Understanding Impact Analysis: An Empirical Study to Capture Knowledge on Different Organisational Level

Change impact analysis is a crucial change management activity that previously has been studied much from a technical perspective. In this paper, we present a systematic interview-based study of a non-technical aspect of impact analysis. In the study, we have investigated how potential issues and uses of impact analysis are viewed by industrial experts at three organisational levels, based on Anthony's decision-making model: operative, tactical and strategic. The results from our analyses show that on the whole, agreement on both issues and uses was large. There were, however, some differences among the levels in terms of issues. Thus, we conclude that it is both relevant and important to study impact analysis on different organisational levels.