Change Control Board (CCB)

In software development, a Change Control Board (CCB) is a committee that makes decisions regarding whether or not proposed changes to a software project should be implemented. The change control board is constituted of project stakeholders or their representatives. The authority of the change control board may vary from project to project, but decisions reached by the change control board are often accepted as final and binding.

Purpose

Describe the objectives of the CCB. It might say something like: “The Change Control Board (CCB) represents the interests of program and project management by ensuring that a structured process is used to consider proposed changes and incorporate them into a specified release of a product. The CCB shall request that impact analysis of proposed changes be performed, review change requests, make decisions, and communicate decisions made to affected groups and individuals.” Define the relationship of this CCB to any other CCBs in the organization or other decision-making bodies, such as a project steering committee.

Scope of Authority

Indicate the scope of decisions that the CCB makes. This scope could be over a specific organizational range; a project, group of projects (program), or subproject; a maximum budget or schedule impact. This scope boundary separates decisions that this CCB can make from those that it must escalate to a higher-level CCB or manager for resolution.

Membership

List the members of this CCB. The CCB typically includes representatives from program management, project management, software engineering, hardware engineering, testing, documentation, customer support, and marketing. One individual is designated as the CCB Chair. Keep the CCB as small as possible, to facilitate its ability to make rapid decisions, but make sure that the critical perspectives are represented.

Operating Procedures

State the frequency of regularly scheduled CCB meetings and the conditions that will trigger a special meeting. Describe how meetings will be conducted, the number of CCB members who constitute a quorum to make decisions at a meeting, and the roles that must be represented for the meeting to proceed. Identify whether guest participants may attend, such as the individuals who proposed the change requests being considered at a specific meeting.

Decision-Making Process

Describe how the CCB will make its decisions. Indicate whether voting, consensus, unanimity, delegation to a specific individual, or some other decision rule is used to make decisions. State whether the CCB Chair or another manager is permitted to overrule the CCB’s collective decision.

Communicating Status

Describe how each decision that the CCB makes will be communicated to the individual who requested the change, senior management, project management, affected team members who must implement the change, higher- or lower-level CCBs, and any other stakeholders. Indicate where the decisions and any supporting information, rationale, or data will be stored.