How to write a change request a client can approve quickly

What a change request is for

A change request is a short, specific offer to do work the agreement does not cover, at a stated price and with a stated effect on the schedule. Its purpose is to get a clear yes or no from the client before the work starts.

The best change requests are boring to approve. The client reads it once, sees why it is extra, sees what they get and what it costs, and replies “approved”.

What it must contain

1. The request, in the client’s words, with the date and who asked.
2. The basis: the clause it goes beyond, quoted exactly. For example: “§3.1 provides one sandbox and one production environment.”
3. Additional scope: what you will deliver, in concrete terms.
4. Exclusions: what this change does not include.
5. Assumptions and dependencies: what you need from the client.
6. Price: fixed fee or hourly with an estimate, the currency and the tax treatment.
7. Schedule impact: dates that move, or “schedule to be agreed” if it genuinely isn’t known yet.
8. Approval: who must approve and how, and until when the offer stands.

A template to copy

Change request CR-07 · CRM rollout for Harbour & Finch
Requested: 12 March by J. Lee: “Could we get a second sandbox so our team can run UAT separately?”
Basis: §3.1 “The supplier will configure one sandbox and one production environment. Additional environments are subject to the change procedure in §9.”
Additional scope: provision and configure a second full sandbox; one data refresh before UAT.
Excludes: ongoing refreshes; licence costs for the extra sandbox.
Assumes: client purchases the sandbox licence by 20 March.
Price: A$1,800 fixed, excluding GST.
Schedule: no change to go-live if approved by 22 March; otherwise to be agreed.
Approval: written approval from the project sponsor, by reply to this document.

Keep it to a page. If it needs more than a page, it is probably a new phase, and deserves its own statement of work.

Mistakes that slow approval

• No basis. Without the clause, the first reply is “wasn’t this already included?”, and you lose a week.
• A vague price. “Approximately two to five days” invites negotiation. Pick a number or a capped estimate.
• Bundling. Three unrelated changes in one document means one objection blocks all three. Split them.
• Starting before approval. Once the work is done, the client has little reason to approve the cost.
• Unclear approver. Approval from someone without authority is not approval.

After the client approves

Record the approval date, the approving contact and the evidence, such as the email reply, with the change request. Only then update the scope baseline, so future requests are checked against the amended scope. If the client rejects it, keep the rejected request on file. It explains why the work was not done.

In Agreeably, a change request is drafted from a request item you decided to charge for. The model may suggest wording; you enter the price, currency, tax treatment and schedule, and every required field must be reviewed before it can be finalised. It exports as a clean PDF that you send yourself, and an approved change only becomes part of the scope when you confirm the amendment. See the full workflow.