| Course | HI540 Project Management of Health Information Systems |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 9 |
| Paper type | Change control procedure |
| Length | About 990 words, 6 pages double-spaced |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Purdue University Global |
| Program | MS in Health Informatics |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for HI540 Unit 9
Who May Say Yes, and to How Much: A Unit 9 Change Control Procedure With One Request Priced Before the Vote
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
HI540: Project Management of Health Information Systems
Unit 9 Change Control Procedure
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
Ashby Valley Health, its committees, the request and every figure are composite; the sources cited are real.
Document Control
Procedure: Change Control for the Perioperative Information System Rollout. Version 1.2. Owner: project manager. Approved by: steering committee. Review: at each phase gate and after any emergency change.
Purpose and Scope
This procedure governs any request that would alter the approved scope, schedule baseline, budget baseline or completion conditions of the rollout. It applies from charter approval until project closeout. It does not apply to defect fixes that restore agreed behavior, which follow the defect process, or to routine configuration decisions inside an approved package. Projects in health IT drift when small additions are accepted informally, each reasonable on its own, until the schedule no longer holds (Kaplan & Harris-Salamone, 2009). The point of this procedure is not to refuse changes but to make sure each one is priced and decided by someone with the authority to accept its cost.
Definitions
1. Change request: a written proposal to alter scope, schedule, budget or a completion condition.
2. Impact analysis: an estimate of hours, dollars and working days on the critical path, with any effect on risk, prepared before a decision.
3. Baseline: the approved version of the scope, schedule and budget against which progress is measured.
4. Float used: working days of total float the change would consume on the affected chain, as calculated by the schedule script.
Process Steps
1. Submission. Anyone may submit a request on the change form, stating what is asked, why, who benefits and what happens if it is refused.
2. Triage. Within two working days the project manager logs the request, checks that it is a change rather than a defect, and assigns an analyst to the impact analysis.
3. Impact analysis. Within five working days the analyst estimates hours by role, dollars, effect on each schedule chain, effect on the risk register and any effect on training or downtime procedures.
4. Decision. The request goes to the authority level its impact requires, which approves, rejects or defers it.
5. Baseline update. If approved, the project manager updates the schedule, budget and breakdown within two working days and notifies affected owners.
6. Closure. The log records the decision, the authority that made it and the date.
Approval Authority
Authority is set by what a change costs and what it moves, not by who asked for it, so a request from a department chair follows the same path as one from a scheduler.
1. Project manager: changes under 10,000 dollars that use no more than half the available float on their chain and do not touch a charter completion condition.
2. Change control board: changes up to 150,000 dollars that leave both go-live dates intact. Five voting members: the perioperative nursing director, the chief medical information officer's delegate, the application services director, a finance manager and a surgeon representative. Quorum is four.
3. Steering committee: any change that moves a go-live date, alters a completion condition or exceeds 150,000 dollars.
The guide to project management treats integrated change control as the process that reviews every request and approves or rejects it against the baselines (Project Management Institute, 2021). Setting thresholds in advance means the review does not start with an argument about who decides.
Worked Request: Perfusion Record Template
Submission. The cardiac surgery section asked for an electronic perfusion record template to be built and live at wave 1, replacing the paper perfusion record used during bypass cases at Ashby Valley Medical Center. The stated benefit was a single intraoperative record for cardiac cases. Triage. The request is a change, not a defect. Perfusion documentation was not in the charter's scope, which covers intraoperative nursing documentation. Impact analysis. The analyst estimated 180 hours of build analyst time, interface work to receive pump data, a new training module for eleven perfusionists, and testing in the second integrated round. Cost: 38,500 dollars, mostly labor and a pump interface license. Schedule: the build would fall on the lead build analyst, who is already at full load, and the interface work on the charge chain analysts. Net effect: seven working days added to the critical path. Risk: a new entry for pump interface failure during bypass cases, which would need its own downtime procedure. Decision route. The cost alone would sit within the board's authority, but seven critical-path days move wave 1, so the request goes to steering. Decision. Steering deferred the request to the post-wave-2 queue, with a note to reconsider it alongside the anesthesia documentation project, since perfusion and anesthesia records share an operating room and a time window. Cardiac surgeons were told the decision and the reason within two days.
Emergency Path
When a change is needed to protect patient safety or to restore go-live readiness within forty-eight hours, the project manager and the chief medical information officer's delegate may approve it jointly. The change is logged within one working day and reviewed by the board at its next meeting. Emergency approval is not available for scope additions.
Change Log Template
Each log row records request number, date received, requester, summary, chains affected, hours, dollars, critical-path days, authority level, decision, decision date and baseline update date. The log is reviewed at every steering meeting, and requests deferred to the post-wave-2 queue are carried into the closeout report so they are not lost.
Why the Procedure Is Built This Way
Unplanned changes during implementation are a known source of unintended consequences in clinical systems (Ash et al., 2004). A procedure that prices every request in the same three units, hours, dollars and critical-path days, makes the trade-off visible to the people who must live with it.
References
Ash, J. S., Berg, M., & Coiera, E. (2004). Some unintended consequences of information technology in health care: The nature of patient care information system-related errors. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 11(2), 104-112. https://doi.org/10.1197/jamia.M1471
Kaplan, B., & Harris-Salamone, K. D. (2009). Health IT success and failure: Recommendations from literature and an AMIA workshop. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 16(3), 291-299. https://doi.org/10.1197/jamia.M2997
Project Management Institute. (2021). A guide to the project management body of knowledge (PMBOK guide) (7th ed.). Project Management Institute.
What the HI540 Unit 9 assignment asks for
The ninth unit usually asks you to write a change control process for your project and to demonstrate it with an example request. Expect a purpose and scope statement, definitions, process steps from submission to baseline update, approval authority and a change log. Many instructors want thresholds that decide who approves what, an impact analysis covering schedule, cost and risk, and an emergency path. A worked example makes the procedure testable, so choose a realistic request that touches more than one baseline. Write it as a procedure people can follow, with numbered steps and named roles, rather than as an essay about why change control matters. Cite the project management guide on integrated change control and a health IT source on unplanned change. Five to eight pages is common, including the example and log template.
Inside the HI540 Unit 9 example
Document control and purpose open the procedure, with a sentence separating changes from defect fixes. Definitions include float used, so later thresholds have a precise meaning. Six numbered steps run from submission to closure with time limits. The authority section lists three levels, and the highlighted sentence explains that authority depends on cost and effect rather than on who asks. A margin note explains why float matters as much as dollars on a zero-float chain. The worked request follows each step: submission, triage as a change, an impact analysis in hours, dollars, days and risk, the route to steering and the deferral with its reason. An emergency path limited to safety and readiness fixes and a log template close the document, followed by a short rationale tied to unintended consequences in clinical systems.
Where the points sit in the HI540 Unit 9 rubric
Procedure assignments tend to reward usability. A large share of points goes to process steps that someone could follow without asking questions, with roles and time limits. Approval authority usually has its own row, judged on whether thresholds are clear and tied to the baselines. Impact analysis earns marks for covering schedule, cost and risk, not just dollars. The worked example is often where the top score is won or lost, since it shows the procedure functioning. Emergency handling, a log and document control share a smaller block. Writing quality and APA format complete it. Points are lost when every change goes to one committee, when thresholds ignore schedule effects, or when the example is approved without any analysis being shown.
Common HI540 Unit 9 mistakes, and how to avoid them
Change procedures are frequently sent back because they describe why control matters instead of how to do it. Another common gap is authority based on job title, so a senior requester bypasses the process. Many drafts set dollar limits only, missing that a cheap change on the critical path can move go-live. Impact analyses sometimes give a total cost but no hours or days. Emergency paths are often so broad that ordinary requests could use them. The worked example is sometimes too simple to test anything. For a version fitted to your project, provide the schedule, budget, governance structure and prompt, and a custom procedure with thresholds and a worked request can be written to match your baselines.
Get an HI540 Unit 9 example written to your instructions
Change procedures work best built on real baselines, so include the Unit 9 prompt, the rubric, and the schedule and budget from the plan you have been developing. At no charge for a first sample and within 24-48h, a procedure comes back with thresholds, a board and one request priced end to end. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.
More HI540 papers and MS in Health Informatics samples
- HI540 Unit 1: Discussion Post
- HI540 Unit 2: Project Charter
- HI540 Unit 3: Work Breakdown Structure
- HI540 Unit 4: Stakeholder Analysis
- HI540 Unit 5: Schedule and Critical Path
- HI540 Unit 6: Resource and Budget Plan
- HI540 Unit 7: Risk Register
- HI540 Unit 8: Seminar Reflection
- HI540 Unit 10: Project Closeout Report
- HI530 Unit 9: Terminology Governance Plan
- HI520 Unit 9: Data Governance Memo
- HI510 Unit 9: Seminar Reflection
- HI501 Unit 9: Seminar Reflection
HI540 Unit 9 questions, answered
Who should sit on a change control board?
People who represent the areas a change affects and who can commit resources. In the example that means perioperative nursing, the CMIO's office, application services, finance and a surgeon, five voting members. Sponsors usually sit above the board, deciding only what exceeds its authority. Graders tend to question boards staffed entirely by the project team, which cannot weigh operational cost.
Why was the example's request deferred rather than approved?
Because it would have moved the wave 1 go-live by seven working days on a zero-float chain, and the procedure sends any go-live change to steering. Steering judged that perfusion documentation could wait for the enhancement queue after wave 2. The procedure has no preference for deferral; it simply makes the cost of approval visible before anyone decides.
Is an emergency change process really necessary?
For any project with a go-live, usually yes. During cutover a broken order set or charge rule may need fixing within the hour, and waiting for a board meeting is not realistic. The example lets the command center lead approve such fixes, requires a log entry for each, and has the board review them within two working days.
Where can I find a free HI540 Unit 9 sample paper?
The Unit 9 procedure is on this page in full, from document control and authority thresholds through the worked perfusion request and the log.
Why did the perfusion request go to steering if it cost only 38,500 dollars?
It added seven days to the critical path and would have moved wave 1, and any change to a go-live date belongs to steering.