Change impact analysis involves assessing the impact of changes on a company’s profits, programs, and corporate identity. There are two types: one focuses on the change itself, while the other focuses on the results of the change. Analyzing the impact of change can be complicated, as most processes are interconnected. Change management specialists oversee projects to help companies transition smoothly.
A change impact analysis can be one of two related things. One version is about the change itself, finding out what needs to change, how to change it, and how much the change will cost the company. The second release focuses on the results of the change, how it will impact profits, programs and corporate identity. The two types of reports are occasionally integrated, but a change impact analysis of this magnitude is often impractical for all but the largest products from the largest companies. Both types of analysis are embedded in the broader field of change management, a discipline that covers preparing for, undertaking, and managing change in enterprises.
The two forms of change impact analysis derive from the original interpretation of the term by two different economists. The analyzes themselves cover much of the same information, but do so from different points of view. The change version focuses mainly on the design and method of change. The second version focuses on the overall risk and reward offered by change. In both cases, the goal of the analysis is to enable companies to make informed decisions about changes in methodology, process or organization.
Performing a change impact analysis can be much more complicated than it appears on the surface. It is rare for a process to have nothing it depends on and nothing that depends on it. These types of processes are called orphans and are by far the easiest things to change. When dealing with an orphan, analyzing the impact of change is often quite straightforward, as the change will not have far-reaching effects.
Orphan processes are very rare in modern business. Most systems in a business connect to employees, which are processes that follow the system, and parents, processes that precede it. How the examined system interacts with these two groups is not always clear. Furthermore, a change to one of these groups, following a change to the system under review, can have a knock-on effect on any of their parents and dependents. It is only by examining each of these connections that change impact analysis can truly illustrate the results of change.
These analyzes are typically part of the greater field of change management. This area focuses on the major effects of change in business. People who specialize in change management will often oversee projects, usually on a freelance basis, in order to help a company transition smoothly from one system to another.
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