Understand Impacts in Serendata
Impacts capture the practical effect a change will have on the organisation. Recording impacts consistently gives the change team a shared view of what is changing, how significant each change is, where it lands and which people or groups may need support.
Detailed impacts can be classified by type and level, linked to business context such as Business Areas and Places, and connected to actions, processes, stakeholders and audiences. High Level Impacts provide a grouped view that helps summarise and report on related detailed impacts.
Good practice. Write each impact so that it describes a clear change and its effect. Keep the impact record focused enough that you can meaningfully assess its level, ownership and affected populations.
Open Impacts
Within a project, open Change and then select Impacts. This takes you to the Impacts area for the current project.
Figure 1. Impacts in Navigation
1 | Impacts. | Open the Impacts sub-section within Change. |
Review impact reporting
The Impacts reporting view gives you an at-a-glance picture of the impact profile across the project. Use it to understand overall severity, where impacts are concentrated and whether the underlying data is sufficiently complete before moving into the detailed records.
Figure 2. Impacts reporting view
1 | Impact Level. | Review the distribution of impacts by severity level. |
2 | Impacts by Type. | Understand which types of impact are most common across the Project. |
3 | Impacts by Business Area. | See where impacts are concentrated across the organisation. |
4 | View Data. | Select View Data in the top right-hand corner to open the detailed impact data grid. |
Log and maintain detailed impacts
Use the impact data grid to create new impacts and maintain the detail required for analysis and planning. Capture the impact clearly, then add the classification and contextual links that make the record useful across the wider change plan.
Figure 3. Detailed Impacts data grid
1 | Add. | Use the teal plus button to create a new impact. |
2 | Impact details. | Capture the impact name and description, then maintain status, dates and owner so the record remains actionable. |
3 | Classification. | Use Impact Types and Impact Level to describe the nature and severity of the impact. Link the record to a High Level Impact where it belongs within a broader impact group. |
4 | Business context. | Use Business Areas, Places and Actions to connect the impact to where it lands and the activity required to respond to it. |
Keep records current. Impact analysis develops as the project progresses. Update status, dates, ownership, impact level and links when new information becomes available rather than treating the initial assessment as fixed. |
Connect impacts to the wider change
The impact grid also contains links to the wider change model. Scroll horizontally to review and maintain the processes, stakeholders and audiences connected to each impact. These relationships help Serendata connect impact analysis with engagement, learning, readiness and other change activity.
Figure 4. Linked impact data
1 | Processes. | Link an impact to the processes affected by the change where relevant. |
2 | Stakeholders. | Connect individual stakeholders who are particularly relevant to the impact. |
3 | Audiences. | Link the audience groups affected so that change activity can be planned and targeted at scale. |
Milestones, notes and labels can also be used to add useful context to the record and support filtering, coordination and follow-up.
Use High Level Impacts
High Level Impacts provide a grouped view of detailed impacts. Use this view to bring related impacts together under broader change themes and to understand the volume and progress of the detailed impacts sitting beneath each group.
Figure 5. High Level Impacts reporting view
1 | High Level Impacts. | Switch from the detailed Impacts view to the grouped High Level Impacts view. |
2 | By Detailed Impact Count. | Review how many detailed impacts sit beneath each High Level Impact and their current progress status. |
3 | View Data. | Select View Data to open the underlying High Level Impact records. |
How the pieces fit together
Detailed impacts are the working record of what is changing. Their classifications and contextual links support analysis and planning, while High Level Impacts provide a broader structure for grouping and reporting. Keeping both levels current gives the project a stronger basis for actions, stakeholder engagement, audience planning and readiness activity.
For related guidance, continue with 'Set up your Core Data', 'Upload and manage your Processes', 'Map your Stakeholders and Audiences' and the Help Centre guidance for actions and readiness.