1. Project Scope Management

2. Learning Objectives
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

3. Learning Objectives (continued)
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

4. What is Project Scope Management?
Scope refers to all the work involved in creating the products of the project and the processes used to create them
A deliverable is 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 planning documents, or meeting minutes
Project stakeholders must agree to the products of a project and to some extent how they would produce them to define all the deliverables.
Project scope management includes the processes involved in defining and controlling what is or is not included in a project

5. Project Scope Management Processes
Project Scope Management ensures that project team and stake holders have the same understanding as to what products the project would produce and what processes the team would use to produce them. There are five processes
Collecting requirements: defining and documenting the features and functions of the products produced during the project as well as the processes used for creating them
Defining scope: reviewing the project charter, requirements documents, and organizational process assets to create a scope statement
Creating the WBS: subdividing the major project deliverables into smaller, more manageable components
Verifying scope: formalizing acceptance of the project deliverables
Controlling scope: controlling changes to project scope throughout the life of the project

6. Project Scope Management Summary

7. Collecting Requirements
A requirement is “a condition or capability that must be met or possessed by a system, product, service, result, or component to satisfy a contract, standard, specification, or other formal document” (PMBOK® Guide, 2008)
It is helpful to document requirements in enough detail so that requirements can be measured during execution.
Meeting scope goals is often based on meeting documented requirements
It is important to use an iterative approach to defining requirements since they are often unclear early in a project

8. Requirement s Development Approach
Process can be divided into following sub-activities
Elicitation - this involves interviewing the stakeholders and determining their needs. This is not writing down everything they say
Analysis - this involves developing detailed requirements from elicitation. These detailed requirements don't need to be just textual in nature. They can be of different forms, such as business process diagrams, data models, use cases, and prototypes
Specification - this involves documenting the various types of requirements, which can be textual or graphical. It is usually a good idea to have a few documentation standards for vision and scope document, FRS, SRS, BRD, etc.
Validation - this involves making sure that the requirements are correct and will meet the stakeholders' needs. One good way to validate requirements is to have the stakeholders develop user acceptance criteria. These criteria specify the primary tasks the software will allow the users to perform and the common errors that the software will handle.

9. Requirement s Development Approach (Cont’d)
You don't need to develop all the requirements for the entire project at once
Requirements development is an iterative process, so trying to develop detailed requirements all at once can lead to analysis paralysis
During elicitation, you will identify the high priority or first built features
Start with analysis and specification of these requirements and do validation with a quick informal review
Then move to the next set of elicited requirements for analysis and specification, all the while correcting the previous set of requirements of missing or misunderstood requirements that are discovered along the way
Having multiple cycles will refine the requirements to a level of detail that can be efficiently communicated to the stakeholders, testers, and developers

11. Methods for Collecting Requirements
Interviewing – Expensive and Time consuming for large projects
Focus groups - The feedback can be gathered about needs / opportunities / problems to identify requirements, or can be gathered to validate and refine already elicited requirements
Facilitated workshops - To specify your business needs or requirements, according to the published objectives
Questionnaires and surveys – Involves stakeholders’ honesty and thoroughness
Observation – The study of users in their natural habitats.Good for projects which involve improving processes and procedures
Prototyping - Make a mock-up of the user interface screens
Software tools – Microsoft Word, UNICASE (opensource) etc.

12. So which method is Best….
Catch-up: Interviews, work in target environment
Fuzzy: Brainstorming, workshops
Mature: Questionnaires, workshops, prototypes
Selling/Teaching: prototypes
Selection of Techniques

13. What Went Right?
Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories uses Accept software, a product planning and innovation management application and winner of the Excellence in Product Management Award from 2006–2008
Accept helps them instill a consistent, repeatable, and predictable process for new product definition and development
They can define what information comprises a requirement and enforce discipline around that process

14. Documenting Requirements
Requirements documents are often generated by software and
Include text, images, diagrams, videos, and other media
They are often broken down into different categories such as functional, service, performance, quality, training requirements, and so on
A requirements management plan describes how project requirements will be analyzed, documented, and managed
A requirements traceability matrix (RTM) is a table that lists requirements, various attributes of each requirement, and the status of the requirements to ensure that all requirements are addressed

15. Facts about RTM
A table that lists requirements and their attributes and status
There can be many variations of what can be included in the RTM
The requirement traceability matrix is usually developed in concurrence with the initial list of requirements. Usually the FRS, BRD etc.
RTM can contain specific tests to validate the requirements
Simply put, the main purpose of RTM is to maintain the linkage from the source of each requirement through its decomposition to implementation and verification.

16. Sample Requirements Traceability Matrix

17. Defining Scope
The main tools and techniques used in defining scope are expert judgment, product analysis and facilitated workshops
Key inputs for preparing the project scope statement include the project charter, requirements documentation, and organizational process assets such as policies and procedures related to scope statements as well as project files and lessons learned from previous, similar projects
As time progresses, the scope of a project should become more clear and specific

18. What’s a project charter?
A document describing high level scope, time and cost goals
Project objectives
Main project success criteria
General Approach to accomplish the project goals
Main roles and responsibilities of major stakeholders
Signoff from major stakeholders

19. Project Scope Statements
Project scope statements are used in an iteratively manner
Versions of scope statements can be produced
Clear example of progressive elaboration
Project scope statements should include at a minimum,
Product scope descriptions
Product user acceptance criteria
Project constraints, boundaries and assumptions
Reference to supporting documentation
Detailed information on all project deliverables
Functional and design specifications

20. Further Defining Project Scope

21. Project Scope Statements (Cont’d)
Scope statements often refer to related documents like product specs, product brochures or other plans
The updates to project scope statements iteratively, require changes to other project documents also.
An up-to-date project scope statement helps in developing understanding of project scope and also helps in avoiding scope creep.
Scope creep (also called requirement creep and feature creep) in project management refers to uncontrolled changes or continuous growth in a project’s scope

22. Media Snapshot
Many people enjoy watching television shows like Trading Spaces, where participants have two days and $1,000 to update a room in their neighbor’s house; since the time and cost are set, it’s the scope that has the most flexibility
Although most homeowners are very happy with work done on the show, some are obviously disappointed; part of agreeing to be on the show includes signing a release statement acknowledging that you will accept whatever work has been done
Too bad you can’t get sponsors for most projects to sign a similar release form; it would make project scope management much easier!

23. Creating the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
A WBS is a deliverable-oriented grouping of the work involved in a project that defines the total scope of the project
WBS is a foundation document that provides the basis for planning and managing project schedules, costs, resources, and changes
Since the WBS defines the total scope of the project, some experts believe that work should not be done on a project if it is not included in the WBS.
Inputs to creating a WBS include project scope statements, requirements documents and organization’s process assets.
The main tool or technique used to create a WBS is decomposition.

24. Sample Intranet WBS Organized by Products of the Project
Above figure shows WBS for an Intranet project. This WBS is organized around the products of this project

25. WBS Organized around Phases
Another way of organizing a WBS could be around the phases of a project.
The complete project is shown at level1
The phases can be seen as Concept, website design, website development, roll out and support are on the level 2
Each level of work in the WBS is defined as task (according to PMI)
The tasks that can be broken down into smaller ones are known as Summary tasks
The WBS can also be represented in terms of tabular form
The hierarchy or level of tasks is shown by indenting and numbering.

26. Sample Intranet WBS Organized by Phase

27. WBS Work Packages
The tasks which are on the lowest level are known as work packages.
A work package also represents the level of work that the Project Manager monitors or controls
Work packages can be thought in terms of accountability and reporting
Another way of thinking about the work packages is calculating time estimates. Only enter time estimate for work packages and rest of the tasks (summary tasks) would have the accumulated time.

28. Intranet WBS and Gantt Chart in Microsoft Project

29. WBS Considerations
WBS tasks are not to be confused with functional specifications.
Please note that the WBS is created on the basis of what needs to be done or how it needs to be done
The question about when it needs to be done is not addressed in WBS
In other words the tasks do not have to be developed as sequential list of steps.
If we want some sequence we can create a WBS using the project management process groups of initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling.
Preparing and reviewing WBS should involve the whole project team and customer. Group meetings can be conducted in this regard.

30. Intranet Gantt Chart Organized by Project Management Process Groups

31. Approaches to Developing WBSs
Using guidelines: some organizations, like the DOD, provide guidelines for preparing WBSs
The analogy approach: review WBSs of similar projects and tailor to your project
The top-down approach: start with the largest items of the project and break them down
The bottom-up approach: start with the specific tasks and roll them up
Mind-mapping approach: mind mapping is a technique that uses branches radiating out from a core idea to structure thoughts and ideas. This technique could use top-down or bottom up approaches or no approach.

32. Sample Mind-Mapping Approach for Creating a WBS
Created in software MindManager and can be converted into tabular form once it is finalized

33. Project 2007 File with WBS Generated from a Mind Map

34. The WBS Dictionary and Scope Baseline
Many WBS tasks are vague and must be explained more so people know what to do and can estimate how long it will take and what it will cost to do the work
A WBS dictionary is a document that describes detailed information about each WBS item
The approved project scope statement and its WBS and WBS dictionary form the scope baseline, which is used to measure performance in meeting project scope goals

36. Advice for Creating a WBS and WBS Dictionary
A unit of work should appear at only one place in the WBS
The work content of a WBS item is the sum of the WBS items below it
A WBS item is the responsibility of only one individual, even though many people may be working on it
The WBS must be consistent with the way in which work is actually going to be performed; it should serve the project team first and other purposes only if practical

37. Advice for Creating a WBS and WBS Dictionary (cont’d)
Project team members should be involved in developing the WBS to ensure consistency and buy-in
Each WBS item must be documented in a WBS dictionary to ensure accurate understanding of the scope of work included and not included in that item
The WBS must be a flexible tool to accommodate inevitable changes while properly maintaining control of the work content in the project according to the scope statement

38. What Went Wrong?
A project scope that is too broad and grandiose can cause severe problems
Scope creep and an overemphasis on technology for technology’s sake resulted in the bankruptcy of a large pharmaceutical firm, Texas-based FoxMeyer Drug
In 2001, McDonald’s fast-food chain initiated a project to create an intranet that would connect its headquarters with all of its restaurants to provide detailed operational information in real time; after spending $170 million on consultants and initial implementation planning, McDonald’s realized that the project was too much to handle and terminated it

39. Verifying Scope
It is very difficult to create a good scope statement and WBS for a project
It is even more difficult to verify project scope and minimize scope changes
Scope verification involves formal acceptance of the completed project scope by the stakeholders
Acceptance is often achieved by a customer inspection and then sign- off on key deliverables
In order to receive formal acceptance the project team must prepare clear documentation of project’s products and procedures
Inputs to project verification are project management plan, requirements documentation, requirements traceability matrix, validated deliverables

40. Verifying Scope (Cont’d)
The main tool for verifying scope is Inspection
Deliverables are measured, examined, and verified in order to ascertain whether they meet the product acceptance criteria
The customer, sponsor or user inspects the delivered work
Other terms for this step are reviews, audits, and walkthroughs
Outputs from verifying scope are accepted deliverables or requested changes/recommended corrective actions

41. Controlling Scope
Scope control involves controlling changes to the project scope
Users often are not really sure how they want screens to be shown or what functionality they need to address business needs
Developers are not really sure how to interpret user requirements and control contantly changing technologies.

42. Controlling Scope (Cont’d)
Goals of scope control are to:
Influence the factors that cause scope changes
Assure changes are processed according to procedures developed as part of integrated change control
Manage changes when they occur
Stakeholders should be discouraged to suggest unnecessary changes
Important tool to controlling scope is variance analysis
Variance is the difference between planned and actual performance
Outputs of controlling scope can be work performance measurements, organization's process assets updates, change requests and project documents update

43. Best Practices for Avoiding Scope Problems
1. Keep the scope realistic. Don’t make projects so large that they can’t be completed. Break large projects down into a series of smaller ones.
2. Involve users in project scope management. Assign key users to the project team and give them ownership of requirements definition and scope verification.
3. Use off-the-shelf hardware and software whenever possible. Many IT people enjoy using the latest and greatest technology, but business needs, not technology trends, must take priority.
4. Follow good project management processes. As described in this chapter and others, there are well-defined processes for managing project scope and others aspects of projects.

44. Suggestions for Improving User Input
Develop a good project selection process and insist that sponsors are from the user organization
Have users on the project team in important roles like assigning co-project manager from the business area
Have regular meetings with defined agendas, and have users sign off on key deliverables presented at meetings
Deliver something to users and sponsors on a regular basis
Don’t promise to deliver when you know you can’t
Co-locate users with developers

45. Suggestions for Reducing Incomplete and Changing Requirements
Develop and follow a requirements management process that includes procedures for initial requirements determination
Use techniques such as prototyping, use case modeling, and joint application design (JAD) to get more user involvement
Put requirements in writing and keep them current
Create a requirements management database for documenting and controlling requirements

46. Suggestions for Reducing Incomplete and Changing Requirements (cont’d)
Provide adequate testing and conduct testing throughout the project life cycle
Review changes from a systems perspective by ensuring that scope changes include associated cost and schedule changes.
Emphasize completion dates to help focus on what’s most important
Allocate resources specifically for handling change requests/enhancements. Enhance user support to satisfy them.

47. Using Software to Assist in Project Scope Management
Word-processing software helps create several scope-related documents
Spreadsheets help to perform financial calculations and weighted scoring models and to develop charts and graphs
Communication software like and the Web help clarify and communicate scope information
Project management software helps in creating a WBS, the basis for tasks on a Gantt chart
Specialized software is available to assist in project scope management

48. Chapter Summary
Project scope management includes the processes required to ensure that the project addresses all the work required, and only the work required, to complete the project successfully
Main processes include:
Collect requirements
Define scope
Create WBS
Verify scope
Control scope