What is Project Scope Management & How It’s Important in 2022?

Project scope management indicates a set of procedures that ensure project scope is precisely defined and mapped. The scope management methods enable project professionals to allocate the appropriate number of tasks necessary to complete a project, concerned primarily with controlling what is and what isn't a part of the scope.

The scope knowledge domain is crucial for a project professional, and the PMI also highlights this.

What is Project Scope?

Scope refers to the detailed set of project deliverables. These deliverables are produced from a project's prerequisite. According to PMI PMBOK, the scope is the work that needs to be obtained to deliver a service, product, or outcome with the particular functions and features.

There are three processes for a Project Scope Management which are:

1. Planning – happens when an attempt is made to achieve and define the work that requires to be completed.
2. Controlling & Monitoring - Focus on document tracking, approving/disapproving project shifts, scope creep, and tracking.
3. Closing - includes project deliverable audits and outcome assessment against the actual plan.

Significance of Project Scope Management

If you’re managing a project, observing the expectations of clients and stakeholders can be one of the most strenuous tasks. But with an accurate scope and set deadline, a project professional can seamlessly ensure that timelines are met and time is efficiently utilized throughout the project lifecycle.

The scope management helps in avoiding several common issues like re-examining the budget discussion, regular criteria changing, failure to meet the project timelines, and many more.

Scope management is vital for a long-term project, as it allows measurement of how much labor, cost, and time is required for executing the project. The scope is a crucial factor of project management, and it sets parameters for the shifting features of the project lifecycle.

Steps Involved in Project Scope Management

As a project manager, you have to define scope no matter what practice you select. Let's the steps involved in the project scope management:

Step 1: Define project requirement

Step 2: Understand the objectives of a project

Step 3: Define the project scope

For Step 3, following parameters have to be identified:

• Project objectives
• Goals
• Sub-phases
• Tasks
• Resources
• Budget
• Schedule

Once these specifications are established, the project limitation must be clarified, and the factors not included in the project are identified. Finally, the scope will explain what will and won't be included in the final service/product to team members, stakeholders, and senior executives.

Moreover, the project scope should have a tactile goal for the company undertaking the project. This is central to the project scope as it will play an essential role in how project practices are applied to complete it.

Project Scope Management Processes

1. Plan Scope Management

It's the first process that creates the scope management plan. This plan explains the scope and documents how it will be defined, validated, and controlled. It also includes data on scope creep, tackling change requests, the escalation path for any scope factor disagreement between clients, the process for the scope statement creation, WBS, and how the deliverables will be accepted.

2. Collect Requirements

This involves the documenting of stakeholder's criteria with the stated intent of meeting the project's goals. Here, professionals leverage several tools and practices for collecting project needs from stakeholders.

If this approach is accurately performed, it can drastically minimize the possibility of vexatious surprises as the project moves towards successful completion.

3. Define Project Scope

Here, a detailed description of the project and its relevant deliverables are prepared. The scope correctly states what the project goal is and what it can't achieve.

The supporting documents are verified to ensure that the project will deliver work in line with the stated objectives. The scope that results state the client's requirements and communicates expectations for project execution.

4. Create WBS

The Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is an essential factor of the scope management process, while many project professionals often skip this procedure - leading to inaccurate project planning.

The WBS offers the project professional and the team with the choice to break down a top-notch scope statement to manageable units of works, known as work packages.

5. Scope Validation

This process focuses mainly on customer acceptance of all the project deliverables. The validate scope happens at the end of each stage; where the customer gives feedback on the tasks performed.

6. Scope Control

This is the last process group of project scope management that involves the monitoring of project status and managing of scope changes. This method involves assessing extra needs from the customer or proactively overlooking scope of the project.