IT2030
Project Scope Management (Schwalbe, 2019)
Project Scope Management includes the processes involved in defining
and controlling what work is or is not included in a project. It ensures that
the project team and stakeholders have the same understanding of what
products the project will produce and what processes the project team will
use to produce them. Six main processes are involved in project scope
management:
• Plan Scope Management – It is the process of creating a scope
management plan that documents how the project and product
scope will be defined, validated, and controlled. It involves
determining how the project’s scope and requirements will be
managed. The key benefit of this process is that it provides
guidance and direction on how the scope will be managed
throughout the project. This process is performed once or at
predefined points in the project. The scope management plan is a
subsidiary part of the project management plan. It can be informal
and broad or formal and detailed, based on the needs of the project.
In fact, small projects may not need a written scope management
plan, but large projects or highly technical projects often benefit
from one.
• Collect Requirements – It is the process of determining,
documenting, and managing stakeholder needs and requirements
to meet objectives. The key benefit of this process is that it provides
the basis for defining the product scope and project scope. This
process is performed once or at predefined points in the project. A
major consequence of not defining requirements well is rework,
which can consume up to half of the project costs, especially for
software development projects. There are several ways to collect
requirements. Interviewing stakeholders one on one is often very
effective, although it can be expensive and time-consuming.
Holding focus groups and facilitated workshops, and using group
creativity and decision-making techniques to collect requirements
are normally faster and less expensive than one-on-one interviews.
• Define Scope – It is the process of developing a detailed
description of the project and product. The key benefit of this
process is that it describes the product, service, or result
boundaries and acceptance criteria. Good scope definition is very
important to project success because it helps improve the accuracy
of time, cost, and resource estimates, it defines a baseline for
performance measurement and project control, and it aids in
06 Handout 1
 student.feedback@sti.edu
communicating clear work responsibilities. The main tools and
techniques used in defining scope include expert judgment, data
analysis, decision making, interpersonal and team skills, a product
analysis. The main outputs of scope definition are the project scope
statement and project document’s updates. This process selects
the final project requirements from the requirements documentation
developed during the collect requirements process. It then develops
a detailed description of the project and product, service, or result.
• Create Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) – It is the process of
subdividing project deliverables and project work into smaller, more
manageable components. The key benefit of this process is that it
provides a framework of what has to be delivered. This process is
performed once or at predefined points in the project. The WBS is
a hierarchical decomposition of the total scope of work to be carried
out by the project team to accomplish the project objectives and
create the required deliverables. The WBS organizes and defines
the total scope of the project and represents the work specified in
the currently approved project scope statement. Because most
projects involve many people and many different deliverables, it is
important to organize and divide the work into logical parts based
on how the work will be performed. The WBS is a foundation
document in project management because it provides the basis for
planning and managing project schedules, costs, resources, and
changes.
• Validate Scope – It is the process of formalizing acceptance of the
completed project deliverables. The key benefit of this process is
that it brings objectivity to the acceptance process and increases
the probability of final product, service, or result acceptance by
validating each deliverable. This process is performed periodically
throughout the project as needed. Scope validation involves formal
acceptance of the completed project deliverables. This acceptance
is often achieved by a customer inspection and then sign-off on key
deliverables. To receive formal acceptance of the project scope, the
project team must develop clear documentation of the project’s
products and procedures to evaluate whether they were completed
correctly and satisfactorily.
• Control Scope – It is the process of monitoring the status of the
project and product scope and managing changes to the scope
baselines. The key benefit of this process is that the scope baseline
is maintained throughout the project. This process is performed
throughout the project. Scope control involves managing changes
*Property of STI
Page 1 of 3

to the project scope while keeping project goals and business
strategy in mind. The goal of scope control is to influence the factors
that cause scope changes, to ensure that changes are processed
according to procedures developed as part of integrated change
control, and to manage changes when they occur. The uncontrolled
expansion to product or project scope without adjustments to time,
cost, and resources is referred to as scope creep.
How Organizations Choose Projects (Andrews, 2021)
As you embark on the selection process, make sure to consider five key
points:
• Ensure that the project aligns with your organizational
strategy: Why is it so important that organizations select the right
projects in the first place? If a prospective project is simply a good
idea – or more problematically, someone’s pet project – it’s unlikely
to survive. For this reason, you need to make certain that the
prospective project aligns with your overall organizational strategy.
With your strategy as a guide, identify where each project might
meet multiple organizational goals. One way to measure the
efficacy of a project is using a two-by-two matrix. On one axis, chart
the project’s ease of implementation. On the other, chart its
anticipated impact on organizational goals. Without this
comparative tool, your effort on a project might ultimately outweigh
the impact. But by using this framework, you can select the projects
that will make the biggest difference.
• Identify a project champion: One of the most crucial factors in a
project’s success is having a designated champion or owner.
Without a clear assignment of responsibility and advocacy, a project
can falter. But with a properly identified champion, you can make
sure everything proceeds as smoothly and efficiently as possible.
The individual who serves as project champion should have a role
at the highest level of the organization. They should also, of course,
carry a commitment to seeing the project through. The champion’s
job is to support the project, communicate its progress to the team
at large, and tear down any barriers that might hinder the project’s
success.
• Conduct an organizational or environmental assessment: How
broad and intensive an effort will this project be for your
organization? In order to find out, you should conduct an
organizational or environmental assessment. This is key for helping
06 Handout 1
 student.feedback@sti.edu
IT2030
you better understand the context in which you will undertake your
project. This assessment helps you both scope and coordinate the
project while anticipating future needs. In this process, you will
answer questions like:
o How involved will different functions or processes within
your organization be on this project?
o Which departments’ processes will be impacted by the
outcomes of this project, and what changes might they
have to make as a result?
• Assess your resources: Speaking of future needs, the next step
is to evaluate the resources you have at hand to accomplish the
project ahead. In this case, resources may mean people, time, or
budget. Do you have the resources necessary to complete the
project successfully and efficiently? This should be a key
consideration in selecting your project. Projects for which you do
not have sufficient resources may stall and become an ongoing
drain on your organization, while less ambitious projects may help
you reach a position from which you can more easily accomplish
more expensive or time-consuming goals.
• Identify your parameters for success: When will your project be
complete? This is a crucial point to decide up-front. As you set out
on your undertaking, nail down your parameters for completing the
project, particularly the timeframe. As you consider timeframes, you
should also decide on the metrics by which you will measure
success. When you know these metrics from the start, you will be
able to track not only your results but your progress along the way.
Developing the Project Charter (Schwalbe, 2019)
Project Charter is a document that formalizes a project and gives the
project manager authority over the project. Project charters act as a
contract, holding everyone accountable for their roles and responsibilities.
It should define these main points:
• Essence of the project: It should include the goals and objectives
of the project and how you are planning on achieving these goals
and objectives. Note them here, so everyone is clear about why
they are doing what they are doing. Knowing your objectives is one
of the reasons why you’re writing a project charter. The objectives
of the project should be SMART: specific, measurable, achievable,
realistic, and time-bound.
*Property of STI
Page 2 of 3

• In-scope and out-of-scope items: Scope is the boundaries of your
project, such as its start date and when it concludes. Outline the
formal boundaries of the project by describing how the business
may change or alter by delivery of your project, also note what’s
relevant to the project scope and what is not. This is how you
maintain better control of the project.
• Deliverables: What product, service, or result will you deliver when
you finish the project? Since project charters are more flexible, you
could include information in this section about your measurements
for success in this project. Describe each of the deliverables the
project is tasked to produce. Once you’ve gotten all of them down,
you’ve got a foothold on your charter and are ready to move on.
• Stakeholders: It’s always crucial to note the stakeholders in any
project, for they’re the ones who you’ll be reporting to and, in a
sense, managing their expectations. The sooner you know who
they are, the sooner you can build a productive relationship with
them. Stakeholders are the person or entity within or outside of the
project with a specific key interest in that project.
• Roles and Responsibilities: You need to assign the key roles and
responsibilities to those involved in delivering the project, from the
project sponsor, project board, and project manager. After each
entry, write a short summary defining their role and what their
responsibilities are in the project.
• Project Risks: Identify all risks that could arise in the project, so
you’re not taken by surprise. A risk is any event, factor, task, action,
or situation that negatively affects a project’s evolution, timeline,
costs, resources, goals, and results. A risk that’s not controlled nor
removed on time can severely damage a project, even end it
altogether. This should be followed up by a risk register and risk
management plan in your project plan, where you detail how you’ll
resolve those risks and who on the team is responsible for catching
and fixing them.
• Project Constraints: Constraints refer to the limits in terms of
costs, time, quality, risk, scope, and resources. Having a constraint
usually means you have to schedule and execute work by keeping
limits in mind. Say you must finish 20% of all tasks within the first
week, or only one designer is available for a project when you’d
really need at least two.
• Project Benefits: A good way to sell the project is to have a sense
of what good the project will bring to sponsors and stakeholders.
Figure out what those benefits are and list them here.
06 Handout 1
 student.feedback@sti.edu
IT2030
• Project Assumptions: Assumptions are the statements and
situations related to a project’s progress that you assume are true,
without having any solid proof yet. You might expect that new
technology will be available in time, outsourced work will be
cheaper during the next two months, all stakeholders will attend
your last meeting, and so on.
• Project Costs: While you’ll go into greater detail when you create
the project budget, here is where you want to get a ballpark figure
on what you expect the budget for the project to be and who will
have spending authority. This section could also list any additional
resources needed to execute your plan.
___________________________________________________________
References:
How organizations choose projects (2021). Citing sources. Retrieved on April 12, 2021, from
https://www.bigskyassociates.com/
Lin, S., & Huang, D. (2020). Project management under the internet era: How to respond to
challenging changes in the digital era. Springer.
Project charter. (2021). Citing sources. Retrieved on April 12, 2021, from
https://www.projectmanager.com/
Project constraints. (2021). Citing sources. Retrieved on April 13, 2021, from
https://www.paymoapp.com/
Project management institute. (2017). A guide to project management body of knowledge
(6th ed.). Project Management Institute, Inc.
Stakeholders (2021). Citing sources. Retrieved on April 13, 2021, from
https://www.lucidchart.com/
Schwalbe, K., (2019). Information technology project management (5th ed.). Cengage
Learning Asia Pte Ltd
*Property of STI
Page 3 of 3