Two separate but closely linked disciplines are covered in the PRINCE2 Change theme - Configuration Management and Issue & Change Control. Any project manager will soon learn that keeping track of the status of products and the relationships between them is a crucial element of the project team's work, and that keeping change under control is similarly vital. This theme provides some basic advice on how to implement a system with which the baseline can be maintained and protected against the effects of uncontrolled change. 'Scope creep' doesn't happen on a PRINCE2 project!
Configuration Management follows the same pattern as the 2005 version, with advice on planning, identification, control, status accounting, verification and audit. Records about project products are kept using Configuration Item Records, and the whole system is defined in a Configuration Management Strategy specific to the project.
Once the products are under control, the Issue and Change Control procedure can be deployed to make sure that they aren't changed recklessly or without regard to the effects on the business case, the plan, risks and the other products. The change control procedure of capture-examine-propose-decide-implement is used to manage the three types of issue familiar to PRINCE2 practitioners - the Request for Change, the Off-Specification and the Problem/Concern.
