Cost/Schedule Change

Changes on a project are inevitable and can significantly impact project cost and schedule as well as the ability of the project participants to manage and operate. When changes are small in scope and few in number, the impact on the project is relatively minor. As the number of changes increase, the damaging consequences to a project can be severe and difficult to understand and manage. In addition to the direct cost and schedule impacts to a project, changes often result in numerous and large indirect impacts such as reduced productivity due to loss of momentum, loss of efficiency, and extended overhead associated with administration of the changes. In practice, it is very difficult to estimate the true cost of indirect impacts even after the work is completed.

Poor scope definition ranks as the most common source of change on projects and the primary reason projects run over budget. There are many potential reasons for inadequate scope definition but market pressure for a product is the primary reason that causes owners to take the risk of proceeding on projects with poorly defined scope. The best way to reduce problems associated with poor scope definition is to better define the project in the early stages. In addition, changes can be more effectively managed and controlled by maintaining detailed records of the work, tracking project performance and other impacts as a consequence of changes, analyzing each change promptly, and using modern computer equipment and software.