Change Request

A change request is a formal proposal to alter a project's approved scope, schedule, budget, or quality requirements. It is the mechanism through which any deviation from the approved project plan is evaluated, documented, and — if approved — incorporated into the baseline. Without a change control process, informal changes accumulate quietly until the project's original commitments bear no resemblance to what is actually being built, and no one can explain why.

What a Change Request Includes

A complete change request typically contains:

• Description — what is being added, removed, or modified, and how it differs from the approved plan
• Justification — why the change is needed: customer request, corrective action, new requirement, or error correction
• Schedule impact — how the change affects the project end date, milestone dates, or the critical path
• Cost impact — labor, materials, and other costs to implement the change
• Risk impact — new risks introduced or existing risks affected by the change
• Recommendation — approve, reject, or defer for further analysis

The Change Control Board

Most organizations route change requests through a Change Control Board (CCB) — a group with authority to approve or reject changes. The CCB may include the project sponsor, project manager, key stakeholders, and functional managers. On smaller projects, a single decision-maker may serve as the CCB. The board's purpose is to prevent informal scope additions from entering the project without an explicit cost, schedule, and risk trade-off evaluation.

A change request that arrives with no CCB review is scope creep by another name — the work happens, but no one has formally accepted the schedule extension or cost increase that comes with it.

Impact on the Schedule and Baseline

An approved change request that adds scope or adjusts dates must be reflected in the project schedule — and the baseline should be updated to reflect the new approved plan. A change that shifts the project end date by two weeks is only meaningful if the baseline records the new approved end date; otherwise, every subsequent status report will show a two-week delay that is actually an approved, planned extension.

Resetting the baseline after an approved change maintains the integrity of schedule variance tracking. Future comparisons then measure drift against the current approved plan, not the original one that no longer reflects project reality.

Change Requests and Maverick

In Maverick, approved changes are made directly to the project tasks — updating durations, adding new tasks, adjusting resource assignments, or modifying dependency links. After the change is incorporated and approved, the baseline can be reset to capture the new approved schedule. For a walkthrough of how to set and restore baselines in Maverick, see the guide: Project Baselines: Set, Clear, and Restore.

Related Terms

Scope Creep  ·  Project Baseline  ·  Project Scope  ·  Project Charter  ·  Deliverable