One of the reasons that projects go beyond what was planned and sometimes they are not completed is the repeated request for additions to the original scope without any control. This has likely happened to you once.
Precisely, the Project Scope Management seeks to establish those limits so that only the activities necessary to complete the defined deliverables are carried out.
Hereunder, we will present the points that you must follow to ensure that this does not happen to you.
1. Plan the scope management of the project.
Prepare the project scope management plan. This determines how the scope of the project will be defined, validated and controlled.
2. Raise the requirements and define the deliverables.
2.1 Requirements
Clearly define the business requirements [1] that the project will satisfy, the deliverables [2] that will be produced and what will be the procedure for accepting these deliverables.
Normally the requirements are raised through interviews or in workshops with the people in charge of the business processes. It is also important to interview the owners of the business processes and the heads of the areas and also their bosses until reaching the highest hierarchical level. It is important to include the requirements of each stakeholder.
I recommend, as a minimum, to collect the following information about each requirements:
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[1] The business requirements represent the functionalities or capabilities that the organization requires to be covered by the project deliverables.
[2] A deliverable is a document, product or service that the project will produce.
2.1.1 Examples of business requirements.
- Reduction of the attention time to the supplier during the delivery of goods.
- Optimization of the number of operators and equipment required for the goods reception process.
- Assertive information for planning the merchandise reception process.
2.2 Deliverables:
Prepare a matrix of project deliverables with the following information:
2.2.1 Examples of project deliverables.
- Functionality for scheduling appointments for merchandise delivery
- Functionality for human resources management
- Daily hourly report of suppliers that are going to deliver merchandise
2.2.2 Example of deliverable acceptance criteria.
- The functionality of scheduling appointments for merchandise delivery will be accepted once all the use cases defined for the mentioned functionality have been successfully tested.
2.2.3 Example of quality requirement
- The time it takes to create the report of the suppliers that are going to deliver merchandise should not take more than one second.
3. Create the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS [1])
The WBS shows the breakdown of the project work necessary to produce the project deliverables and thus meet the project objectives.
Figure 1. WBS example
The WBS must be detailed to a level that allows the project to be adequately controlled, for example.
1.2.1 Base Configuration
1.2.1.1 Perform Base Configuration
1.2.1.2 Perform unit tests
1.2.1.3 Make adjustments to errors found in unit tests.
1.2.1.4 Perform tests and adjustments of functionalities that presented errors
1.2.1.5 Accept base configuration
1.2.1.6 Base Configuration.
For each one of the WBS activities, the duration of the activity, required resources, and costs must be defined. This information serves as the basis for sequencing in time management processes and defining the project schedule.
4. Define the scope of the project.
Prepare a project scope document that contains:
- Scope description
- Project deliverables
- Deliverables acceptance criteria
- Scope excluded of the project
- Project restrictions
- Project assumptions
5. Control the scope.
To avoid the unwanted situations that we mentioned at the beginning of this article, it is necessary to control the scope.
In order to control the scope, the changes control procedure is used and is introduced in the map below:
Figure 2. Control Changes Procedure
- When requirements that are not within the scope are identified, a change request must be completed.
- This request is entered into the change request registry and is scheduled for review by the change control committee.
- The change request is analyzed and the resources, time and cost of implementing it are documented. Usually several alternatives are generated to implement it.
- The request is taken to the change control committee that approves or rejects it only if it is in its power to do so. If for any reason the committee is not empowered to process the request for change, it is taken to a higher authority who will approve or reject it.
- Rejected change requests are archived and marked as rejected in the change request log. Approved requests are included within the project scope, the WBS, project schedule, budget and other documents in the project management plan are updated.
6. Validate the Scope
The validation of the scope refers to the procedure by which the acceptance of the project deliverables will be formalized.
Once a deliverable is completed, it must be verified that it has gone through the quality control process and that it meets the requirements and acceptance criteria. If the verification result is positive it is generally accepted by an act or equivalent document signed by the manager or the project sponsor. If non-conformities are found in the deliverable, these are reported to the person responsible for it and the necessary adjustments are requested.
Author: Juan David Castañeda Sánchez
About the Author:
Mr. Castañeda is an Electrical Engineer from the National University of Colombia and a Business Specialist from the ICESI University. He has more than twenty years of experience in structuring, selecting suppliers, contracting and managing projects in public sector entities and private companies in Colombia, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Panama, Peru and Venezuela.
For more information please email: info@gprycon.com
