TOPIC: "Change Request" - can it be initiated verbally?

Hi Cornelius,

Help please on the 'change request'.


The PMBOK guide (page 94) says- "Changes may be requested by any stakeholder involved with the project. Although they may be initiated verbally, they should always be recorded in written form and entered into the change management and/or configuration management system."

From this, I read that some stakeholders can 'initiate' the change request verbally and the project manager can document it in written format instead of asking the stakeholder to send the request in written format.!!

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One of your sample questions/answers reads as below-

your customer calls you on the phone and informs you of a minor change to a requirement on the project. what is the best thing to do?
a) Analyze the request and its consequences on the project.
b) Instruct your engineer to implement this minor change.
c) Request a documentation for this change.
d) Note it in the weekly status report.

and your answer is- C)
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I am confused here...
Do we need to aks the stakeholder for a documentation or can we create the documentation based on verbal initiation with stakeholders as requestor and start the process as if we received the documented request... i,e, start analyzing the request for impact.

I have seen some variations of these types of sample questions with conflicting answers and am confused.... Will appreciate if you can shed some light bases on the appropriate answer for the exam.

Thanks,
Amit

Amit,

Yes, a change request can be raised verbally by your stakeholders. That's normal and you will have seen this on your own projects. People call up and tell their change request over the phone.

The next step should always be to document the change request.

As you are documenting it, you will also analyze it and evaluate it's effect on the project. (More budget needed? More time needed? Etc.)

So from our perspective it's always best to focus on documenting the change request, because as you are documenting, you will analyze and it's effects.

Thanks Cornelius.

Yes, that's what is seen in real world. The change request is many times raised verbally and then we document the request/copy the requestor and start the impact process and all....

my confusion was for exam purpose, some sample questions had listed correct answers like ... 'refuse the request and ask to submit written request'.

In the question/answer that I put above, when I read the correct answer as "request a documentation for this change', this looked like as if we are asking the stakeholder to have written request instead of verbal....

now after your reply, I think 'request for documentation' is not for the stakeholder but the Project Manager will 'request the documentation' to his team for the change so that it can be analyzed... and this makes sense now...

thanks.

Amit