The GTN concept has been developed over several years using prototype systems. A new, production-quality generation of the software is currently being developed in an incremental fashion. Initial deliveries have been completed resulting in the need to support fielded systems and develop new releases in parallel. This evolution, coupled with increasing reliance on the system in operational situations makes change management a critical success factor for the many stakeholders involved with the system. There are numerous sources of change to fielded software, software being developed, and software being planned including the following.
Problem reports from the field and from engineering requiring rapid response.
The planned integration of new feeder systems, frequently more than one system at a time, can generate change requests of many of the kinds listed above. A new feeder system implies potential changes at all levels of the GTN system, from the lowest level of message processing to new data being integrated into queries, displays, and reports, to new applications and an enlarged user community. The following are key characteristics of this problem. The situation generates many different kinds of changes, each requiring appropriate response. There are numerous stakeholders with widely differing perspectives on the change management process.