Free Organizational Change Management Roadmaps & Plans
Free Change Roadmap Template for Change Practitioners, Project Leads & Program Managers
How can you effectively convey a high-level summary of your change project to key stakeholders, project team members, program leaders, and others?
The most efficient way to condense your project’s phases, deliverables, and milestones into an accessible format is by presenting them within a Change Management Roadmap in either a PowerPoint (PPT) or PDF format. This comprehensive guide offers you a step-by-step overview, encompassing all the essential elements of top-notch change management plans and OCM roadmaps.
“It includes free samples and a free online change roadmap template for you to use for your change management and project management programs.”
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Furthermore, we provide complimentary samples and access to a free online change roadmap template, which you can readily utilize for your change management and project management initiatives.
As pioneers in the best change management practices, OCM Solution is committed to assisting the global change and project management communities by offering user-friendly, industry-standard change tools and templates, including the FREE change roadmaps highlighted on this page.
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OCMS Free Change Management Roadmap Template | Sign up for a free account to get instant access to a variety of best-in-class change leaders roadmap resources & OCM roadmap templates (Excel & PPT).
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Table of Contents
Keep on scrolling down this page to read each section or click any link below to go directly to that section.
1. What is a Change Management Roadmap? What is it Really Needed for?
2. List of FREE Change Management Road Map Resources
3. Common Change Management Roadmap Example Questions
4. What Should You Include in a Change Roadmap?
5. Add Other Important Change Timeline Details
6. Create Your Timeline for Deliverables, Dependencies, & Milestones
7. Benefits of a Change Management Roadmap PPT & Excel
8. Best Change Management Roadmap Examples & Samples
9. Simple Change Management Roadmap PPT or PDF
10. End-to-End OCM Road Maps vs. 12-16 Weeks Excel Roadmaps or Cloud Timelines
11. Become a Member of the OCM Solution Project & Change Management Community
12. Change Roadmap Template FAQs
Do you have any questions about the OCM Solution Change Management Plan Roadmap? Please reach out and let us know.
What is a Change Management Roadmap? What is it Really Needed for?
A change management road map is a graphical, overview of the key change management deliverables and milestones that need to be delivered in support of a business change. A change management road map is presented on a timeline with a sequenced flow of the change deliverables.
Note: Oftentimes, change managers refer to change roadmaps as change plans.
A change management roadmap PPT, PDF, or template is not designed to be a detailed change management plan. It is only supposed to function as a high-level overview of key change deliverables and activities. It can also include dependencies from a program or project plan. This visual tool is an important way for change project managers to tell the story of their project in a condensed and comprehensive view. It’s also useful for providing quick up-to-date snapshots of project progress.
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List of All FREE OCMS Change Management Roadmap Templates
Select from a diverse range of complimentary Excel and PowerPoint change management roadmaps that are readily exportable for offline use.
- Excel: Basic Change Implementation Roadmap (12-16 Weeks View)
- Excel: Basic Change Implementation Roadmap (12-16 Weeks View with Days)
- Excel: Detailed End-to-End Change Roadmap
- PPT: Basic Change Management Roadmap (Comms, Engagement, Training)
- PPT: Detailed Change Management Roadmap (Comms, Engagement, Training)
- PPT: Post M&A Integration Roadmap (Day 1-30)
- PPT: UAT Implementation Roadmap
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Common Change Management Roadmap Example Questions
Examples of questions being asked by our change management and project management readers have included questions like:
- Where can I find a change management roadmap sample?
- What is the purpose and benefit of a change management road map?
- What is included in the change roadmap?
- What types of change management phases and deliverables are listed in a change management roadmap template?
These are all great questions. Keep on reading to find out answers to the most frequently asked organizational change management road map and change leaders roadmap questions.
You’ll also find out how to get downloadable PowerPoint change management roadmap examples (PPT) from the OCM Solution OCM roadmap tool that you can use for your change management needs.
You’ll find that our cloud-based change roadmap template is intuitive to use and more flexible than an Excel change roadmap.
Want to try the OCM Solution free change roadmaps now, plus get access to several other free project management and change management online tools?
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The change roadmap helps change management teams plan and communicate their project timeline.
What Should You Include in a Change Roadmap?
You want the change management roadmap PPT or PDF document you present to be a good representation of your project so you can accurately communicate the timeline and activity expectations during each phase of the project.
What are change project phases for an OCM change leaders roadmap? Implementing a transformation change generally involves a multi-phased approach, and each phase includes multiple change deliverables and milestones that need to be planned for and executed.
Following are the key pieces of information to include in your change management road map.
Add Change Management Phases
Phases represent the key stages of your change project. The change management framework or approach that you’re using will guide you in the phases you’ll enter in your change management roadmap template.
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When using the OCM Solution free template, the change management roadmap example includes 5 phases laid out in the flexible OCM Solution Change Management Framework. You can edit these to reflect any other change model you may be using (Prosci, Lewin, McKinsey, or another framework).
The OCM Solution Change Management Framework phases are:
- Phase 1: Assess
- Phase 2: Develop
- Phase 3: Deploy
- Phase 4: Normalize
- Phase 5: Exit
Within each phase are standard deliverables that may apply to your project, depending upon the scope and parameters.
Add Change Deliverables
Deliverables are another key item you’ll want to enter into your change management roadmap PPT, PDF, or cloud template. You should list these deliverables according to the phase they are pertinent to.
Change management deliverables are tangible or non-tangible items that need to be provided during a particular phase in the change project. A deliverable can be a communication plan or the activity of conducting training for a group.
Add Change Management Dependencies
There are often items that are developed by another team (outside the Change Management Team) that your work will be dependent upon. This dependency is not in any specific phase of your change management plan because it will typically be a program or project deliverable.
However, these will need to be tracked because certain change management tasks will depend upon these program or project deliverables. For example, before you can conduct your user training, you might need to be provided with an online training environment by a program development team.
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Add Milestones
Milestones are events of note on your change management project timeline. These are achievements that you want to call out and that often have a large impact on the progress of the project as a whole.
For example, if you are deploying a new process or software, the date that you “go live” and employees begin using the new system would be considered an important project milestone.
Milestones are generally represented as a single point on the timeline, rather than having a start date and due date. This is why icons for milestones tend to be graphics, such as a star or other shape.
Illustration from OCM Solution Free Change Management Roadmap Template of a Project Milestone Designation
Click here to sign up for a free account to download this flexible, cloud-based change roadmap template right now.
Don’t miss: Change Management Roadmap PPT or PDF. Let us know if you have any feedback or questions about our tools.
Add Other Important Change Timeline Details
When managing a change project, there are often other timeline considerations that you’ll have, such as vacations, holidays, facility closures, etc. It can be helpful to include these in your change management roadmap example since they will impact the timeline for project activities.
Create Your Timeline for Deliverables, Dependencies, & Milestones
The most helpful overview area of a roadmap change management template is the timeline. This is where you will show where each deliverable, dependency, milestone, and other timeline activity happens.
The timeline on the change management road map allows people to easily see the incremental impact of each activity and identify date ranges where several may overlap. When using the OCM Solution Free Change Management Roadmap Template, you have the freedom to make your timeline look the way you like. This includes the ability to:
- Choose different icons for your change roadmap timeline
- Resize the Gantt bars and icons
- Change the color of the Gantt bars and icons
- Add descriptions to the items you place on the timeline
- Drag and drop bars and icons anywhere you like on the timeline
- Add/edit/delete bars and icons
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Benefits of a Change Management Roadmap PPT & Excel
A key benefit of a change management plan roadmap is that you can use it to present a holistic view of change management deliverables to senior leaders, project team members, project leads, sponsors, and other key stakeholders.
Leaders, in particular, like to see a high-level view of what will be delivered, without all the extensive details. And so, using a high-level organizational change management roadmap plan enables you to better present and engage with senior executives.
Another benefit of a business change deliverables roadmap plan is that you and the change team can easily see what change management deliverables have been completed, which ones are in progress, and which ones are coming up. Being able to view these deliverables along a timeline helps a lot with visual memorization.
Best Change Management Roadmap Examples & Samples
Outlined below are the top OCM Solution best change management road maps that illustrate a timeline view against change deliverables. Beyond our free change management roadmap example that we’ve mentioned on this page, OCM Solution also offers other free tools to support change management projects. Some of these also include change management roadmap (PPT) PowerPoint Template exports, Excel exports, and exports to PDF.
Change Management Roadmap Example (PPT) or PDF Flexibility – Program Milestones & Deliverables
Click to sign up for a free account for this Change Roadmap Sample & Template (PPT, Cloud, & PDF) and all the other free OCM Solution change plans and tools.
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The organizational change management road map presented above is also included in our Free Change Management Strategic Playbook. This is a comprehensive and detailed guide that makes it easy for you to present your change project strategy to key stakeholders, project sponsors, and other leadership.
You’ll note that the project roadmap in the illustration above is for “Program Milestones & Deliverables.” These are different than your deliverables in the change roadmap template example. They are items that need to be delivered at the program level and may be connected to your project as dependencies.
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Having these activities on a separate simple OCM change management road map provides a full picture of your timeline when presenting your Change Management Strategic Plan.
The Change Management Strategic Playbook development will come in Phase 2 (Develop Phase) of the change management process if using the OCM Solution Change Management Framework.
Simple Change Management Roadmap PPT or PDF
Another of the simple change roadmaps you’ll find when using OCM Solution’s change management tools is the one illustrated below. This is a quick, change management roadmap for a change management strategic playbook.
When creating the change management plan and strategic playbook, you’ll be presenting a lot of project information. So, in this case, you may wish to use a more basic version of the change roadmap template, highlighting just a few key project activities, and then create a more detailed version later.
This change roadmap example above is from the Free OCMS Strategic Change Management Playbook.
When you sign up for a free account with OCM Solution, you have access to both simple and detailed change roadmap tools.
Detailed, End-to-End Change Management Roadmap Template – Free – from OCMS
Click to sign up for a free account to download this Detailed Change Roadmap right away (no credit card needed!).
The main OCMS change management roadmaps (PPT and PDF) provides you with the most control.
You can make your change roadmap timeline as detailed as you like and use different colors, Gantt bars, and icons to illustrate different types of activities.
You have full drag and drop capabilities and can also edit the text and icons on the legend however you like. You can even add your own logo to the change management roadmap PPT or PDF cover page!
OCM Solution is known for having some of the most flexible and robust paid and free change management tools available. Our free tools include the following:
- Free Change Management Roadmaps (as explained on this page)
- Free Change Management Strategic Playbook
- Free Change Management Workflow
- Free Sponsor Management Toolkit
- Free Project Management Toolkit
Do I have to sign up for each of these free OCM Solution change management tools separately? No! Just sign up for one free account to get access to all our free tools at the same time.
OCMS Free Change Management Roadmaps | Sign up for a free account to get instant access and begin using it for your project.
End-to-End OCM Roadmaps vs. 12-16 Weeks Excel Roadmaps
You need an end-to-end OCM roadmap (presented above) that outlines all your change management deliverables that will be delivered during the life cycle of the project. But you should also create a 12-16 weeks PPT, Cloud, or Excel change management plan.
The end-to-end change roadmap discussed above generally includes the milestones, as well as the scheduled timeline for your change management assessments (impact assessments, readiness assessments, stakeholder analysis, etc.) and your communications, engagement, training, coaching, Go-Live activities, and post-Go-Live change sustenance activities. (Basically, your entire project timeline.)
This end-to-end roadmap is helpful for the project team, change management team, project sponsors, executives, and critical stakeholders. However, it may be overwhelming and not as meaningful to most end-users that you’re managing through the change. For example, they don’t need to see the timeline for all the early planning stages of the project that don’t pertain to them.
So, it’s helpful to also have a 12-16 week change management roadmap example, which is a condensed version that will be more applicable to many impacted end-users. It represents the deliverables and timeline for the 12 to 16 weeks before your Go-Live date. (In some cases, this 16-week span may include one to two weeks post-go-live.)
Why 12 to 16 Weeks Before Go-Live?
Communicating or engaging with stakeholders and impacted employees too far in advance will often cause people to tune you out. On the other hand, communicating or engaging too close to Go-Live will often increase resistance to the change.
Stakeholders and end-users generally react negatively when you wait too long to engage them: “Why are we just finding out about this change, now?!!!” “There is not enough time for us to prepare or update our processes and job aids!” “You mean my team has to change their favorite tool/software in 4 weeks!! Forget about it. Not going to happen.”.
So, there must be a balance as to when you communicate and engage with certain groups.
The standard practice is to communicate and engage with most end-users starting 12-16 weeks before Go-Live.
In the OCM Solution free Change Roadmap, users get a variety of different roadmaps to use:
- Excel: Basic Change Implementation Roadmap (12-16 Weeks View)
- Excel: Basic Change Implementation Roadmap (12-16 Weeks View with Days)
- Excel: Detailed End-to-End Change Roadmap
- PPT: Basic Change Management Roadmap (Comms, Engagement, Training)
- PPT: Detailed Change Management Roadmap (Comms, Engagement, Training)
- PPT: Post M&A Integration Roadmap (Day 1-30)
- PPT: UAT Implementation Roadmap
When you sign up for free OCM Solution Change Roadmap Templates, you’ll get the all the roadmap template resources and roadmap samples you need, so your roadmaps are fully covered!
Is there a best Roadmap Template that you have used that you would like to share with other project managers and change leads? Please, reach out and let us know.
Don’t Miss Other Great OCM Solution Change Management Resources:
Change Impact Assessment – Everything You Need to Know
Organizational Change Readiness Assessment – All You Need to Know
Do you have any questions about the End-to-End Change Plan Template? Please reach out and let us know.
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Change Roadmap Template FAQs
A change management roadmap is a graphical, overview of the key change management deliverables and milestones that need to be delivered in support of a business change. A change management roadmap is presented on a timeline with a sequenced flow of the change deliverables.
Your Change Management Roadmap will be an overview of your project timeline, focusing on the deliverables that are needed for each phase of your change management project. Your change roadmap should include the following:
There are several different change management models that you can use to plan and execute a change project. One of the most well-known is Prosci’s ADKAR Change Model. Other popular change models are the Kurt Lewin Model, Bridges’ Transition Model, and John Kotter model. One of the well-respected up-and-coming approaches is the OCM Solution Change Management Framework. This 5-phase change management model is based upon the art of change management and input from those working to manage organizational change day in and day out. This top change management model provides a comprehensive step-by-step structure that guides change practitioners through the entire change management process from start to finish.
A key function of a Change Management Roadmap is for you to socialize it and use it often to familiarize key stakeholders, firm leaders, project resources, and program leads with the change timeline being leveraged for the program, as well as how you plan to implement your change management program. As part of your change management status reporting, or in addition to presenting your Change Management Strategies and Strategic Playbook, you should include this roadmap and review it with key stakeholders, leaders, program team members, the Steering Committee, or management.
The end-to-end change management roadmap includes all your activities (deliverables, dependencies, milestones, etc.) throughout the entire change management project from start to finish. This roadmap is helpful for the project team, change management team, project sponsors, executives, and critical stakeholders. However, it may not be as meaningful to most end-users that you’re managing through the change. For example, they don’t need to see the timeline for all the early planning stages of the project that don’t pertain to them. The 12-16 weeks change management roadmap contains the activities (deliverables, dependencies, milestones, etc.) only in the 12-16 weeks leading up to the project’s Go-Live date. (In some cases, this 16-week span may include one to two weeks post-go-live.) This condensed version of the project timeline is often more helpful to the end-users that you will be engaging with in the 12-16 weeks prior to Go-Live. External Sources:What is a change management roadmap?
What should you include in a change roadmap?
• Change Project Phases
• Deliverables
• Milestones
• Change Management Dependencies
• Other Timeline Events (e.g., Holidays, Closures)
• A Timeline With Gantt Bars & Icons to Illustrate Activity Timing What is the best change management model?
Who Should You Show Your Change Management Roadmap to?
What’s the difference between an end-to-end change management roadmap and a 12-16 weeks change management roadmap?
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