Project Scope Management

What is Project Scope

Management?
Scope refers to all the work involved in creating the
products of the project and the processes used to
create them
A deliverable is a product produced as part of a
project
Deliverables can be product related such as a piece of
hardware or software, or process related such as
planning documents, or meeting minutes
Project stakeholders must agree to the products of a
project and to some extent how they would produce
them to define all the deliverables.
Project scope management includes the processes
involved in defining and controlling what is or is not
included in a project
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Project Scope Management Processes

Project Scope Management ensures that project team and

stake holders have the same understanding as to what

products the project would produce and what processes
the team would use to produce them. There are five processes
Collecting requirements: defining and documenting the

features and functions of the products produced during the project

as well as the processes used for creating them
Defining scope: reviewing the project charter, requirements
documents, and organizational process assets to create a scope
statement
Creating the WBS: subdividing the major project deliverables
into smaller, more manageable components
Verifying scope: formalizing acceptance of the project
deliverables
Controlling scope: controlling changes to project scope
throughout the life of the project
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Project Scope Management

Summary

Documenting Requirements
Requirements documents are often generated by software

and
Include text, images, diagrams, videos, and other media
They are often broken down into different categories such
as functional, service, performance, quality, training
requirements, and so on
A requirements management plan describes how
project requirements will be analyzed, documented, and
managed
A requirements traceability matrix (RTM) is a table
that lists requirements, various attributes of each
requirement, and the status of the requirements to ensure
that all requirements are addressed
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Defining Scope
The main tools and techniques used in defining

scope are expert judgment, product analysis and

facilitated workshops
Key inputs for preparing the project scope
statement include the project charter, requirements
documentation, and organizational process assets
such as policies and procedures related to scope
statements as well as project files and lessons
learned from previous, similar projects
As time progresses, the scope of a project should
become more clear and specific
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Project Scope Statements

Project scope statements are used in an iteratively

manner
Versions of scope statements can be produced
Clear example of progressive elaboration
Project scope statements should include at a
minimum,
Product scope descriptions
Product user acceptance criteria
Project constraints, boundaries and assumptions
Reference to supporting documentation
Detailed information on all project deliverables
Functional and design specifications
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Creating the Work Breakdown

Structure (WBS)
A WBS is a deliverable-oriented grouping of the

work involved in a project that defines the total

scope of the project
WBS is a foundation document that provides the
basis for planning and managing project
schedules, costs, resources, and changes
Since the WBS defines the total scope of the
project, some experts believe that work should
not be done on a project if it is not included in the
WBS.
Inputs to creating a WBS include project scope
statements, requirements documents and
organizations process assets.
The main tool or technique used to create a WBS
is decomposition.

Verifying Scope
It is very difficult to create a good scope statement and

WBS for a project

It is even more difficult to verify project scope and
minimize scope changes
Scope verification involves formal acceptance of the
completed project scope by the stakeholders
Acceptance is often achieved by a customer inspection
and then sign-off on key deliverables
In order to receive formal acceptance the project team

must prepare clear documentation of projects products and

procedures
Inputs to project verification are project management plan,
requirements documentation, requirements traceability
matrix, validated deliverables
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Verifying Scope (Contd)

The main tool for verifying scope is Inspection
Deliverables are measured, examined, and

verified in order to ascertain whether they

meet the product acceptance criteria
The customer, sponsor or user inspects the
delivered work
Other terms for this step are reviews, audits,
and walkthroughs
Outputs from verifying scope are accepted
deliverables or requested
changes/recommended corrective actions
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Controlling Scope
Scope control involves controlling changes

to the project scope

Users often are not really sure how they
want screens to be shown or what
functionality they need to address business
needs
Developers are not really sure how to
interpret user requirements and control
contantly changing technologies.

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Controlling Scope (Contd)

Goals of scope control are to:
Influence the factors that cause scope changes
Assure changes are processed according to

procedures developed as part of integrated change

control
Manage changes when they occur
Stakeholders should be discouraged to suggest

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unnecessary changes
Important tool to controlling scope is variance
analysis
Variance is the difference between planned and
actual performance
Outputs of controlling scope can be work
performance measurements, organization's process
assets updates, change requests and project
documents update

References:
Kathy Schwalbe, Managing Information

Technology Projects, 2009 Sixth Edition.

Software Engineering: A Practitioners

Approach by Roger Pressman, Seventh

Edition

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