The change log is a document that is used by the project team to log and track change requests throughout the life of the project. Change management is one area of project management which will cause serious problems if it is not carefully managed. Many projects involve highly influential people with varying interests and often times there are many attempts to impart these interests on the project. These may be changes in scope, deliverables, design, or other changes which can easily cause a project to fail without a deliberate change management effort.
This change register (change log template) should be updated as new change requests are submitted or as existing change requests are approved, rejected, or deferred. Most of the information on the change log will come directly from the change request form that the project team uses. The change management process should be clearly communicated to all stakeholders and if a change is requested it should be submitted on the change request form. The project team will use the data from the change request form to populate the change log. As the change request follows the change request process and is reviewed and approved/denied/deferred, the status will be updated in the change log.
The following table in this template shows a common project change log format:
Change Log Template:
The change request should be described in detail.When was the request submitted?When was the request approved?
| Change Log | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Project: | Date: | ||||||
| Change No. | Change Type | Description of Change | Requestor | Date Submitted | Date Approved | Status | Comments |
| Each change request is assigned a reference number. | This may be a design, scope, schedule or other type of change. | Who initiated the change request? | Is the change request open, closed or pending? Has it been approved, denied or deferred? | This section may describe why the change request was rejected, deferred or provide any other useful information. | |||
Example with Sample Data:
This request was denied by the change control board because there is not adequate funding available for the purchase of new routers and because the request is outside of the project’s scope.
| Change Log | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Project: Network Upgrade Project | Date: 04/01/20xx | ||||||
| Change No. | Change Type | Description of Change | Requestor | Date Submitted | Date Approved | Status | Comments |
| CR001 | Design/ Scope | This change request calls for replacing existing ABC network routers with NextGen 3000 routers. | J. Doe | 03/25/xx | N/A | Denied | |
| CR002 | Schedule | This change request calls for delaying the existing schedule by one week to ensure all applications are backed up which was not considered in the original project plan. | A. White | 03/26/xx | 04/10/xx | Approved | This request was approved to ensure the security and continuity of all applications. One week will be added to the project schedule and the project manager will communicate the impact of this change to all stakeholders. |
| CR003 | Design/ Scope | This change request calls for modifying existing network firewalls to add intrusion detection systems to enhance network security. | B. Brown | 03/27/xx | N/A | Deferred | This request was deferred and is pending a determination of the impact to the project’s costs, schedule and scope. |