Apply Project Scope Management Techniques

The concept of project scope may be one of the most ample in project management. It involves objectives, limits and intentions. Every requirement in a project as well as its characteristics must be dealt with when planning the scope. Even though it 's reasonable to say that every project is unique, the causes for which it fails are generally the same. And if you already know what these causes are, you can minimize the likelihood of problems being repeated and thus increase the chance of success.

Project scope defines the goals of the project and the budget of both time and money that has been allocated to achieve the objectives. For the best results to be achieved, both the definition and the allocated budget must be precise and detailed. A good process scope document will define specifically the tasks to be completed or the delivered results. The project scope is important because it will define the specific date for which the deliverables

The project scope statement is a key element in any new project. It is used to outline the results that the project will produce and the terms and conditions under which the work will be performed. Upper management, the requestor of the project and the project team need to all agree on the

When the PM is developing the project scope, he/she be aware that the project’s scope come from many sources; stakeholders, the entire team contributing ideas, SME’s giving their concepts, among others. It’s not the PM entire responsibility and he/she must involve all the players when is appropriate. When every single person directly related with the project collaborate to build the project scope, the PM could frame an accurate scope statement describing items that will be included and those that won’t be included in the project.

Ritchie, M. (2008, November). IS Information Services: Project Stakeholder Engagement Overview and guidance. Retrieved from

The article Scope Management in Agile Versus Traditional Software Development Methods (Israr Ur Rehman, et al, October 2010, NSEC ’10: Proceeding for the 2010 National Software Engineering Conference) discusses the importance of scope management, it’s role and impact on a project, and how it alone can lead projects toward failure. “A well-defined and well managed scope is very important for a qualitative, cost effective and timely completion of the project (page 1). The replacement of traditional software development (Waterfall) by agile software development methods is very apparent in cost, resources and time for the work.

Defining the project scope sets the stage for developing a plan and its primary purpose is to define as clearly as possible the deliverables and to focus project plans (Gray & Larson, 2006). The team has

Was the project scope defined clearly at early stage? Identify one major scope change throughout the project life and discuss the effects of scope changes on project performance?

Project Scope – identifies goals, deliverables, tasks, costs, and deadlines. Project scope is part of project planning.

Of the many factors that can impact the performance of projects, the issue of scope creep is among the most insidious and difficult to stop once it begins. In an attempt to please as many stakeholders has possible, especially in enterprise software projects, project managers often will allow incremental additions to project plans and scope definitions (Sircar, Choi, 2009). As the scope of a project continually creeps wider, the project's plan and deliverable dates exponentially increase given dependencies on resources and previous tasks being completed (Zhu, Li, Wang, Chen, 2010). In addition to these time drains, scope creep will often cost the typical enterprise software project millions of dollars, lost credibility of the initiative within the broader enterprise, and paradoxically, lack of original project completion due to the project trying to increasingly be all things to all stakeholders (Zhu, Li, Wang, Chen, 2010). The hard reality is that scope creep, while well-intentioned at the time to placate stakeholders, often leads to cost and project overruns (Sircar, Choi, 2009). As Baker and Greer have stated in their best practices, there are specific strategies and approaches to minimizing scope creep and keeping project review cycles on track to fulfillment (Baker, Greer, 2011). The authors use a series of examples of how complex Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems are to implement,

The nature and scope of a project is determined at the initiation stage. This involves analyzing the business needs, developing goals, budgets, tasks, deliverables, and the stakeholder analysis. The project planning stage determines the planning team, develops the scope, and identifies work breakdown structure and activities that will be needed to complete deliverables. The planning stage also estimates time and cost activities, develop schedule and risk plan, and gain formal approval for work to begin. The executing stage involves all processes used to meet the project requirement and involves managing people and resources. The process that entails the identification of potential problems and

Prior to the onset of modern project management, the success criteria of a project lay solely on the technical success, or scope of the resulting product or service. Today, adherence to budget and schedule form a triangle of success factors alongside scope, with client satisfaction also developing as a key determinant of project success (Kerzner, 2004). However, the delivery of project scope will always take precedence over all other project factors, because if a project fails to deliver on its original intention, need or functionality, the project will always be considered as a failure. This essay will analyse the adequacy of the Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge’s (PMBOK) definition of Project Scope Management in relation

Project Managers will obtain a holistic view of the project and the detailed definition of project boundaries will integrate and enable consideration of technical organization, personnel and marketing objective in the project, in other words all aspects around the project. (Cleland 1994)

A comprehensive project scope analysis serves several benefits that permit a company to guide the dream of a project to a successful completion.  One benefit is transforming the idea of the project into a working concept.  Once the concept is developed, project details can be mapped out.  Scope analysis outlines each step of the project in a detailed manner.  The primary benefit to this is it aligns the project so that the final product will be consisted with the original goals/objectives.  By outlining each step, scope analysis increases the likelihood that the project will stay within budget and time constraints as well as meet predetermined specifications and quality parameters.

The Project Management Plan (PMP) provides the general overview and establishes specific strategies and milestones for the preparation of study notes and delivery of presentation on the topic “Developing the Project Team “. The PMP will define the project 's requirements and expectations. This document will be updated as required, if there is any change in the subsidiary management plans.