Project Scope Management is primarily a well-defined process for accomplishing a temporary project. It is an indispensable part of any team that ensures maximum efficiency by eliminating unnecessary or redundant work and maintaining integration. Furthermore, project scope assists in managing the client’s expectations and completing the project within the given time and budget.
This article will give you a basic understanding of project scope management and why it is important. By seeking comprehensive PMP training, you will be able to learn in detail about project scope management and its implementation. Let’s get started from:
Table of Content
What is Project Scope Management?
Project Scope Management primarily refers to a set of defined processes that need to be accomplished for delivering a project which can be in the form of a product, service, or an outcome with specific functions or features.
Scope management focuses on the steps involved in completing a task. These steps are specifically defined and monitored to let the project managers and supervisors determine the amount of work required and where to direct the team’s focus to attain desirable results.
Processes Involved in Project Scope Management
The project scope management involves several processes, which are explained in detail below:
1) Plan Scope Management
Added recently in the 5th edition of PMBOK, this is the first step in the project scope management process. This process involves the creation of a scope management plan based on the input from the project plan.
Some important inputs for plan scope management include a ‘project management plan,’ project charter, enterprise environmental factors, and organizational process assets. Expert judgments and meetings are major tools and techniques involved in plan scope management.
2) Requirement Collection
After discussing and finalizing an idea, one needs to note the important needs and requirements while managing the stakeholder’s expectations. The objective is to make a detailed list of project requirements to avoid any confusion or errors during the project.
3) Scope Definition
This process involves converting collection information into a product description and defining a reference point for what the scope is and what is not. The expectations and deliverables related to the project are documented to make the project members understand what they need to attain in what amount of time frame.
4) Creating the Work Breakdown Structure
The work breakdown structure is an indispensable part of project scope management. This process primarily focuses on breaking down bigger tasks into smaller ones to have clarity on what needs to be done and better coordination and understanding of the process.
5) Validating Scope
This process majorly involves obtaining sign-off from project customers for deliverables. Furthermore, it involves feedback and suggestions from customers on the work. This process of validating the scope is repeated towards the end of every phase.
6) Control Scope
It is the last process of project scope management that includes project status monitoring the status of the project and overseeing the changes made to the scope.
Implementation of Project Scope Management Processes
Implementing the project scope management processes consumes considerable time and effort. However, in the long run, they will help save you time, money, and resources. A good scope management plan includes transparent communication between the project stakeholders and the team members working on the project.
For the effective implementation of project scope management processes, proper documentation and communication enable everyone to understand what needs to be done and where to focus on getting the desired results.
Importance of Project Scope Management
When team members are working on a given project, they always come up with something that may cause a hindrance to the project’s execution. Because of this, it is highly important to focus on project scope management. By taking care of the project’s scope, project managers can easily note the requirements for meeting the project goals adequately and minimize any problems in the project’s progress.
Final Words:
A scope that is poorly managed can severely affect your project. By having a well-defined project scope in place, project managers can avoid problems such as constantly changing requirements and overspending, which often leads to exceeding the given budget, delays, and failure to meet deadlines consistently.
This process helps project managers to determine the parts of the project. Without project scope management, the project managers and team members will be unable to accomplish the project within the given deadline as well as budget.
