Write a change brief

What you will learn

Make the problem and acceptance criteria reviewable.

Prerequisites: IFS Cloud essentials. No IFS login is needed for this written exercise. Estimated reading time excludes practice.

The concept

A change brief connects a business problem to a measurable outcome. It is useful before configuration, integration, or development because it makes assumptions visible. This is an original planning method, not an IFS system procedure.

A worked scenario

Northstar loses time matching handovers with an external team. ‘Add a field’ proposes an implementation. ‘Let coordinators match a handover to the external reference without a separate spreadsheet’ describes the outcome.

Work through it

1. Describe the current problem with a concrete example.
2. Name the users, scope, source of information, and business owner.
3. Write acceptance criteria with starting conditions and observable results.
4. List unresolved questions, excluded work, dependencies, and recovery expectations.

Try it yourself

Write three acceptance criteria for the handover-reference request.

See a suggested answer

An authorized coordinator can record the agreed reference. The saved reference remains visible after reopening the record. Existing records without a reference continue through their current workflow. Resolve format, uniqueness, ownership, and access rules before implementation.

Check your understanding

Treating an unconfirmed requirement as an implementation fact.

Expected result: a written answer that explains your decision and identifies what still needs confirmation in the actual environment.

Cleanup: none; this exercise changes no IFS data.

Sources and review status

IFS Cloud 26R1 documentation. Source consulted 2026-09-23. The scenario and exercise are original fictional examples. This concept draft has not been reviewed by an IFS specialist or executed in an IFS environment.

Apply this lesson in the handover-reference project.