[TMT] Mastering IT Agreements: Managing Change Requests

As projects progress, stakeholders often identify necessary changes to the original plan. These changes can range from minor adjustments to major alterations to the project's scope, timeline, or budget. To address this gap, most modern IT agreements incorporate a change request protocol to enable parties to mutually vary the original scope of work.

A change request protocol will generally consist of the following components:

• a request procedure stipulating the change required;

• an evaluation on the costs and project implications resulting from the requested change;

• an approval process for the change request; and

• a procedure to make amendments to the contract to address the potential effects to the project flowing from the requested change.