Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc. 834 Computer Service and Repair Scope of the Change Th e word scope denotes the boundaries of a change. Th e purpose of using scope is to provide some level of control to avoid the spread or growth of change ideas. Additionally, the statement of scope should also specify how the change would be measured, generally with paired indicators to keep the results honest. For exam- ple, revenue, or income, is often paired with a standard gross margin (a statement of profi t) to determine the profi tability of a company and how much profi t is being made. In software development, lines of code are often paired against the number of defects per line of code. Risk Analysis A risk analysis is the identifi cation of potential issues that could impact a business or organization negatively. It is sometimes called a risk assessment. Th ere are typically fi ve steps in conducting risk analysis: identify hazards, decide who or what could be harmed, evaluate risk and decide how to control, record and implement fi ndings, review analysis, and update if necessary. Plan for Change Once the change, scope, and risk factors have been assessed, the change-management team should create a plan to enhance their ability to track progress. Th e plan should have regular milestones that allow the team to calculate the current state and make in-progress adjustments to align with the reality of the project. Th is approach suggests the team should have a documented process that defi nes the steps they must take to realign their plan. Th ese regular milestones are both reviews and anticipations, looking both backward and forward. End-User Acceptance End-user acceptance is sometimes called customer buy-in. Th is is similar to the transparency discussed previously. Consider the same customers and employees in the previous example. Th e change would be counterproductive if it causes resis- tance from either the employees involved or the downstream stakeholders such as customers and suppliers. Convincing end-users to accept changes may be the most diffi cult part of change management. Change Board A change board is typically a team of appointed individuals who have the responsi- bility for approval or rejection of changes. In most cases, all changes must receive approval from the change board before any process begins. Approaches that are more formal use terminologies such as confi guration management, which includes the con- cepts of confi guration identifi cation, control, status and accounting, and auditing. Small changes typically do not require this level of formality, although formalizing the process is unlikely to yield negative results. Regardless of the perceived size of the change, all changes should be documented. Backout Plan A backout plan is a plan or process that restores a given situation to its original or earlier state in the event of undesired results. Each milestone review should incor- porate what is called a kill point. A kill point occurs when measurements indicate 1002: 4.2 1002: 4.2 1002: 4.2 1002: 4.2 1002: 4.2 1002: 4.2