Change Control vs. Change Management: What's The Difference?

Key Takeaways:

• Change control is the process of logging, evaluating, and ultimately screening which changes should be implemented. It also involves evaluating technical requirements to implement the change.
• Change management is managing stakeholders, making the change, and ensuring people actually adopt and sustain those changes.
• Integrated Change Control is a popular variation of the process that combines other project management and change plan tasks into a single workflow.
• Finding the right tool to support a change management or change control plan is an essential first step toward success.

When it comes to making changes to your business — whether it's implementing a new process, rolling out a new product, or fixing a mistake — you need a plan.

Change control and change management processes help you make changes in a controlled and deliberate way, minimizing the risk of things going wrong. But what's the difference between these two processes? How do change control systems and change management relate to project management as a whole? And when should you use one over the other?

In this article, we'll break down the key differences between the change control management process and the change management process. We'll also provide examples of when you would use each type of process to help you better understand when and how to implement them in your own business.

What is Change Control?

A simple change control definition is a process for logging, evaluating, and adapting plans to make specific approved changes. It involves the establishment of a Change Control Board, the creation of change control documents (such as a change log), and identifying how the change control system will be implemented.

Change control has three main objectives:

• Ensuring that changes are made in a controlled and consistent manner
• Ensuring that the impact of each change is understood and accounted for, and
• Minimizing risks associated with changes.

The basic process behind change control typically involves the following steps:

1. Identify the need for a change
2. Create a change request
3. Evaluate the change request
4. Approve or reject the change request
5. Implement the approved change
6. Close out the change request

You and your organization may have a more specific or detailed change control process - maybe even fewer steps. These are the general steps that are typically practiced.

Changes to a project can be caused by different things – risk events occurring, changes in the project environment, a deeper understanding of the elements involved, and new customer requests, for example. The sooner changes are proposed and evaluated, the less expensive they typically are to implement. The primary objective of change control is to ensure that changes are made in a controlled manner and that the impact of each change is understood and accounted for.

Change control helps to minimize risks and ensure that changes are made in a consistent process. For example, let's say you want to change the color of your company's logo. To make this change, you would follow the steps in your change control procedure.

Who Uses Change Control & What is a Change Control Board?

The change control board is a group tasked to review, evaluate, and decide to approve, delay, or reject these project changes during change control meetings. The people who typically use change control are those who are responsible for making changes (e.g., developers, testers, system administrators) and those who need to be aware of changes (e.g., managers, stakeholders). Change control can be used in any organization where changes need to be managed, such as software development, IT operations, manufacturing, or even healthcare.

In certain situations, such as Integrated Change Control methods, an organization might formally appoint a Change Control Board (or CCB) of project stakeholders to meet regularly and review, approve, reject, and or alter potential changes within a project.

Where is a Change Control Process Best Implemented?

Change control can be implemented in any environment where changes need to be managed. However, it is typically used in environments with a high risk of making incorrect or unintended changes (e.g., software development, IT operations, manufacturing).

Let's say you work for a company that is looking to change its logo. You would start by creating a change request that specifies the details of the change (e.g., what you want to be changed, and why you want it changed). You would then submit the change request to your company's change control process. The change control process would review your request and determine whether it meets the criteria for approval (e.g., does the change meet the organization's standards? Will it harm the business?).

Then, if the change request meets the criteria for approval, it will be approved and assigned to a team of individuals who will make the change. If the change request does not meet the criteria for approval, then it will be denied, and you will need to come up with a different solution.

Integrated Change Control in Project Management

Integrated Change Control is a popular variation of the process that combines other project management and change plan tasks into a single workflow, with a heavy emphasis on mapping out the potential impacts of a change for the previously mentioned Change Control Board to make an educated decision for the organization.

Integrated Change Control involves the following components:

• Change Management: Define change control (proposed changes, variables, and risks) by way of a Change Management Strategy.
• Project Management: Project Management’s contributions to an Integrated Change Control include utilizing organizational skills and expertise to ensure project variables (such as quality, cost, and other factors) are met, with any variances or bottlenecks being reported to the Change Control Board.
• Configuration Management: CM ensures that all aspects of a service or product are considered and/or prepped ahead of any change to prevent negative impacts on production or delivery.

• Change Control Board: Once all components have been vetted and presented, the appointed Change Control Board will review and render decisions on any proposed changes. Decisions may include approval, rejection, alterations, and or deferring.

What is Change Management?

While change control is focused on evaluating changes and their implementation in terms of work and project deliverables, change management is focused on managing the people who are making the changes and the ones affected by them.

The primary objective of change management is to help people adapt to new changes in a way that minimizes disruption of the business (such as employee resignations) and maximizes effectiveness (improving the process you want to change). Change management helps to ensure that changes are made in a standardized method and that everyone involved understands what needs to be done and how it should be done. Change management is a long-term process of sustaining alignment in the organization for the change to be implemented effectively.

For example, let's say you want to launch a new product. This is a big change that could have a major impact on your business, involving the creation of new teams, training of new skills, or acquisition of new expertise, and more. Change management focuses on the people, lessening resistance and ensuring that the people involved and the people affected have the necessary information, training, and support.

Who Uses Change Management?

Change management is typically used by organizations that need to make significant changes to their business, such as launching a new product or service, opening a new location, or making major changes to their team structure or operations. Change management can be used by any organization that needs to make changes to its business, but it is typically used by large organizations.

Where is Change Management Best Implemented?

A company's change management process should be tailored to its specific needs, but some general guidelines can be followed. Change models typically have these common elements:

1. Formulating the change: Building the rationale behind the change
2. Planning the change: Identifying activities to prepare for the transition
3. Implementing the change: An iterative way of demonstrating the future state capabilities and ensuring its intended impact, making the necessary improvements to adapt
4. Managing the transition: Addressing needs related to change that may surface once the future state is achieved

Change management is most effective when it is implemented throughout the entire organization, from the top down. This allows everyone to be on the same page and understand the goals of the change management process. It also ensures that everyone knows their role in implementing and supporting the changes.

Change Control vs Change Management

Both change control and change management are processes that help you make changes to your business in a controlled, deliberate way. While they have their nuanced differences, both share the following similarities:

• Planned - Neither process should be used for making changes on the fly. Instead, both should be planned out in advance. This will help ensure that changes are made in a way that makes sense, minimizing the risk of things going wrong
• Iterative - Both processes should be viewed as iterative, meaning that they should be revisited and adjusted as needed over time. As your business changes and grows, your change control and change management processes should also evolve to meet your new needs.
• Flexible - There are different types of changes in change management. Both processes should be flexible enough to accommodate different types of changes. For example, a change control process for rolling out a new product will be different from a change control process for fixing a mistake. Similarly, a change management process for launching a new business will be different from a change management process for making major changes to an existing business.

Despite these similarities, there are some key differences between change control and change management that you should be sure to keep in mind.

How Change Control and Change Management Work Together

Both change control and change management share common elements like stakeholder communication, risk assessment, and structured approval workflows.

Change control provides the technical framework for logging, evaluating, and ultimately screening which changes should be implemented. It also involves evaluating technical requirements to implement the change. Change management, on the other hand, ensures people actually adopt and sustain those changes.

In software implementations, change control manages technical requirements while change management addresses user training and adoption.

Having a solid change control management plan in place can provide a systematic and coordinated approach to managing and implementing changes to business processes, organizational structures, resourcing, and technology. The goal of a change management plan is to ensure that changes are made safely and logically, causing minimal disruption to business operations.

Project managers often need both change control and change management skill sets - technical change control for scope management and change management for team transitions. Organizations that align both approaches see higher success rates because they address both the "what" and "who" of change. The most effective approach treats them as complementary disciplines rather than competing methodologies.

When to Use Change Control vs Change Management

• Use change control when: Project scope needs modification, technical requirements change, compliance issues arise, or stakeholders request specific deliverable adjustments
• Use change management when: Implementing new systems organization-wide, restructuring teams, changing business processes, or rolling out cultural initiatives
• Both may be needed when: Large-scale technology implementations require project-level change control and organizational change management simultaneously
• Creative agencies typically need change control for client scope changes and change management when adopting new project management processes or tools
• The key is recognizing whether you're managing a specific project modification (change control) or broader change initiatives (change management)
• Many organizations fail by applying the wrong approach - using project-focused change control for organizational issues or people-focused change management for technical project changes

Change Control and Change Management Tools

Project management provides an effective framework to help organize and plan a quality change control process. By using tools such as Gantt charts, scheduling, time tracking, and resource allocation tools, project managers can help keep a project on track and within scope, and ensure that all necessary tasks are completed on time.

This can be especially helpful when it comes to changes, which can often introduce uncertainty and create delays. Having a change control manager in charge of the change control process can help minimize these risks and ensure that changes are made in a controlled and organized manner. And having them all in one tool can make information easily accessible and in sync across all project elements.

Modern project management platforms like Workamajig integrate both change control and change management capabilities in one system. Change control tools should include approval workflows, change request forms, impact assessment templates, and audit trail documentation. Meanwhile, change management tools require communication planning, training tracking, stakeholder mapping, and adoption measurement features.

Many organizations struggle with disconnected systems that handle change control separately from change management processes. Workamajig addresses this by providing change order management alongside process templates, team collaboration tools, and guided onboarding.

Finding the right tool to support a change management or change control plan is an essential first step toward success. Look for solutions that support both structured change approval processes and flexible change adoption strategies.

With special features designed specifically to assist Change Management and Change Control processes, such as task tracking, resource capacity maps, in-tool Gantt charts, and fully customizable project hubs, Workamajig is the perfect tool to ensure that your next Change process goes according to plan.

Request a demo with us today for smoother, easier, and faster work.