A skilled project manager is the one who is capable of understanding what all is needed and what is not, for a successful project. However, just with a good understanding of project scope won’t help in succeeding but proper management is also needed to provide a unified goal to the team. Through the medium of this article on Project Scope Management, I will give you a complete insight into how scope management works, its various processes and the tools used in each of them.
If you wish to master project management and become a certified project manager, you can check out our instructor-led PMP Certification Course where these topics are covered in depth.
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Project Scope Management
In project management, a scope can be referred to in two respects; Product Scope and Project Scope. Product scope refers to the various functions and features that help in characterizing a product or a service while a project scope refers to the work that is needed to be done to deliver the product. Here we will be solely concentrating on the project scope. The scope is documented in a scope statement, which is an integral part of any project plan.
As per PMBOK® Guide – Edition Sixth:
Project Scope Management is one of the major knowledge areas of the project management framework, where the work required for the successful delivery of project and services is calculated. With the unnecessary work out of the way, you will be able to focus more on the relevant tasks and prevent the wastage of work, effort, time and cost. Hence with an effective scope management plan, your project’s quality and efficiency will drastically increase. Project scope management will depend on two aspects:
- Nature of project objectives
- Definability of the project objectives
But if you proceed with your project development without a proper scope management plan, then you can affect your project severely. In the next section of this project scope management article, I will be discussing a few benefits of having good scope management.
Related Learning: Characteristics of Project Management
Benefits of Scope Management
Below I have listed down the major benefits of having proper scope management integrated into your project management:
- It helps in cutting down project cost and time by prioritizing and reducing the ad hoc work
- It validates the add on work requests by performing a quantitative analysis on them
- It helps in avoiding the fickle requirements requests
- With proper scope management, there are very fewer chances that you overrun your project budget
- It also ensures that project development is on track and is heading towards the agreed goal
- It helps the project managers to distribute the work equally among the team members and boost up the team enthusiasm
Related Learning: Types of Project Management
Project Scope Management Processes
The entire knowledge area of project scope management is further divided into smaller processes that act as access points for the project manager to have better control over the project. Each of these processes forms an integral part of project scope management and contributes toward project success. These processes are:
Plan Scope Management
Planning is the very first process of the project scope management where we document how we will be defining, validating and controlling the project and the product scope. This acts as a guide for the project managers that provides them a direction regarding how to manage scope throughout the project lifecycle. It is performed on some specific or predefined points during the project development. There are various inputs, tools and techniques, and outputs involved in this process which are listed in the table below:
| Inputs | Tools & Techniques | Outputs |
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Collect Requirements
This process of requirement collection is concerned with the stakeholder’s requirements and wants. Here the project manager ensures that each and every expectation of all the stakeholders are met and then curates a document bearing all the minute details regarding them. The necessary data is gathered via various activities like interviews, surveys, focus groups etc. It helps in preventing unnecessary complications throughout the project development.
Below table illustrates various inputs, tools, techniques, and outputs involved in this process:
| Inputs | Tools & Techniques | Outputs |
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Define Scope
Now that you have a clear understanding of the expectations from the project, the next step is to define the scope. Here you will be providing a detailed description regarding project and product. It will help your team have a better idea of what is within and what is out of your project scope.
Below table illustrates various inputs, tools, techniques, and outputs involved in this process:
| Inputs | Tools & Techniques | Outputs |
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Create WBS
Once you have the complete list of do’s and don’ts, now you need to create the Work Breakdown Structure. Creating the WBS will help you in segregating the final deliverables of the project and the work into smaller units. Smaller chunks or components are easier to handle and provide a structured framework of the deliverables.
| Inputs | Tools & Techniques | Outputs |
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Validate Scope
By defining the scope and creating the WBS you will get the basic framework of the deliverables you need to work on. But for the deliverables to take shape, you need to put this framework into the function. It will ensure that there are no confusions regarding the final deliverable and when the time comes you have a formal process for signing off. This process is performed at a few predefined points during the project lifecycle to increase the probability of acceptance of final output and services.
Below table illustrates various inputs, tools, techniques, and outputs involved in this process:
| Inputs | Tools & Techniques | Outputs |
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Control Scope
Controlling scope is the final process of the project scope management in which you need to monitor the project progress status along with managing the changes in scope. This process is performed throughout the project life cycle and helps in maintaining the scope baseline. Furthermore, it also helps in assessing that the project delivers the promised outcomes.
Below table illustrates various inputs, tools, techniques, and outputs involved in this process:
| Inputs | Tools & Techniques | Outputs |
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This brings us to the end of this article on project scope management. This blog covered just one process involved in project management. If you wish to learn more about project management or project management certifications you can check my other articles as well.
Project Scope Management | PMP® Certification Training | Edureka
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