Plan Scope Management and its importance: In this article, you can gain entire relevant information about Plan Scope Management process and its importance including Inputs, Tools & techniques and Outputs, details about scope management plan and requirement management plan based on latest edition of PMBOK and many more.
Plan Scope Management and its importance in Project Management
Introduction to Plan Scope Management Process
Plan Scope Management Process is
the first process of Project Scope Management knowledge area and part of Planning
process group which is used to create
Scope Management Plan and Requirements Management Plan.
Process Group
|
Knowledge
Area
|
Planning
|
Project Scope Management
|
Six processes of Project Scope Management
What is Plan Scope Management Process in terms of Project Management?
Plan Scope Management is the process
which gives scope management plan as an output at the end that documents how to
define, manage, validate and control project scope.
Scope management plan contains
information how to prevent scope creep, how to create Work Breakdown Structure
(WBS) & scope statement, how to handle change requests and how completed deliverables will be accepted by the customers.
Why Plan Scope Management process is important?
Plan
scope management process is important because it provides proper guidelines to
manage project scope during its entire duration. Every project requires proper
scope management plan for its successful completion. Scope management plan is an
output of plan scope management process which defines the process to explain,
develop and verify scope of the project.
Project
manager needs to be more concentrated on defining scope or he/she must
understand the importance of project scope because scope issue is the main
reason of project failure. Without proper scope management plan, it is
difficult to estimate project cost & duration and project may deliver
unexpected outcomes.
This
process is critical because it provides idea to manage needs and expectation of
the stakeholders, resolving methods of disagreements and prioritizing
requirements throughout the project. This process is performed only once
or at predefined points.
Inputs, tools and techniques, and outputs of Plan Scope Management process
What are the inputs of Plan Scope Management Process?
Close Project or Phase: Inputs
1. Project charter
The project charter is most
important document of Plan Scope Management process which includes information
about the purpose of project, deliverable’s description, assumptions,
constraints, high level project description & requirements, high level
product characteristics and project’s acceptance criteria.
2. Project Management Plan
Project management plan is the
part of subsidiary plan which provides useful guidelines to plan and manage
scope of the project. Project management plan includes:
- Quality management plan
Project
and product scope can be influenced by how the quality policy, methodologies and
standards of organizations are implemented on the project.
- Project life cycle description
The
project life cycle Significantly influence project scope. This is the process
which describes series of phases that a project has gone through from its
starting till the end.
- Development approach
The
development approach defines whether project manager will use waterfall,
iterative, adaptive, agile, or a hybrid development approach.
3. Enterprise
environmental factors
- Infrastructure
- Organizational culture
- Personnel administration
- Marketplace conditions
4. Organizational
process assets
- Policies and procedures of the project
- Corporate knowledge base
- Historical information
- Lessons learned repositories
What are the tools and techniques used for Plan Scope Management process?
Plan Scope Management: Tools & Techniques
1. Expert judgment
Expert
judgement describes how subject matter experts and stakeholders can be utilized
to assist project manager for the purpose of developing Scope Management Plan.
Expert
judgement is used to resolve issue or challenges if any arises during handling
the project. Expertise should be considered from knowledgeable and experienced individuals
or groups with specialized education, skill, experience, ideas of previously
done similar kind of project, Information on discipline and application area.
2. Data Analysis
Data analysis techniques include:
- Alternative analysis
Alternative analysis technique is
used as data analysis technique for this process which includes various ways of
collecting requirements of the project, elaborating the scope of project and
product, creating the product, validating and controlling the project scope.
3. Meetings
The
main purpose of conducting meetings are brainstorming, evaluation of options, exchange
of appropriate information and proper decision making. Project manager, the
project sponsor, selected project team members, selected stakeholders and
others as required, may attend meeting to discuss how to develop scope management
plan.
What are the outputs of Plan Scope Management process?
Plan Scope Management Process: Outputs
1. Scope Management plan
The
result of plan scope management process is scope management plan which is a
component of the project or program management plan. Based on the requirement
of the project, scope management plan can be highly detailed or broadly framed
or can be formal or informal.
Scope
management plan includes:
- How to define, develop, measure, monitor, validate and control project scope?
- Who is responsible and authorized for scope management?
- What are the required EEFs and OPAs for completing project scope?
- How to prepare a project scope statement?
- How to establish Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) with the help of project scope statement?
- How to get approval and maintain scope baseline?
- How to get formal acceptance of the completed project deliverables?
- Who is responsible for final acceptance of completed project deliverables?
2.
Requirements management plan
Another
result of plan scope management is requirements management plan which is also a
component of the project management plan that describes how to analyse,
document and manage requirements of the project & product.
Components
of the requirements management plan includes:
- How to plan, track, and report activities requirements?
- How to initiate product’s changes will be initiated?
- How to analyse impacts and trace, track and report project related issues?
- How to get details of authorization levels needed to approve changes made?
- How to prioritize requirements?
- How the product’s metrics will be used?
- Traceability structure which reflects the requirement features captured on the traceability matrix.
Conclusion
Most
hopefully, you would like this information. Plan scope management process is used for generating scope management plan which is effective for handling and adjusting activities and
baselines of the project as per requirements.
Every
project manager needs to spend time earlier on defining scope of project and
product which is very much essential for successful completion of the project.
Next article will be based on second
process of Project Scope Management i.e “Collect Requirements”
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