Chapter 4
Scope Management
Delivering on change expectations
Hartley, Project Management: Integrating Strategy, Operations and Change, 3e
Tilde Publishing
Chapter overview
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Planning scope management
Collecting the requirements
Defining the scope
Objective validation criteria
Controlling the scope
© 2014 Hartley, Project Management: Integrating Strategy, Operations and Change, 3e
Tilde Publishing
2
Planning scope management
1. A scope management plan documents ‘…how the
project scope will be defined, validated and
controlled’ (PMBOK 2012).
2. Establishes the direction and guidance parameters
on how the scope itself (project or product/service
based) will be managed.
3. Provides a formal mechanism o limit, assess and
authorise changes on a consistent and transparent
basis.
© 2014 Hartley, Project Management: Integrating Strategy, Operations and Change, 3e
Tilde Publishing
3
Collecting the requirements
What  Business requirements
 Stakeholder requirements
 Functional/technical or non-functional requirements
How –
 Interviews, focus groups, questionnaires, workshops,
storyboards, observation, prototypes, document
analysis, provisional designs
© 2014 Hartley, Project Management: Integrating Strategy, Operations and Change, 3e
Tilde Publishing
4
Defining the scope
 What is (inclusions) and what isn’t (exclusions)
required
 Establishes a scope baseline for comparisons and
updates
 Forms the foundation of the project plan
 Investigates if expectation meets capability
 Identifies the project deliverables, results and benefits
© 2014 Hartley, Project Management: Integrating Strategy, Operations and Change, 3e
Tilde Publishing
5
The work breakdown structure (WBS)
 Decomposes the project
o What work must be performed?
• identifies all required activities
o How long will each activity take?
• determines the duration
o What resources can perform the work?
• determines who is needed
o How much investment is required?
• determines what budget is needed
© 2014 Hartley, Project Management: Integrating Strategy, Operations and Change, 3e
Tilde Publishing
6
Objective validation criteria
Client acceptance will never be automatic in any
project. Consider the following criteria to add a little
formality to the process:
 issuing compliance certificates
 measuring work performance
 conducting variance analysis
 undertaking physical inspections
 conducting quality testing
 scheduling independent audits
 assessing technical feasibility
 maintaining a traceability matrix
© 2014 Hartley, Project Management: Integrating Strategy, Operations and Change, 3e
Tilde Publishing
7
Controlling the scope
 Scope will always change over time (scope creep)
 Other words for scope creep are innovation, continuous
improvement, a client change of mind or just poor
management
 Scope control requires a written process with formal
approval
 Proposed changes should be assessed against all other
project variables (time, cost, risk, contracts, quality, …)
 Implemented changes must produce updated project
plans and related documents
© 2014 Hartley, Project Management: Integrating Strategy, Operations and Change, 3e
Tilde Publishing
8
Review questions
1. What is meant by the term ‘scope management
plan’, and what does it involve?
2. What are some of the tool and techniques used to
capture the scope baseline?
3. What role do inclusions and exclusions play in the
processes underpinning scope management?
4. How does scope management differ from scope
control?
5. What are the essential components of an effective
change request process?
© 2014 Hartley, Project Management: Integrating Strategy, Operations and Change, 3e
Tilde Publishing
9
Group learning activities
 Debate the value (and the time involved) in planning for
scope management
 Confirm which requirement collecting techniques are
preferred by the learners, and why
 Discuss why capability is crucial to expectations
 Evaluate the merit of both the graphical WBS (Figure 4.3)
and the tabular representation (Table 4.4)
 Discuss whether the costs (and time) required to carry out
validation criteria should be borne by the client
 Identify additional causes for scope creep
© 2014 Hartley, Project Management: Integrating Strategy, Operations and Change, 3e
Tilde Publishing
10
Assessment options
 Write a (one page) scope management plan
 Develop a requirements gathering plan/protocol that
communicates exactly how requirement will be elicited
from stakeholders (process and documents)
 Create a (one page) scope baseline document
 Develop a work breakdown structure (WBS) for a project
(using either Excel or MS Project)
 Write a procedure on how project scope will be
controlled throughout the project
 Short answer questions
 Multiple choice questions
© 2014 Hartley, Project Management: Integrating Strategy, Operations and Change, 3e
Tilde Publishing
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