There has been software developed for almost everything: office tasks, databasing personal collections, mapping routes on land or sea, even for writing books. It would be surprising, therefore, to find that there was no change management software.
This is not at all the case, of course. Change management software exists in a variety of different forms, from online versions you can run securely on your company’s intranet to versions that are designed to be on only one computer to versions that network together from computer to computer, both within and without your company.
There are so many types of change management software, in fact, that it might be difficult to choose one type. Here are some guidelines:
1. Look for change management software that will scale to your needs. If you only have six people working on your company restructuring, then you don’t need a system designed for 1200 people.
2. After finding change management software packages that are suitable for your needs, consider your budget. Don’t just discount a software package because it’s outside your budget range, though. And don’t assume that the lower-priced packages aren’t any good.
3. Your software should be customizable for your business in particular. It should allow simple account management and easy access to necessary functions.
Once you’ve narrowed the field a little, you should consider the different functions your change management software should perform for your company.
4. Project Change Management – your chosen change management software should have effective and efficient project change management capabilities, such as timelines, task assignment, and automated budget projecting. In addition, assigned tasks should be completely transparent to you; you and others tasked with ensuring successful completion of your company’s changes should be able to look at all tasks, determine how much progress has been made, and send reminders and meeting requests to the assigned person. In addition, it should be capable of working seamlessly with your current email and scheduling software.
5. Knowledge Database – a good change management software package will allow you to build a knowledge database, including information such as current processes, job descriptions, and financial information, with different levels of access depending on the account holder’s rights, set by you.
6. Change Request support – especially for large companies undergoing a restructuring, your change management software ought to make it simple for account holders to enter a suggested change request, with attachments. This will allow your change management team to efficiently and effectively go through the different changes your employees have suggested.
7. Charts and graphs – your change management software should have the capability of creating easy-to-read charts and graphs of your current and planned changes. It could do this with either its own internal processes or it could integrate with your office software in order to perform these processes. Regardless of its method, it should be smooth, seamless, and relatively quick.
8. Integration with current software and processes – your change management software should be able to work in tandem with your existing office software as well as other processes like email and help desk services.
9. Security – good change management software should be secure, with confidential processes available only to those who have been given access, and with access to outside computers properly encrypted.
The change management software program that provides these functions at a reasonable price, scaled to your company’s size, is probably the one to go with.