ACMP Standard Version 2 – What’s Changed?

On August 26, 2025, the Association for Change Management Professionals released The Standard for Change Management Version 2. After a decade of Version 1, this is a big deal!

Important Note: Until March 30th, 2026, the CCMP exam is based upon Version 1.0 of the Standard for Change Management. You should be studying from acmp_standard_2024_09_25. Please see below for more details to ensure you are working from the correct document.

There are no exams on March 31st, and beginning April 1st, 2026, the exam uses the Standard Version 2.

Summary of the Standard Version 2 Changes

For an extremely granular breakdown of the changes, please visit Standard for Change Management Change Log.

General Changes

• The missing word has been filled in!!! In section 4.4 risks, it reads “Change management focuses on risks to the adoption of the change, threats to the realization of the expected benefits, and threats to sustaining the change.”
• There are several minor grammatical and typo errors corrected. For example, a wayward colon in 3.6, the definition of Change Risk, and changing “3.14 to say “the organization that is accountable for” instead of “organization accountable”.
• Several formatting improvements, ie the Ethics section.
• Simplification and streamlining of several of the inputs/outputs. For example:
  • All instances of “Charter” in inputs/outputs are now “Project Charter”
  • All instances of “Success Measures” in inputs/outputs are now “Criteria and Measures for Change Success, and future state Benefits”
• Sections begin with a much more consistent approach, for example almost every section has “The purpose of X is ___.”
• Greater consistency in Process Groups and Subprocess groups.
  • The order of some Subprocess Groups has changed, to be consistent across Process Groups.
  • Addition of more Subprocess Groups, ie Develop the Resource Strategy.
• A focus on the iterative and non-sequential nature of change management. All of the Process Group diagrams say “The interactions illustrated represent only one possible view of the processes. The arrows do not necessarily represent a sequence of processes.” There are also several new sentences highlighting that the order is not set in stone, nor a once-off activity.
• Overall, most updates create consistency and address grammar and formatting concerns. Doing so has added a few sections which make the Standard easier to comprehend and apply.

New Sections

If you want to skip to just the new bits (recommended), here’s a list of them. Some sections are listed as new if they have a substantial new subsection.

• 4.8 Change Readiness
• 5.1.4 Determine Change Management Roles and Responsibilities
• 5.2.1 Develop the Resource Strategy
• 5.3.1.5 Develop the Readiness Plan
• 5.4.1.1 Execute the Resource Plan
• 5.4.1.2 Execute the Communication Plan
• 5.4.1.3 Execute the Sponsorship Plan
• 5.4.1.5 Execute the Readiness Plan
• Appendix A: Several new items in the Knowledge and Skills table.

FAQ