Scope Management and Control

Managing and controlling the scope of a project or a program is one of the most critical aspects in project management. Scope management includes functions related to defining the scope, establishing a baseline, monitoring and controlling changes to the scope, and documenting all aspects related to scope modification requests and changes. A project and program can easily get derailed and sometimes fail if the scope is not controlled effectively.

PgMP Training and Courses.

The following delineates some scenarios that can help in the management and control of project and program scope.

A formal process should exist related to assessing whether certain requests received from users and others constitutes a project scope change.
The PM should always assess the impact of the scope change. This scope change may have an impact on the project or program from a technical, cost, performance, staff, schedule, quality, and other standpoints.
In some cases, the project or program manager may assess the scope change to require a contractual or formal change.
The assessment may sometimes need to be performed more thoroughly and the PM should determine the resources that need to be allocated to perform the scope change assessment.
The scope change should be requested through the project’s change management process and be approved through the Change Control Board (CCB).
Once a change to scope is finalized, it should be reflected in the project plans and other relevant project deliverables.
At times, a scope change may necessitate the need for corrective actions in other parts of the project and programs. These must be documented and communicated.
All scope changes must be communicated to the project and program stakeholders as per the communications management plan.
Some project management organizations or PMOs may require a formal baseline change process to record the impact of scope changes to the project or program.
As the type of scope changes may vary, it’s important that the project manager determines the resources that may be needed to assess the impact of those changes. Sometimes, the needed resources may need to come from outside the project teams.
The project and program manager must identify the required metrics related to scope changes to provide management visibility on scope management. These metrics may include types of scope changes requests, the frequency of requests, approved vs declined changes, assessed impact, etc.