Scope Management: A Link to Project Success
Defining and planning a project is only the first step in successfully managing a project. After you make a work plan, you have to work according to this plan. You must ensure that the work is completed within the stipulated time and budget. Once a project is underway, clients will keep asking you to do work that is beyond the original scope, or different from the original scope. This is when you have to use scope change management. If you don't use this technique well, you'll be overwhelmed with multiple budgets and workloads to complete than originally agreed upon. In other words, you will be in great trouble.
The main reasons for project failure
The average IT manager has experienced less successful projects. Five of the most common project management mistakes are discussed below. Remember: "Bad planning is the number one project management mistake".
Scope management starts with scope definition
Defining the project scope is the most important part of defining a project. If you're not sure what you're working on, and the bottom line of the project you're working on, you simply can't be successful. Managing project scope is the most important part of project management. However, if you don't define the project scope well, managing the project scope is an almost impossible task.
The purpose of defining the project scope is to clearly describe and gain acceptance of the logical scope of the project. A scope statement is used to define which work is included in the project and which is outside the scope of the project. The more clearly you can define the project scope, the more clearly your project goals will be. The following collation of information will help.
• In-scope and out-of-scope delivery usage types (business needs, current situation assessment)
• In-scope and out-of-scope lifecycle processes (Analysis, Design, Test)
• In-scope and out-of-scope data types (financial, sales, employee status, etc.)
• In-scope and out-of-scope data sources or databases (billing, general ledger, payroll, etc.)
• In-scope and out-of-scope organizations (human resources, manufacturers, suppliers, etc.)
• Main functions in and out of scope (decision support, data entry, management reporting)
Feasible scope change process
Project managers and project teams must realize that there is nothing inherently wrong with scope changes, which means that modifying the scope while the project is in progress is not a bad idea. In fact, a lot of the time, that's a good thing. First, customers are often unsure of the needs and capabilities of their desired solution. Second, even if the client knows exactly what the ultimate goal is, business dynamics change over time, so the needs of the project will also change.
If you can't accommodate change, the final solution won't work as intended and may even be completely useless. Therefore, you must have the ability to change the flow of the project when needed. If the project manager is not prepared for project changes, problems will continue to occur. Every project should have a process for managing change effectively. This process should include identifying the change, assessing the business value of the change, assessing the impact on the project, and then escalating this information to the project sponsor for evaluation.
The sponsor can decide whether to agree to the change. If agreed, the sponsor should also consider the degree of impact of the change on the project, and then add budget or extend the project time.