Change management coordinators and people who have to approve changes spend a lot of time chasing signatures, putting information in to spreadsheets, and general admin duties that could be automated.

It is easy to lose track of changes, or not document them properly.

Documentation for changes often lags a long way behind the actual change occurrence.

Many companies use a collection of spreadsheets. This can be cumbersome because different copies are in different locations, people forget to fill in details. The change coordinator ends up having to fill in all details (when that person may not understand the change).

A very good system would only need the coordinator to set up the initial templates in the system and file hard copies of signatures on approvals as they are received.

Ideally want a system in which the internal instigator can log-in, tick boxes to show effects of changes, type the title and description, allocate who is responsible to enter costs and who should sign. The system should then send messages to those people to review the item fill in details (and attach supporting docs) and approve (all on the system), with printouts available for the person to print, sign, and send to coordinator to file (if required). Ideally want instigators to be able to do all with little work from coordinator except for filing hard copies.

It is even better if your system allows for electronic authorisation, eliminating the need to print and sign papers.

Often the problem with a system is that emails get sent and people don’t notice them, leading to change documentation to be overlooked. This can be avoided with a log-in system that lists what tasks are to be completed for that person.

A system should have a way of enforcing adherence. Ideally where each person who may have to authorise a change has an icon which tells them when something is waiting their authorization.

I system could be a simple database, or it could be a complete enterprise system. Having a system is the important part.

If a senior manager calls up and wants a report on all the changes on a project sorted by cost, with a good system you should be able to give it to him within a few minutes. If your change management system is just on a collection of spreadsheets, this may not be possible. Even better, a good system would allow the manager to log-in and look at the reports themselves.

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Ideally, you shouldn’t have folders within folders within folders containing spreadsheets and documents on the computer system.

Preferable would be a well managed enterprise project management system, or at least a database system from where most things can be accessed.

Reduce time wastage by making sure files are stored as close to where they are accessed as possible. If your server is based in one city and most of the project team that accesses it is based in another, make sure you either have a very fast connection to it or have the files stored locally instead. A delay of 30 seconds to open every file can add up to hours of wasted time each week per person.

Proper complete training should be provided to all members of the project team on how to find and access files. A standard filing system should be used across all projects so people can easily start work in a project without wasting time. Standard templates should be easily available to cover most common uses, including change or variation tracking, costs changes, and anything that would commonly be used to store information.

You don’t want lots of people using their own style of spreadsheet for the same type of information. It should be standardised and known by all, yet as simple as possible.

Changes or updates to these templates should be easy yet centralised. It should not need lots of signatures and days of waiting. Anyone should be able to easily submit a change to template proposal which will be enacted as soon as possible. (This could be a difficult process to manage, it is better to get the forms right the first time).

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• Clients
• Suppliers
• Contractors
• Industry contacts.

Everything known about the contact should be able to be put in to the system.

• Name
• Address
• Phone
• Fax
• Email
• Industry
• Status (client, supplier contractor)
• Special expertise
• Reliability
• Comments on the contact
• Meetings
• Sales made to them
• Items or services bought from them
• Phone conversations
• Correspondence
• Their promotional literature

You should be able to have an entry for the company and a separate entry for each employee of the company.

You should be able to sort people or companies by:

• Industry
• Geographic location
• Expertise
• Potential clients
• Top list (most reliable suppliers or preferred suppliers)
• What they sell (multiple entries can each be searched, e.g. pumps, valves, compressors, concreting, signals design, etc). This information is useful for sales but it is also important for project managers, who might need to find a reliable supplier quickly without having to call around a lot of people.

A folder of business cards is not good enough. It is only available to the person who knows about it, it cannot be searched quickly, and it relies on remembering details about the contact. As soon as a contact is made, the details should be added to the database, ideally by the person who made contact. All employees, in particular sales, procurement and project managers should be encouraged to add to and use the system. A summary printout of the contact should be possible.

The database should be kept private (within the company) as ratings on reliability etc could embarrass or anger the contact if it ever got to them.

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