Creating the Scope Definition

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The process of scope definition is all about breaking down the work into manageable chunks. If you had a desire to create a new house, you probably wouldn't stop by the lumberyard, pick up a truck of lumber, some cement, and nails and set about building your dream house. You'd follow a logical approach to designing, planning, and then creating the house.

The same is true with project management. Your organization and stakeholders may have a general idea of where the project should end up, but a detailed, fully developed plan is needed to get you there. Scope definition is the process of taking the broad vision for the project and breaking it down into logical steps to reach the completion.

In this section, we'll examine the inputs, tools and techniques, and outputs of scope definition, as defined in Table 5-1:

Table 5-1: The Inputs, Outputs, and Tools and Techniques of Scope Definition.

Inputs

Tools and Techniques

Outputs

Scope statement

Work breakdown structure templates

Work breakdown structure

Constraints

Decomposition

Scope statement updates

Assumptions

  

Other planning outputs

  

Historical information

  

Examining the Inputs to Scope Definition

You should be very familiar with the inputs to scope definition; you've seen these several times already throughout the book. Here's a quick refresher of each and their role in this process:

  • Scope statement Guide for all future project decisions. It is the key document to understanding the project purpose.

  • Constraints This includes factors such as cost, time, and scope requirements.

  • Assumptions Beliefs, held to be true, that the project is operating under.

  • Other planning outputs Outputs from the planning processes in other knowledge areas, such as risk, can influence the scope.

  • Historical Information Past projects can serve as inputs to scope definition. Consider errors and omissions from past projects against similar issues in the current project.

Using a Work Breakdown Structure Template

One of the tools you can use in scope definition in a WBS template. We'll detail how a WBS gets created from scratch in a moment. A WBS breaks down work into a deliverables-orientated collection of manageable pieces (see Figure 5-2). It is not a list of activities necessary to complete the project.

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Figure 5-2: This section of the WBS has been expanded to offer more detail.

A WBS template uses a similar project's WBS as a guide for the current work. This approach is recommended since most projects in an organization are similar in their project life cycles-and the approach can be adapted to fit a given project.

Depending on the organization and its structure, an entity may have a common WBS template that all projects follow. The WBS template may have common activities included in the form, a common lexicon for the project in the organization, and a standard approach to the level of detail required for the project type.

Decomposing the Project Deliverables

Decomposition is the process of breaking down the major project deliverables into smaller, manageable components. So what's a manageable component? It's a unit of the project deliverable that can be assigned resources, measured, executed, and controlled. So, how does one decompose the project deliverables? It's done this way:

  1. The major deliverables of the project are identified. This includes the project management activities. A logical approach includes identifying the phases of the project life cycle or the major deliverables of the project.

  2. Determine if adequate cost and time estimates can be applied to the lowest level of the decomposed work. Adequate is subjective to the demands of the project work. Deliverables that won't be realized until later portions of the project may be difficult to decompose since there are many variables between now and when the deliverable is created. The smallest component of the WBS is the work package. A simple heuristic of decomposition is the 8/80 rule: no work package smaller than eight hours and no work package larger than 80.

  3. Identify the deliverable's constituent components . This is a fancy way of asking whether the project deliverable can be measured at this particular point of decomposition? For example, a decomposition of a user manual may have the constituent components of assembling the book, confirming that the book is complete, shrink-wrapping the book, and shipping it to the customer. Each component of the work can be measured, and may take varying amounts of time to complete, but it all must be done to complete the requirement.

  4. Verify the decomposition. The lower-level items must be evaluated to ensure they are complete and accurate. Each item within the decomposition must be clearly defined and deliverable-orientated. Finally, each item should be decomposed to the point that it can be scheduled, budgeted, and assigned to a resource.

  5. Other approaches include breaking it out by geography or functional area, or even breaking the work down by in-house and contracted work.

Working Through a WBS

As you hopefully know by now, the WBS is a deliverables-orientated collection of project components. Work that doesn't fit into the WBS does not fit within the project. The point of the WBS is to organize and define the project scope. As you can see in Figure 5-3, each level of the WBS becomes more detailed.

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Figure 5-3: This section of the WBS has been expanded to offer more detail.

The WBS is more than a shopping list of activities-it is a visual representation of the high-level deliverables broken down into manageable components. A WBS is not a chart of the activities to complete the work-it is a breakdown of the deliverables. The smallest element in the WBS is called the work package. The components in the WBS are typically mapped against a code of accounts. The code of accounts is a tool to number and identify the elements within the WBS. For example, a project manager and a stakeholder could reference work package 7.3.2.1 and both would be able to find the exact element in the WBS.

The components in the WBS should be included in a WBS dictionary. A WBS dictionary is a reference tool to explain the WBS components, the nature of the work package, the assigned resources, and the time and billing estimates for each element. The WBS also identifies the relationship between work packages. Finally, the WBS should be updated to reflect changes to the project scope.

Here are some essential elements you must know about the WBS:

  • Serves as the project scope baseline

  • One of the most important project management tools

  • Serves as the foundation for planning, estimating, and project control

  • Visualizes the entire project

  • Work not included in the WBS is not part of the project

  • Builds team consensus and buy-in to the project

  • Serves as a control mechanism to keep the project on track

  • Allows for accurate cost and time estimates

  • Serves as deterrent to scope change

As you can tell, the WBS is pretty darn important. If you're wondering where exactly the WBS fits into the project as a whole, the WBS is an input to five core processes.

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  • Cost estimating

  • Cost budgeting

  • Resource planning

  • Risk management planning

  • Activity definition

Updating the Scope Statement

The second output of scope definition is scope updates. During the decomposition of the project deliverables, the project manager and the project team may discover elements that were not included in the scope statement but should be. Or the project manager and the team may discover superfluous activities in the scope statement that should be removed. For whatever reason, when updating the scope statement, the appropriate stakeholders must be notified of the change and the justification of why the change is being made.



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PMP Project Management Professional Study Guide
PMP Project Management Professional Study Guide, Third Edition (Certification Press)
ISBN: 0071626735
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2004
Pages: 209

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