Change Impact Analysis

Purpose

Assess the impact of requirement changes on schedule, scope, architecture, and downstream artifacts to enable informed decisions about accepting or rejecting changes.

When to Use

• New requirement requested
• Existing requirement modified
• Requirement removed
• Scope change discussion
• Mid-sprint changes

Prerequisites

• Existing requirements documented
• Dependencies mapped
• Traceability matrix available
• Current project status known

Process

Step 1: Document the Change

Change record:
- Change ID
- Change type: Add/Modify/Remove
- Requirement affected
- Change description
- Requester
- Urgency

Step 2: Analyze Direct Impact

Direct impacts:
- Which artifacts change?
- Which agents affected?
- Effort estimate for change
- Schedule impact
- Cost impact

Step 3: Analyze Downstream Impact

Using traceability:
- Design documents affected
- Test cases needing update
- Code modules to modify
- Documentation updates
- Deployment changes

Step 4: Analyze Dependencies

Dependency cascade:
- Requirements that depend on changed item
- Requirements that changed item depends on
- External system impacts

Step 5: Generate Impact Report

Report includes:
- Change summary
- Impact assessment (Low/Medium/High)
- Affected artifacts list
- Effort estimate
- Schedule impact
- Risk assessment
- Recommendation (Accept/Reject/Defer)

Inputs

Input	Type	Required	Description
change_request	JSON	Yes	Proposed change details
traceability_matrix	CSV	Yes	Current traceability
dependency_map	JSON	Yes	Requirement dependencies
project_status	JSON	Yes	Current progress

Outputs

Output	Type	Description
impact_report.md	Markdown	Complete analysis
affected_artifacts.json	JSON	List of artifacts
effort_estimate.json	JSON	Estimated work

StudyAbroad-Specific Considerations

• Auth changes cascade to most features
• GDPR changes may require legal review
• External API changes affect integration layer
• UI changes may affect accessibility compliance

Integration Points

• Orchestrator: Change decision input
• Test Manager: Test impact analysis (TEST-006)
• All Agents: Artifact impact notification

Examples

Change Impact Analysis

Change Request: CR-005
Description: Add "Compare Programs" feature
Type: NEW REQUIREMENT
Urgency: Normal

Direct Impact:
- New requirement: REQ-025 (Compare Programs)
- Design: New UI component, new API endpoint
- Effort: 2 sprints estimated

Downstream Impact:
- Design: Add to openapi_spec.yaml
- Tests: 5-8 new test cases
- Documentation: Update user guide
- Code: New backend service, new React component

Dependencies:
- Depends on: REQ-003 (University Search) - EXISTS
- Blocks: Nothing

Impact Assessment: MEDIUM
- Moderate scope increase
- No architectural changes
- Fits within release timeline

Schedule Impact:
- Adds 2 weeks if added now
- Could parallelize with REQ-015

Risk Assessment: LOW
- No technical unknowns
- No external dependencies
- Similar patterns exist

Recommendation: ACCEPT
- High user value
- Manageable effort
- No conflicts

Validation

• All downstream impacts identified
• Effort estimate reasonable
• Dependencies checked
• Recommendation justified
• Stakeholder review complete