DEFINING THE PROJECT SCOPE

Halima Haque
Assistant Professor
Department of Public Administration
Jahangirnagar University.
Introduction

“We can control only what we have planned”

• Research clearly shows that a poorly defined

scope or mission is the most frequently
mentioned barrier to project success. In a study
involving more than 1,400 project managers in
the United States and Canada, Gobeli and Larson
found that approximately 50 percent of the
planning problems relate to unclear definition of
scope and goals.
Project Scope
 Scope refers toall the work involved in creating
the products of the project and the processes
used to create them.

 A deliverable is a product produced as part of a

project, such as hardware or software, planning
documents, or meeting minutes.

 Project scope management includes the

processes involved in defining and controlling
what is or is not included in a project.
Defining The Project Scope
• Defining the project scope sets the stages for
developing a project plan. Project scope is a
definition of the end result or mission of the
project—a product or service for the client/
customer. The primary purpose is to define as
clearly as possible the deliverable(s) for the end
user and to focus project plans. As fundamental
and essential as scope definition appears, it is
frequently overlooked by project leaders of well-
managed, large corporations.
1. Defining The Project Scope
• project scope definition is a document that
will be published and used by the project
owner and project participants for planning
and measuring project success.Scope
describes what are expected to deliver to
the customer when the project is complete.
The project scope should define the results
to be achieved in specific, tangible, and
measurable terms.
Issue (scope statement)
• Focus a scope statement by answeringwho, what, when,
and where.
Who - When-
Customers? -day, time, shift, month?
Suppliers? -when is the problem greatest?
Who else is involved?
What - Where-
Nature of the problem? Does the problem occur?
-what happens? -at what step in the process?
-what do we know about it?
-location?
Project Scope Checklist

• To ensure that scope definition is complete, one

may wish to use the following checklist:
Project Scope Checklist
1. Project objective
2. Deliverables
3. Milestones
4. Technical requirements
5. Limits and exclusions
6. Reviews with customer
Sample.
PROJECT OBJECTIVE
• To construct a high-quality, custom home within
• five months at cost not to exceed $350,000.

DELIVERABLES
• • A 2,200-square-foot, 2½-bath, 3-bedroom, finished home.
• • A finished garage, insulated and sheet rocked.
• • Kitchen appliances to include range, oven, microwave, and
• dishwasher.
• • High-efficiency gas furnace with programmable thermostat.

MILESTONES
• 1. Permits approved—March 5
• 2. Foundation poured—March 14
• 3. Drywall in. Framing, sheathing, plumbing, electrical, and
• mechanical inspections passed—May 25
• 4. Final inspection—June 7
TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS
•1. Home must meet local building codes.
•2. All windows and doors must pass NFRC class 40 energy
•ratings.
•S N A P S H O T F R O M P R A C T I C E Scope Statement
•3. Exterior wall insulation must meet an “R” factor of 21.
•4. Ceiling insulation must meet an “R” factor of 38.
•5. Floor insulation must meet an “R” factor of 25.
•6. Garage will accommodate two large-size cars and one
•20-foot Winnebago.
•7. Structure must pass seismic stability codes.
LIMITS AND EXCLUSIONS
•1. The home will be built to the specifications and design of
•the original blueprints provided by the customer.
•2. Owner responsible for landscaping.
•3. Refrigerator is not included among kitchen appliances.
•4. Air conditioning is not included but prewiring is included.
•5. Contractor reserves the right to contract out services.
•6. Contractor responsible for subcontracted work.
•7. Site work limited to Monday through Friday, 8:00 A.M. to
•6:00 P.M
 2. Establishing Project Priorities
• Causes of Project Trade-offs
• Shifts in the relative importance of criterion related
to cost, time, and performance parameters
• Budget–Cost
• Schedule–Time
• Performance–Scope
• Managing the Priorities of Project Trade-offs
• Constrain: a parameter is a fixed requirement.
• Enhance: optimizing a criterion over others.
• Accept: reducing (or not meeting) a criterion requirement.
 Time
Tasks took longer than planned
Initial time estimates were
Performance optimistic
• Unexpected technical problems
• Insufficient resources
• Quality problems
• Client changes in specs
Cost
• Scope of work increases
• Initial bids were too low
• Poor reporting or untimely
• Corrective control not exercised in time
3. Creating the Work Breakdown Structure
(WBS)
• A project work breakdown structure (WBS) is a deliverable
or product-oriented grouping of project work elements
shown in graphical display to organize and subdivide the
total work scope of a project.
• An hierarchical outline (map) that identifies the products
and work elements involved in a project.
• Defines the relationship of the final deliverable
(the project) to its subdeliverables, and in turn,
their relationships to work packages.
• Best suited for design and build projects that have
tangible outcomes rather than process-oriented projects.
How WBS Helps the Project Manager
 WBS
 Facilitates evaluation of cost, time, and technical
performance of the organization on a project.
 Provides management with information appropriate
to each organizational level.
 Helps in the development of the organization
breakdown structure (OBS). which assigns project
responsibilities to organizational units and individuals
 Helps manage plan, schedule, and budget.
 Defines communication channels and assists
in coordinating the various project elements.
WBS Example
• Redecorate Room
 Prepare materials
 Buy paint
 Buy a ladder
 Buy brushes/rollers
 Buy wallpaper remover
 Prepare room
 Remove old wallpaper
 Remove detachable decorations
 Cover floor with old newspapers
 Cover electrical outlets/switches with tape
 Cover furniture with sheets
 Paintthe room
 Clean up the room
 Dispose or store left over paint
 Clean brushes/rollers
 Dispose of old newspapers
 Remove covers
Steps for Constructing a WBS
1. Divide project into major objectives
a. Design stage
b. Construction stage
c. Closure
2. Partition Each objective into activities or tasks
3. Divide each activity into sub activities
4. Repeat step 3 until all sub activities have
characteristics desired
5. Lowest-level sub activities will be basis of work
packages that must be done in order to complete
project
Work Packages
• A work package is the lowest level of the WBS.
• It is output-oriented in that it:

1. Defines work (what).

2. Identifies time to complete a work package (how long).
3. Identifies a time-phased budget to complete
a work package (cost).
4. Identifies resources needed to complete
a work package (how much).
5. Identifies a person responsible for units of work (who).
6. Identifies monitoring points (milestones)
for measuring success.
4. Integrating the WBS with the
Organization
• As in the WBS, the OBS assigns the lowest
organizational unit the responsibility for work
packages within a cost account. Herein lies one
major strength of using WBS and OBS; they can
integrated
be .
The intersection of work packages and the
organizational unit creates a project control point
(cost account) that integrates work and
responsibility.
Integrating the WBS with the
Organization
•The WBS is used to link the organizational units responsible for
performing the work. In practice, the outcome of this process is
the organization breakdown structure (OBS).

• The OBS depicts how the firm has organized to discharge work
responsibility.
• The purposes of the OBS are to provide a framework to summarize
organization unit work performance, identify organization units
responsible for work packages, and tie the organizational unit to
cost control accounts. Recall, cost accounts group similar work
packages (usually under the purview of a department).
• The OBS defines the organization subdeliverables in a hierarchical
pattern in successively smaller and smaller units. Frequently, the
traditional organization structure can be used. Even if the project
is completely performed by a team, it is necessary to break down
the team structure for assigning responsibility for budgets, time,
and technical performance.
5. Coding the WBS for the
Information System
WBS Coding System Defines:
 Levels and elements of the WBS
 Organization elements
 Work packages
 Budget and cost information
Allows reports to be consolidated at any
level in the organization structure
WBS Coding
SAMPLE
Exercise : Prepare a WBS by using this data.
Personal Computer
Definition Phase
Pick up end user’s requirements
Planning Phase
Design mainboard
Design PSU
Implement Phase
Manufacture mainboard
Purchase keyboard
Purchase Monitor
Purchase DVD Drive
Closure Phase
Hand product over to customer
Close the Project