Scope Management
Scope is the term used to describe the boundaries of the project. Scope is used to define what the project will deliver and what it will not deliver. For larger projects, it can include the affected organizations, the transactions impacted, the data types included, etc. If you look at the reasons that projects fail, it is usually the result of two problems. Either the team did not spend enough time defining the work and / or there was a lack of scope management. Even if the project manager did a good job of defining scope, the hard part comes in having to manage the project within that agreed-upon scope.
The purpose of scope change management is to protect the viability of the approved Project Scope and Charter and the approved business requirements. In other words, the Project Scope and Charter defines the overall scope of the project, and the business requirements define the deliverables in detail. The project team committed to a deadline and budget based on this high-level and detailed scope definition. If the deliverables change during the project (and usually this means that the client wants additional items), the estimates for cost, effort and duration may no longer be valid. If the sponsor agrees to include the new work into the project scope, the project manager has the right to expect that the current budget and deadline will be modified (usually increased) to reflect this additional work. This new estimated cost, effort and duration now become the approved target.
Sometimes the project manager thinks that scope management means having to tell the client ‘no’. That makes the project manager nervous and uncomfortable. However, the good news is that managing scope is all about getting the sponsor to make the decisions that will result in changes to project scope. This is very important. Few clients can see and express every requirement up-front. Therefore, there are usually changes that need to be introduced during the project. These changes may be very necessary for the solution and there may be valid business reasons why they should be included. The project manager and project team must recognize when these changes are requested. Then they must follow a predefined scope change process. This process ultimately brings the appropriate information to the project sponsor and allows the sponsor to decide if the modification should be approved based on the business value and the impact to the project in terms of cost and schedule.
Identify scope change request
Solicit potential scope changes from any project stakeholders, including the project team, clients, sponsors, etc. Potential scope changes should be documented in writing to the project manager through a short Scope Change Request Form (optional) or email.
Validate it is a scope change.
The project manager validates that the request is, in fact, a scope change.
Enter the request in the Scope Change Log
Enter the item into the Scope Change Log for tracking purposes.
Request the business value of the change
The person making the scope change request should define the business value to the project. The sponsor will need this information to make a final decision.
Determine the impact of the investigation on the project
The project manager must estimate the impact of the investigation to the project in terms of effort, cost and duration. If the time to investigate the impact of the change is minor, the project manager will proceed. If the time required to perform the scope investigation will cause deliverable dates to slip, the request must first be taken to the project sponsor to determine whether the request itself should even be investigated. If the sponsor gives the initial approval to proceed, the schedule and budget may need to be updated to reflect this new scope change investigation. If the sponsor does not agree to investigate the change request, then the request should be closed as ‘not approved’ on the Scope Change Log.
Assign the scope change to a project team member for investigation
The project manager could assign it to himself.
(Optional) Resolve small change requests if there is no impact on schedule and budget
If the impact on project cost, effort and duration falls below a threshold (say less than 20 hours) and the project will still be completed within the agreed upon cost, effort and duration, the project manager and client manager may approve the scope change request. This threshold needs to be identified and approved in advance by the project sponsor. The purpose of this step is to keep from sending many small changes to the sponsor for approval. However, the sponsor must have agreed to delegate this responsibility - usually up to a certain threshold of dollars or effort.
Take the information to the sponsor
Take the scope change request, alternatives, business value and project impact to the project sponsor for a resolution (if the project manager and client manager did not approve, as above).
Document the resolution on the Scope Change Log
Close out the change request on the Scope Change Log with the final resolution.
Close the Scope Change Request Form
The project manager should update the Scope Change Request form and then close and file this document.
Update the schedule and budget
If the scope change request is approved, the appropriate activities are added to the schedule to ensure the change is implemented. The project budget and deadline should also be updated, if necessary.
Update the Project Charter, if necessary
The current Abbreviated Project Charter should be updated if an approved scope change results in a substantial change to the scope of the project.
Communicate through your Status Reports
Communicate scope change status and resolution to project team members and other appropriate stakeholders through the methods established in the Communication Plan, including the project Status Report.
