PM-Best.com: Content / / Scope

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Project Scope Management - processes required to ensure that the project includes only the work required to complete the project successfully.

Management by Objective (MBO) – determining company’s objective and how the project fits into them. MBO focuses on the goals of an activity rather than the activity itself (manager is responsible for results rather than performing certain activities)

Project Scope - the work that must be done in order to deliver a product; completion is measured against the project plan.

Product Scope - features and functions that are to be included in a product; completion is measured against the requirements.

Design Scope – contain the detailed project requirements (used for FP contract)

Scope Definition – subdividing major project deliverables.

Decomposing – subdividing project work packages into smaller, more manageable components (activities/action steps). The heuristic (rule of thumb) used in project decomposition is 80 hours.

Scope Management Plan - describes how scope will be managed and how changes will be integrated into project; also includes assessment of expected stability of project scope. (e.g. project manager would refer to the Scope Management Plan to make a change)

Stakeholder Management – the project manager must identify the stakeholders, determine their needs and expectations, then manage and influence expectations to ensure project success.

Configuration Management - a means of monitoring and controlling emerging project scope against the scope baseline; its purpose is to control change throughout the project. It is any documented procedures used to apply technical and administrative direction and surveillance to audit the items and system to verify conformance requirements. . It documents the physical characteristics of formal project documents and steps required to control changes to them (e.g. would be used by a customer who wishes to expand the project scope after the performance measurement baseline has been established). When more than one individual has sign a Charter, you have to be concerned with competing needs and requirements impacting your efforts on configuration management

WBS - subdividing project deliverables into smaller, more manageable components. It is a deliverable-oriented grouping of project elements that organizes and defines the total scope of the project. It is a communication tool and it describes what needs to be done and what skills are required. Anything missing in the WBS should be added. The 1^st level should be the project life-cycle (not product). The WBS is created by the team (helps to get buy-in) and it is used to make certain that all the work is covered. It provides a basis for estimating the project and helps to organize the work. Its purpose is to include the total project scope of all the work that must be done to complete the project. Defines the project’s scope baseline. The 3 most common types of WBS are system/sub systems, life-cycle phasing and organizational

WBS Dictionary – Defines each item in the WBS, including description of the work packages and other planning info such as schedule dates, cost budgets and staff assignments..

Scope Statement - a documented description of the objectives, work content, deliverables, and end product; it includes a description of project assumptions and constraints. Provides stakeholders with a common understanding of the scope of the project and is a source of reference for making future project decisions.

Statement of Work - a narrative description of products or services to be supplied under contract.

Project Charter - formal document used and approved by senior management that explains purpose of the project including business needs addressed and the resulting product (deliverables and objectives). It describes responsibilities and authority of the project manager to apply organizational resources to project activities. Clarification to the Project Charter must be addressed to the sponsor(s) who approved the charter. Resources cannot be committed without the Charter. The Charter is an input to ALL the project management processes.

Code of Accounts - any numbering system used to uniquely identify each element of the WBS.

Project Selection Method - Benefit Measurement (comparative approach) and Constrained Optimization (mathematical approach).

Work Package - deliverable at the lowest level of WBS. They are control points in the WBS and are used for assignments to work centers. They are used to pass a group of work for further breakdown in the executive organization.

Scope Verification – to verify that the work done satisfies the scope of the project. It must be done at the end of each phase. A similar activity during closure is Product Verification. Focuses on customer acceptance /performance measurement, not change to project scope. Scope Verification is normally done in parallel with quality control (which checks for product correctness). Occur during the control phase of the project, not at the end. The review at the end of the project phase is called phase exit, stage gate, or kill point.

Cost Account – one level above the Work Package.

Cost/Benefit analysis – (part of scope planning) technique used to validate that the project can meet the technical/business objectives set forth by Sr. Management Project success depends primarily on customer satisfaction.Assumptions – factors that, for planning purposes, are considered to be true, real or certainThe principal sources of project failure are organizational factors, poorly identified customer needs, inadequate specified project requirements, and poor planning and control.

Constrained optimization – includes analytic hierarchy process, logical framework analysis and multi-objective programming.

Most Change Requests are the result of:
An external event
An error or omission in defining the scope of the product
An error or omission in defining the scope of the project
A value-adding change

A Change Request is the most effective way of handling the disconnect between what users actually want and what management thinks they want. The project manager’s role related to project change is to influence the factors that affect change. He should ask for a change order and look for impacts to the triple constraint.

Scope Changes on project can be minimized by spending more time developing the scope baseline. If there is enough reserve to accommodate a change, the Project Manager can approve the change (we are paid to manage the scope completion within our budget and reserves)