Change control process

The defined, repeatable procedure an organization follows to evaluate, approve, price, and document any proposed change to project scope.

Example

A dev agency's change control process: any request outside the SOW gets logged, estimated within 24 hours, priced, and requires written client approval before any work begins on it.

Why it matters for agencies

Without a documented change control process, every scope change gets handled ad hoc — sometimes flagged and priced, sometimes just quietly absorbed depending on who's handling the client that day. A consistent process is what makes catching and billing for out-of-scope work a habit rather than a matter of individual diligence.