| Course | WMBA 6620 Practices in Project Management |
|---|---|
| Week | Week 9 |
| Paper type | Change control procedure |
| Length | About 870 words, 6 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Walden University |
| Program | Master of Business Administration (MBA) |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for WMBA 6620 Week 9
Change Control for Line 2: Seven Numbered Steps With Owners and Time Limits, a Request Form That Prices Scope, Schedule and Cost, a Decision Threshold Table and One Real Request Walked Through
Student Name
Walden University
WMBA 6620: Practices in Project Management
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
Change Control for Line 2: Seven Numbered Steps With Owners and Time Limits, a Request Form That Prices Scope, Schedule and Cost, a Decision Threshold Table and One Real Request Walked Through
Purpose
Changes to the approved baseline for Line 2, the composite Harvest Lane bakery's second bread line, follow this procedure. The baseline is the scope statement, work breakdown structure, schedule and cost estimate approved by the sponsor. Any change to what is delivered, when it is delivered or what it costs follows these steps. Ibbs et al. (2001) found that projects with a defined change management process controlled the cost and schedule effects of change better than those that handled changes informally, and the procedure's purpose is to make every change a decision rather than a drift.
The Steps
1. Submit. Anyone on the project may submit a change request on form CR-L2. Owner: the requester. Time limit: as soon as the need is known.
2. Log. The project manager assigns a number and records the request in the change log. Owner: project manager. Time limit: one working day.
3. Analyze impact. The owner of each affected work package estimates the effect on scope, schedule and cost, with figures. Owner: work package owners, coordinated by the project manager. Time limit: five working days, or two for requests marked urgent.
4. Decide. The decision maker named in the threshold table approves, rejects or defers the request, in writing. Owner: per the table. Time limit: five working days after analysis.
5. Communicate. The project manager informs the requester, the affected package owners and, for approved changes, the vendors or contractors involved. Owner: project manager. Time limit: two working days after the decision.
6. Update baseline. For approved changes, the project manager updates the scope statement, breakdown, schedule and cost estimate, and records the new baseline version. Owner: project manager. Time limit: five working days.
7. Verify. At the next weekly review, the team confirms that the change was carried out as approved. Owner: project manager. Time limit: next weekly review.
No work on a requested change may begin before step 4, except to prevent injury, a food safety failure or damage to equipment. Emergency work must be submitted as a request within one working day afterward.
The Request Form
Form CR-L2 has these fields: request number; date; requester and role; description of the change; reason and benefit; affected work packages; scope impact, describing what is added, removed or altered; schedule impact, in weeks, with the effect on the critical path; cost impact, in dollars, with the source of the estimate; risks introduced or reduced; and urgency. A request without figures for schedule and cost is returned to step 3 rather than decided.
Decision Thresholds
Table 1
Who Decides
| Impact of the change | Decision maker | |
|---|---|
| Cost under $25,000, no critical path effect, no scope change visible to the sponsor | Project manager | |
| Cost $25,000 to $250,000, or up to two weeks on the critical path, or a change to a deliverable's acceptance criteria | Sponsor, Vice President of Operations | |
| Cost over $250,000, more than two weeks on the critical path, use of contingency above $100,000 in one request or any change to the charter's purpose or performance target | Sponsor with the bakery's executive committee | |
| Any change affecting the food safety plan | Food safety manager must concur before any approval | |
Cumulative approved changes are reported in every status report.
A Request Walked Through
In week 9, the oven vendor offered to substitute a model with an integrated heat recovery unit that preheats proofer air with oven exhaust. The plant engineer submitted request CR-L2-004.
The impact analysis found the following. Scope: the oven model changes and a duct connects it to the proofer; acceptance criteria for the oven are unchanged. Schedule: the vendor's lead time stays at 34 weeks, but the duct work adds one week to installation, absorbed by the one week of float on oven assembly. Cost: the oven price rises by $140,000, and duct work adds about $18,000. Benefit: the vendor estimates gas savings of about 3.6 million cubic feet a year; at the bakery's contract gas price, that is about $38,000 a year, a simple payback of a little over four years. Risk: the heat recovery unit adds a component to maintain and has a shorter service record than the standard oven.
At $158,000, the request fell in the sponsor's band. The sponsor approved it on the condition that the vendor guarantee the gas savings for two years and extend the warranty on the heat recovery unit to match. The project manager updated the cost baseline, drew $158,000 from the unallocated management reserve rather than from contingency, adjusted the oven installation package and recorded baseline version 1.1.
Why the Procedure Is Strict
Love et al. (2002) showed how changes in construction projects trigger rework that spreads through dependent tasks, often costing more than the change itself appeared to. A procedure that requires impact analysis before work begins is the main defense against that spread. The PMBOK Guide (Project Management Institute, 2021) describes integrated change control as reviewing all changes against the full baseline, and the threshold table keeps small changes fast while sending large ones to the people accountable for the budget.
References
Ibbs, C. W., Wong, C. K., & Kwak, Y. H. (2001). Project change management system. Journal of Management in Engineering, 17(3), 159-165. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0742-597X(2001)17:3(159)
Love, P. E. D., Holt, G. D., Shen, L. Y., Li, H., & Irani, Z. (2002). Using systems dynamics to better understand change and rework in construction project management systems. International Journal of Project Management, 20(6), 425-436. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0263-7863(01)00039-4
Project Management Institute. (2021). A guide to the project management body of knowledge (PMBOK guide) (7th ed.).
The Walden WMBA 6620 Week 9 instructions
The change control assignment asks students to write the procedure a project will use to manage changes to its baseline. Instructors expect about a thousand words of numbered steps, with a request form and a threshold table beside them. Steps should run from submission through logging, impact analysis, decision, communication and baseline update, each with an owner role and a time limit. The request form should capture the requester, description, justification and the three impacts, on scope, schedule and cost, each with a figure. The threshold table names who decides at each level of impact. Strong procedures include an emergency rule and a worked example. The procedure should also say where approved changes are recorded and how the new baseline version is identified, so everyone works from the same plan.
How the WMBA 6620 Week 9 example is put together
The procedure defines the baseline and cites Ibbs and colleagues on change management. Seven numbered steps follow, each with an owner and a time limit, and an emergency exception. The form section lists its fields and returns incomplete requests. A threshold table assigns decisions to the project manager, the sponsor or the executive committee and requires food safety concurrence where relevant. A worked example follows a heat recovery oven request through analysis of scope, schedule, cost, benefit and risk to a conditional approval and a new baseline version. A closing section cites Love and colleagues on rework and the PMBOK Guide on integrated change control. Margin comments flag the numbered steps and the worked example. The example shows the baseline moving from version 1.0 to 1.1.
WMBA 6620 Week 9 rubric: what earns full marks
Graders reward a procedure with clear, numbered steps, each owned and time-limited. A request form that requires figures for scope, schedule and cost impacts shows rigor. A threshold table that matches decision authority to the size of the change demonstrates governance. Handling emergencies explicitly shows realism. A worked example that applies the procedure to a real request carries significant weight. A procedure a new team member could follow on the first change request without asking anyone shows the clarity this week is graded on. Procedures that show how the worked example's figures were estimated make the process credible.
Common WMBA 6620 Week 9 mistakes, and how to avoid them
Write the steps a change request will pass through, and give each an owner and a deadline. Decide what information a request must include, and require figures for each impact. Set thresholds for who decides, based on cost and schedule effects. Add a rule for emergencies. Then test your procedure on one realistic change. Students often lose marks by describing change control in general, by omitting time limits or by leaving decision authority vague. Another frequent gap is forgetting to update the baseline after approval. If you would like a custom sample change control procedure for your project, send us its baseline and governance roles.
Get a WMBA 6620 Week 9 example written to your instructions
Start with the change control prompt and its rubric, plus the approval limits a section fixes if any were given. A procedure with the form, thresholds, timings and a filled change log returns in 24 to 48 hours, the first one free. Where a flowchart is required, it gets drawn to match the numbered steps.
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WMBA 6620 Week 9 questions, answered
Where can I find a free WMBA 6620 Week 9 sample paper?
You can read the whole change control procedure for the line installation further down, with its request log and approval limits.
How many steps are in the procedure?
Seven, from submission to verification, each with an owner and time limit.
Who decides on a $158,000 change?
The sponsor, because it falls between $25,000 and $250,000.
What request is walked through?
A heat recovery oven upgrade costing about $158,000 and saving about $38,000 a year in gas.
Can work start before approval?
Only to prevent injury, a food safety failure or equipment damage, with a request filed within a day.