Understanding Change Control Management

In PeopleSoft Program Management, you can enable change control for project, budget, and ETC changes. You can determine the depth of change control using one of these levels:

• Require users to enter a formal change request that requires approval before the data is incorporated into the system.

• Require users to enter a reason for changing data.

• Log the user name, change made, and date for data changes.

• Disable change control completely.

A change control template stores the level of control for attributes that are to be monitored. You assign a default template at the business unit level. When you enable change control on a project, this system populates the template that you assigned at the business unit level as the default, but you can override it by selecting a new template.

This table lists the attributes for which you can enable change control and the level of control available for each attribute:

When change control is enabled and you designate specific attributes in the template to have change control, the system stores a record of all the data changes to these attributes on the Change Control Information table (PC_CHC_INFO). If specified, the system requires the user who initiates the change to enter the reason for making a change or to create a formal change request that requires approval before the changes take place. After changes take place, you can view a summarized list of the changes and the details of each change.

These steps describe how to implement the change control management functionality:

1. Use the Change Control Template page to create a change control template that defines the attributes to monitor, such as whether a formal change request is required or changes require a reason from the user who initiates the change.

   Once created, specify the default change control template for a projects business unit on the Program Management Options page.

2. Enable change control and select a template at the project level by using the Program Management page.

   If the change control template you select specifies change control for attributes at the activity level, you can disable it for individual activities on the Activity - Definition page for the User Input and On levels. If you have change control at the project level set to Change Request Required, you cannot override this at the activity level.

3. Make changes to the project, budget or ETC as necessary.

   As changes are made or approved, if a change request is required for any of the defined change control attributes, the system records the name of the user who is making the change, the change that is made, and the date for data changes in the PC_CHC_INFO table. You can view the changes on the Change Control Monitor page and Change Control Details page.

Users can enter project and budget change requests in two ways:

• When prompted by the system after trying to save a data element that requires a change request.

• Directly through menu navigation.

If you enable change control for a project that requires change requests, the project must have a project manager. Similarly, if you enable change control for a budget plan that requires change requests, you must specify the budget approver on the Project General - Program Management page. However, if the approver is the individual who is making the data change, the system accepts the change and does not require a formal change request.

This diagram illustrates the change control process for budget and project changes:

Image: Change control flow diagram

When a change request is created for projects and budgets and change control is enabled, then system goes through a series of checks prior to the change being approved and applied.

ETC defines remaining work for a resource on an activity. This field is first populated when a project manager enters assigned work for a resource on an activity. You may update this field by using the Time Reporting feature in PeopleSoft Expenses, and the value appears on the Resources by Activity page (PC_ARL) after the Expenses to Projects integration process (PC_EX_TO_PC) completes. The ETC change request functionality is available only if you use PeopleSoft Expenses.

The method of approving an ETC change request is based on:

• User role.

  If you are the project manager and the time report approver, you can approve the change request and time report on the Approve Time Report - Time Report Summary page (TE_TIME_LINES). If the project manager is different than the time report approver, the project manager approves the change request on the Project Change Request (approval) page.

• PeopleSoft Expenses installation option for time report approval.

  You can select PeopleSoft Expenses installation options to automatically approve time reports, enable project managers to approve time reports, or the resource's supervisor to approve time reports.

• Change control template options.

  You can select an option to require an ETC change request, log the change, or disable change control for ETCs.

This diagram illustrates the process flow for entering, submitting, and approving ETC change requests:

Image: ETC change request process flow diagram

When a change request is created for ETC changes and change control is enabled, then system goes through a series of checks prior to the change being approved and applied.

 

A cross-project dependency exists if you have an activity (successor) in one project that is dependent on an activity (predecessor) in another project. If you change the start date or end date of the predecessor activity that impacts the dates of the successor activity in a different project, the dates of the successor activity are not updated in real-time. The system automatically generates a change request to update the dates of the successor activity and routes the change request to the project manger of the project that contains that successor activity. The project manager has the opportunity to approve or decline the change request. If the project manager approves the change request, the system updates the successor activity dates. If the project manager declines the change request, the system does not update the activity dates and the dependency between the two activities is removed. Cross-project dependency change requests are like activity date change requests, except that they are generated by the system.

This graphic illustrates the cross-project dependency change request process flow:

Image: Cross-project dependency change request process flow

When a change request is created for a preceding project then system goes through a series of checks prior to the change being approved and applied to a succeeding project and activity.

Project change requests require project manager approval and budget changes requests require approval by the budget approver before the system updates the data elements with the changes. When you save and submit a change request, the system triggers workflow. A worklist entry and email notification are sent to the approver to indicate that a change request is available for review.

This diagram illustrates the change request workflow process flow:

Image: Change Request Workflow process flow diagram

When a requestor submits a change request, the system sends worklist entries and email notification to the approver. If the Approver returns the request, then the system sends a worklist entry and an e-mail notification back to the requestor. If the approver approves the change request, then the system notifies the requestor using e-mail notification, records the change in the change history file, and incorporates the change into the database file. If the approver declines the declines the request, then the system notifies the requestor using e-mail notification.