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The project scope is the sum of all the work that must be done on the project.  Scope management is focused on defining and controlling what must be done on the project and what does not need to be done.

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Quick reference

Project Scope Management

The project scope is the sum of all the work that must be done on the project.  Scope management is focused on defining and controlling what must be done on the project and what does not need to be done.

When to use

Scope management processes are used throughout the project lifecycle.  As soon as the Project Charter is set, the project manager will begin to manage the project scope.  And the final steps of the project are to turn over the product, service, or result of the project to the customer or stakeholders.  It is to deliver the scope.

Instructions

Project Scope Management

"Project Scope Management includes the processes required to ensure that the project  includes all the work required, and only the work required, to complete the project successfully.” PMBOK® Guide

Scope management answers the question, “What must be done?” Because projects often start with a cloud of uncertainty around them, the scope must be managed closely to avoid “Scope Creep;” which is the expansion of project scope without a corresponding change in the cost and schedule.  Project scope consists of two components, both are managed by these processes.

  • Product Scope: “The features and functions that characterize a product, service, or result.” PMBOK® Guide
  • Project Scope: “The work performed to deliver a product, service, or result with the specified features and functions.” PMBOK® Guide

Much of the work of these processes involves defining and controlling requirements.  Then ensuring that the work done on the project conforms to those requirements.

Project Scope Management Processes

There are six Project Scope Management Processes.  They relate to each other as shown in the diagram below.  All six rely on the project management plan as an input, in addition, scope management plan and requirements management plan become incorporated into the project management plan and provide specific guidance to the other scope management processes. The six processes are:

  • 5.1 Plan Scope Management: “The process of creating a scope management plan that documents how the project and product scope will be defined, validated, and controlled.” PMBOK® Guide
  • 5.2 Collect Requirements: “The process of determining, documenting, and managing stakeholder needs and requirements to meet project objectives.” PMBOK® Guide
  • 5.3 Define Scope: “The process of developing a detailed description of the project and product.” PMBOK® Guide
  • 5.4 Create WBS: “The process of subdividing project deliverables and project work into smaller, more manageable components.” PMBOK® Guide
  • 5.5 Validate Scope: “The process of formalizing acceptance of the completed project deliverables.” PMBOK® Guide
  • 5.6 Control Scope: “The process of monitoring the status of the project and product scope and managing changes to the scope baseline.” PMBOK® Guide

 

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Scope Statement, Requirements Traceability Matrix, and Work Breakdown Structure

The Scope Statement, Requirements Traceability Matrix and Work Breakdown Structure are the three primary outputs of the scope management processes that actually set the project scope.  Each of these provide important information about the project scope.

The scope statement is a description of the project deliverables along with appropriate assumptions and constraints about those deliverables.  It is sometimes referred to as the “Definition of Done” for the project.  There are virtually an infinite number of formats, use what works for your organization.  

The requirements traceability matrix is often used to document the requirements.  It provides a visual display of how customer and stakeholder needs are translated into specific project tasks and deliverables.  On a complex technical project it is invaluable, but unfortunately often overlooked or used as documentation exercise at the close of the project instead of managing scope throughout.  This matrix is normally created in a spreadsheet or table.  While there is no industry standard for the format, it generally flows from left to right showing greater definition of a requirement and then documenting the testing and validation activities.  

The third output is the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS).  This is a document that identifies each of the tasks, activities or work packages that must be done on the project.  It should contain entries showing the work to complete the product deliverables and the project deliverables.  This can be organized in many different manners.  It can be organized by project phase, by major deliverables, by organization or department leading the effort, by geography or by virtually any other way you want to do it.  I recommend that you organize the WBS in the manner in which you will be managing and controlling the project and the WBS will then make those tasks easier.  When the WBS is documented within a spreadsheet or table, additional columns or fields of project planning information can be included with the task description such as estimates, schedules, risks, resources, or status.  When this information is added, the document is now referred to as a WBS Dictionary.  Again, organize it the way you want to manage the project.  The WBS is normally considered to be the project scope baseline. 

Definitions are taken from the Glossary of the Project Management Institute, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, (PMBOK® Guide) – Sixth Edition, Project Management Institute, Inc., 2017, Pages 701, 703, 704, 713 and 725.

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  • 00:04 Hi, this is Ray Sheen.
  • 00:06 Well, now let's take a look at the scope management knowledge area.
  • 00:12 The Project Management Body of Knowledge, the PMBOK Guide,
  • 00:14 definition is Project Scope Management includes the processes required
  • 00:19 to ensure that the project includes all the work required and
  • 00:22 only the work required to complete that project successfully.
  • 00:26 Scope processes define the work that must be done.
  • 00:29 That includes both project deliverables and project management activities.
  • 00:34 They manage the completion of this work to be certain that it meets expectations.
  • 00:38 There are two components of project scope, project scope and product scope.
  • 00:43 Both are managed by these processes.
  • 00:45 The Project Management Body of Knowledge, the PMBOK Guide, defines the product scope
  • 00:50 as the features and functions that characterize a product service or result.
  • 00:55 And the PMBOK Guide defines the project scope as the work performed
  • 01:00 to deliver a product, service or result with the specified features and functions.
  • 01:05 So the product scope describes what the attributes of the project result will be.
  • 01:10 And project scope describes what you must do to get those attributes.
  • 01:15 There are six project scope management processes, let's take a look at them.
  • 01:19 First is plan scope management, this not the definition of the scope but
  • 01:23 rather the approach we used to define and manage the scope.
  • 01:28 Next is collect requirements, which is exactly what is does.
  • 01:31 Third is define scope.
  • 01:33 This takes requirements in the scope management plan and creates a description
  • 01:37 of all the deliverables in the major project activities.
  • 01:40 Finally, we get to specific items of work with create the WBS.
  • 01:43 We'll look at the work breakdown structure more on our next slide.
  • 01:48 The next process is validate scope,
  • 01:50 this is ensuring that the scope meets the customer expectations.
  • 01:53 And finally, controlling the scope, which is maintaining the scope baseline.
  • 01:57 An important document in scope management is the work breakdown structure.
  • 02:02 Many organizations and standards,
  • 02:03 including the PMBOK Guide, consider this to be the scope baseline.
  • 02:07 The Project Management Body of Knowledge,
  • 02:09 the PMBOK Guide, defines a work breakdown structure as a hierarchical
  • 02:13 decomposition of the total scope of work to be carried out by the project team
  • 02:18 to accomplish the project objectives and create the required deliverables.
  • 02:23 The WBS not only is a full description of the project work.
  • 02:27 But if it's organized well, it will make it easier for
  • 02:29 the project manager to direct and monitor the work.
  • 02:31 I have managed many projects with only a work breakdown structure and
  • 02:35 a milestone chart.
  • 02:37 In the example shown, the work is organized by phases.
  • 02:40 But you could organize it by departments or deliverables or locations.
  • 02:43 Organize the work in the manner in which you intend to manage the project.
  • 02:48 The project work is broken into bite-size elements
  • 02:51 that can be more easily estimated and controlled.
  • 02:53 You may start a project with high-level deliverables or activities for
  • 02:56 the later phases.
  • 02:58 And as the project progresses, you can decompose these into smaller,
  • 03:01 more manageable elements in the work breakdown structure.
  • 03:04 Another key tool is used to manage requirements in the collect requirements
  • 03:07 process and is in a project document used by the processes
  • 03:11 throughout the life cycle of the process is the traceability matrix.
  • 03:15 The Project Management Body of Knowledge,
  • 03:17 the PMBOK Guide, defines the requirements traceability matrix as a grid that
  • 03:21 links product requirements from origin to the deliverables that satisfy them.
  • 03:26 While there are many different variations in the format,
  • 03:28 they all follow the pattern of collecting the needs or requirements from end user.
  • 03:33 Breaking them down into measurable elements that will be delivered,
  • 03:36 identifying how each element is tested or verified, and
  • 03:39 the status of completion of each of these requirements.
  • 03:43 So let's look at how the scope management processes interact with each other.
  • 03:46 We start with the plan scope management.
  • 03:48 That process creates the scope management plan
  • 03:51 that explains how scope will be defined, managed and validated.
  • 03:54 And the requirements management plan that describes how requirements will be
  • 03:58 identified and managed.
  • 03:59 These are both components of the project management plan,
  • 04:02 which incidentally was an input to this same process.
  • 04:06 The project management plan contains the scope management plan or
  • 04:09 a requirement management plan as an input to the other processes.
  • 04:12 Collect requirements, defined scope, create a WBS, validate scope and
  • 04:17 control scope.
  • 04:18 The create WBS process creates a scope baseline,
  • 04:21 which is incorporated into the project management plan.
  • 04:24 And the control scope process will provide updates to the project management plan
  • 04:28 as the project unfolds.
  • 04:30 The requirements traceability matrix and requirements documentation are created
  • 04:34 by the collect requirements process and are controlled as project documents.
  • 04:39 Meanwhile, define scope has created a project scope statement,
  • 04:42 which is also a project document used by other processes.
  • 04:46 All of the scope management processes, except for plan scope management,
  • 04:49 will also periodically provide updates to project documents they created, or
  • 04:54 others that they are using.
  • 04:56 This is a pattern that you will see repeated in all of the other knowledge
  • 04:59 management areas.
  • 05:02 Well, scope management is a core element of project management.
  • 05:06 Recall that scope is one of three sides
  • 05:08 of the triple constraint of project management.

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