Change Requests

How are Change Requests handled?

Ideas for improvements or changes to CPMS are submitted to the CPMS Change Management board through a Google Form.  The Board then confirms whether the change is accepted into the backlog, which is the first step toward development.

Each CPMS representative prioritises the change requests that affect their area of CPMS.  High priority changes tend to be ones that would make the biggest difference to the most CPMS users.  Once the change is prioritised, then a Business Analyst refines the change so the IT development team know exactly what they need to do.  The Change Board then agrees on the order in which the development team will work on the refined requests. 

A release of all of the newly developed changes is scheduled for the end of each month.  Changes are released in a batch because CPMS must be taken offline briefly while the changes are deployed.  The deployment is always done outside of business hours.

CPMS Change Management Board

The CPMS Change Management Board is responsible for reviewing and prioritising all requests made for changes or improvements to CPMS.  Each different area or service in CPMS is represented by a Business Owner, who has responsibility for reviewing and prioritising the changes affecting their area.  They must also assist the development team by making decisions and answering questions, as well as testing the functionality before it is released.

The different areas of CPMS with representation on the board are:

• CPMS Study Record

• CPMS Application (overall)

• CPMS Data Architecture

• Commercial Feasibility Service

• Interactive Costing Tool (ICT) Service

• Non-Com Portfolio Application (NPA) Service

• Schedule of Events Costing Attribution Tool (SoECAT) Service

• Reference and Terminology Service (RTS)

Requesting changes in CPMS

All changes must be reviewed and accepted by the CPMS representative before the request can progress and be added to the backlog.

To request support from the CPMS representative for a particular part of the system, please email the CPMS Product Manager, gwendolyn.loomis@nihr.ac.uk

If you encounter a problem with CPMS (i.e. it isn't working as it should), please see Problems for how advice on how to proceed.