Patent ID: 7904885

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for managing changes to a project during a software life-cycle, the method comprising: creating a plurality of phases representing a project, the phases ordered in time, each phase organized into objects, the objects belonging to one or more phases; locking the objects in a previous phase to prevent changing the objects in the previous phase during subsequent phases of the project; receiving a request to change an object in the previous phase during a subsequent phase of the project; opening a change request file that identifies the object in the previous phase and for which the request was received; determining whether to approve the change request based on the previous phase, wherein the change request is approved depending on how many phases have transpired between the previous phase and the subsequent phase during which the change request is received; and if the change request is approved, generating a document for the change request file, storing one or more changes in the document, unlocking the object in the previous phase, and integrating the one or more changes into the object in the previous phase, else, closing the change request file.