Information Systems Project Management – Week 3 Lecture 2

Project Scope Management

Project scope management includes the processes required to ensure that the project includes all the work, and only all the work required to complete the project successfully. It is primarily concerned with controlling what is and what is not in the scope.

Project scope management overview

Plan Scope Management

Most organizations that have any type of Project Management methodology have their Organization Process Assess (OPA) available to the PMs in the company. This, along with your Project Charter and a Preliminary Project Scope Statement, are going to help you go a long way to getting this part off the ground. When you've finished the planning step, you will have created your Scope Management Plan. Your Scope Management Plan defines how you will document, refine, verify and control the project scope.

Collect Requirements

This step is the process by which we define and document the requirements needed to meet all project objectives. The foundation of this process is the project charter and stakeholder register. From these, the team can identify requirements, collectively discuss details associated with meeting each requirement, conduct interviews and follow-on discussion to clarify the requirements, and document the requirements in sufficient detail to measure them once the project begins the execution phase. This documentation also serves as an input to the next step in the process which is to define scope.

Define Scope

This is critical to project success as it requires the development of a detailed project/product description to include deliverables, assumptions, and constraints and establishes the framework within which project work must be performed.

Create WBS

This process breaks project deliverables down into progressively smaller and more manageable components which, at the lowest level, are called work packages. This hierarchical structure allows for more simplicity in scheduling, costing, monitoring, and controlling the project.

Verify Scope

This is the process by which the project team receives a formalized acceptance of all deliverables with the sponsor and/or customer. Scope verification by nature is interwoven with the definition and planning phases. It also provides an opportunity for the client to come back after some of the initial work has been done and verify that the work is deemed acceptable.

Control Scope

During any project, scope change is inevitable as two or more different parties work towards a goal that satisfies everyone. Control is the process of monitoring/controlling the project/product scope as well as managing any changes in the scope baseline. Changes may be necessary to the project scope but it is imperative they are controlled and integrated in order to prevent scope creep.