Scope Management – The Basics

To understand the basics of Scope Management, it is important to start right from the beginning and look into the definition of Scope.

Definition of Scope

The extent of the area or subject matter that something deals with (or to which it is relevant)

In your Project Management study, you will come across different ‘types’ of Scope. Let’s look into them,

1. Product Scope

The features and functions of the product (or service) that the project team is building is known as Product Scope. So during a meeting when the Product Scope is being discussed, it means that the features, components, functionality is being discussed not the work required. Product Scope is more oriented toward functional requirements (the Whats)

2. Project Scope

All the work that needs to be done to make the product (or service) is known as Project Scope. So during a meeting when the Project Scope is being discussed, all the work that needs to be accomplished by the Project Team is discussed which is of utmost importance for the Project Manager. Project Scope is more work-oriented (the Hows)

3. Scope Creep

Uncontrolled changes that lead to extra work for the Project Team is known as Scope Creep. Uncontrolled signifies that changes were accepted in the project without proper change management being implemented and thus the subsequent impact on cost, schedule, quality, resources wasn’t assessed. Obviously, its the Project Manager’s responsibility to avoid Scope Creep

4. Scope Baseline

Not exactly a kind of scope but listing it as this is something you will come across later in Scope Management. Scope Baseline is not just the final scope, infact,

Scope Baseline = Project Scope Statement + Work Breakdown Structure + WBS Dictionary

(As we have already seen in Performance Measurement Baseline)

Now that those important definitions are out of the way, let us also quickly look into the processes that make up this Knowledge Area. A snapshot from the PG-KA mapping is below,

Plan Scope Management

It is the process of creating a scope management plan. This plan documents how the project scope will be defined, validated and controlled

Collect Requirements

This process basically determines, documents and manage stakeholders’ requirements to meet the project objectives

Define Scope

This is the process of developing a detailed description of the project scope (and sometimes the product scope too)

Create WBS

As the name goes, this is where the WBS is created. Note that the project deliverables are subdivided into smaller and manageable components as part of the WBS

Validate Scope

Validate Scope is the process of formalizing acceptance of the completed project deliverables

Control Scope

This is the process of monitoring the status of the project scope (and sometimes the product scope too) and also managing changes to the scope baseline

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