Change management is an approach which is used to mitigate the performance drop typically experienced in IT projects which implement changes to existing business systems by addressing the people and organisational issues and impacts surrounding the implementation that cause the drop in performance.

As shown in the diagram Change Management seeks to Decrease the duration of the drop in performance (A), Decrease the depth of the drop (B), and Increase the benefits derived from successful implementation (C).

Experienced IT project professionals know that this performance drop will happen. The question is how we minimise this disruption to the business, both in duration and the magnitude of the drop.

It should be noted that you will have change management costs for your implementation, either as a professional engagement supporting the change or as consequential costs of not managing the change professionally.

It is necessary to commence a Change Management engagement by assessing the impact of the change to affected stakeholders.

This information allows an assessment of stakeholder impacts, how they are impacted, and leads to a recommended engagement strategy and change interventions.

Stakeholder Engagement
This lever is all about business buy-in and acceptance of the IT Project and ensuring that stakeholders are adequately engaged at the appropriate times.

Communication
This lever is about ensuring that all those who have a role in the implementation, either as implementers or those impacted by the implementation are fully informed.

Training
Training consumes (or should consume) significant effort in most implementations.

A properly formulated approach based on defined requirements, practical aids, and just-in-time training is the best way for this cost to be effective.

Transitional Support
This lever focuses on anticipating the impact of necessary disruptions and addressing the short term needs over the launch period and the handover of knowledge to the Business-as-Usual stakeholders.

If you have an interest in this topic you can download the proceedings of the Plutonic Zoo lunchtime seminar that covered "Four Levers of Managing Change" .