision.
Before you start
Before you raise a change request
- The project's plan includes Scope (Professional, Enterprise or a personal plan)
- Your role can create change requests
- You can estimate the budget and timeline impact, even roughly
- You know who should approve it, and they are a project member with an account
How to raise a change request
- Open the log
Go to Scope, then the Change requests view, and select Add CR.
- Describe the request
Enter the Title and Description, choose the Change type (Scope addition, Scope removal, Scope modification, Timeline change, Budget change or Resource change), and fill in Requested by and Requested date. Add a Workstream and Priority if they help.
- State the impact
Enter the Budget impact (positive is a cost increase, negative is a saving) and the Timeline impact (days) (positive is a delay, negative brings the date forward). Explain it in Impact description.
- Link it
Under Decision, you can pick the Linked DA decision that backs the change.
- Save
Select Create change request. The app gives it an ID such as ABC-CR-005.
How to get it approved
Open the saved CR. The Approval panel works the same way as on decisions: choose a project member under Ask someone to approve it and select Ask for approval. The approver sees it on Home and in the CR, adds an optional comment and chooses Approve, Reject or Request changes.
- Approve sets the status to Approved and fills in Approved by and Approved date.
- Reject sets it to Rejected.
- Request changes sets it to Under review so it can be revised and sent again.
How an approved CR reaches the budget
Approved and implemented CRs with a budget impact raise the revised budget on the Budget tab, called the budget at completion (BAC). They are listed there, read-only, under CR budget impact.
To record the spend as well, set Status to Approved in the CR drawer and save. If the CR has a budget impact, the app asks whether to add it as a cost log entry. Say yes and it creates an entry described as CR Impact with the CR's title, linked to the CR. See Budget, cost log and forecast.
Good to know
- Statuses are Draft, Submitted, Under review, Approved, Rejected, Deferred and Implemented.
- Once a CR is saved, a Signatures panel lets you ask people to sign it. See E-signatures.
- Approvals waiting for you are on Home. See Approvals inbox.
- For the scope baseline itself, see Scope register.
Who can do this
Admins, project managers, functional leads, technical leads and change managers can raise CRs. Admins, project managers and change managers can edit them and name an approver. Admins, project managers and executive sponsors can approve when nobody is named; a named approver can always decide. See Roles and permissions.