PROJECT SCOPE MANAGAMENT LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After reading this chapter, you will be able to: Understand the importance of good project scope management. Discuss methods for collecting and documenting requirements in order to meet stakeholder needs and expectations.
explain the scope definition process and describe the contents of a project scope statement.

Discuss the process for creating a work breakdown structure using the analogy, top-down, bottom-up, and mind-mapping approaches Explain the importance of verifying scope and how it relates to defining and controlling scope. Understand the importance of controlling scope and approaches for preventing scope-related problems on information technology projects Describe how software can assist in project scope management.

OPENING CASE
Kim Nguyen was leading a meeting to create the work breakdown structure WBS for the IT upgrade project. This project was necessary because of several high-priority. Internet-based applications the company was developing. The. IT Upgrade Project involved creating and implementing a plan to get all employees information technology assets to meet new corporate standards within nine months. These standards specified the minimum equipment required for each desktop or laptop computer, including the type of processor, amount of memory, hard disk size, type of network connection and software. Kim knew that to perform the upgrades, they would first have to create a detailed inventory of all of the current hardware, networks and software in the entire company of 2000 employees. Kim had worked with other stakeholder to develop a project charter and initial scope statement. The project charter included rough cost and schedule estimates for the project and signature of key stakeholders; the initial scope statement provided a start in defining the hardware, software and network requirements as well as other information related to be project scope. Kim called a meeting with her project team and other stakeholders to further define the scope of the project. She wanted to get everyone is ideas on what the project involved, who would do what, and how they could avoid scope creep. The company is new CEO, Walter Schmidt was know for keeping a close eye on major projects like this one. The company had started using a new project management information system that let everyone know the status of projects at a detailed and high level. Kim knew that a good WBS was the foundation for scope, time, and cost performance, but she had never led a team in creating one or allocating cost based on a WBS. Where should she begin? WHAT IS PROJECT SCOPE MANAGEMENT? Recall from Chapter 1 that several factors are associated with project success. Many of these factors such as user involvement, clear business objectives, a minimized or clearly defined scope, and firm basic requirements, are elements of project scope management. One of the most important and most difficult aspects of project management is defining the scope of a project. Scope refers to all the work involved in creating the products of the project and the processes used to create them. Recall from Chapter 2 that the term deliverable describes a product produced as part of a project. Deliverables can be product-related , such as a piece of hardware or software, or process related, such as a planning document or meeting minutes. Project stakeholders must agree on what the products of the project are and , to some extent, how they should produce them to define all of the deliverables.

Project scope management includes the processes involved in defining and controlling what work is or is not included in a project. It ensures that the project team and stakeholders have the same understanding of what products the project will produce and what processes the project team will use to produce them. There are five main processes involved in project scope management.

1.- Collecting requirements involves defining and documenting the features and functions of the products produced during the project as well as the Processes used for creating them. The project team creates stakeholder requirements documentation, a requirement management plan, and requirements traceability matrix as outputs of the requirements collection process.
2.- Defining scope involves reviewing the project charter, requirements documents, and organizational process assets to create a scope statement, adding more information as requirements are developed and change requests are approved. The main outputs of scope definition are the project scope statement and updates to project documents. 3.- Creating the WBS involves subdividing the major project deliverables into smaller, more manageable components. The main outputs include a work breakdown structure, a WBS dictionary, a scope baseline, and updates to project documents. 4.- Verifying scope involves formalizing acceptance of the project deliverables. Key project stakeholders, such as the customer and sponsor for the project. Inspect and then formally accept the deliverables during this process. If the deliverables are not acceptable, the customer or sponsor usually request changes. The main outputs of this process. therefore, are accepted deliverables and change requests. 5.- Controlling scope involves controlling changes to project scope throughout the life of the project - a challenge on many information technology projects. Scope changes often influence the team's ability to meet project time and cost goals, so project managers must carefully weigh the cost and benefits of scope changes. The main outputs of this process are change requests, work performance measurements, and updates to organizational process asset,. the project management plan, and project documents. COLLECTING REQUIREMENTS The first Step in project scope management is often the most difficult: collecting requirements. A major consequence of not defining requirements well is rework, which can consume up to half of project costs, especially for software development projects.

Part of the difficulty is that people often don't have a consistent definition of what requirements are, how to collect them , and how to document them.

What Are Requirements?

The 1990 IEEE Standard Glossary of Software Engineering Terminology defines a requirements as follows: 1.- A condition or capability needed by a user to solve a problem or achieve an objective. 2.- A condition or capability that must be met or possessed by a system or system component to satisfy a contract, standard, specification , or other formally imposed document. 3.-A document representation of a condition or capability as in 1 or 2

Thc PMHOh4 Guide, Fourth Edition , defines a r~uire lllc m llhJI(~~1 identical co item 2 a hol"l.~: II says dmt a requirement is ~a condition or capahilily thaI must be mct or possessed h~' a syslem , product , scrvice, result. or componelH to satisfY:l COlHr:lC!, stand ard , specification, or OIhcr formal documc l][." I! is imporlam {() doculllcm rcquircmcms in c llough det ail so that l hey can bc measured during projCCt execution