Project Scope Management Process

Project Scope management process is generally used for making sure that the project is completed with all the required tasks completed in the project. In addition to this, there are a number of processes that involve the collection of requirements for the project, defining the scope of the project, analysing the scope of the project and verification of the scope of the project. The scope management plan for the construction project that is being considered here contains the project scope, scope definition, verification and control measures, scope change control, and the project’s work breakdown structure for the development of the project. 

            The like challenges that are likely to be faced in a scope management plan are:

• Poorly defined project goals: One of the major challenges that are to be faced by the project managers implementing the scope management process is remaining unknown about the primary objectives of the project. If the aims of the project are unclear or a specific plan is not developed, then the there is a high chance that the project is going to fail.
• Scope Creep: Scope creep is the situation where the project does not actually shape up according to the plan and the expansion of the project is to a certain where the objectives of the project are exceeded. This would put the project and the project manager is a spot of unpredictability and unclear project scope definition.
• Insufficient team skills: There are various occasions where the project does not exactly possess the skill sets required for the completion of a particular project and this can put the project into a spot of bother.
• Improper communication: Communication is the most important thing in a project and the absence of a proper communication plan of the project would result in the project team getting distracted and the said path as per the planning of the project is followed any. This creates a huge disruption towards the progress of the project.

            For the challenges discussed previously there a number of process by which the above mentioned challenges. The solutions have been described below:

• Firstly, the project managers should be able to take care of the deadlines of the project and the issues which are related to the deadline of the project. The project manager should always be able to track the real time progress of the project.
• Secondly, for avoiding the scope creep in a project, there should be predefined project goals that would be define the quality of the project, the schedule and budget of the project. The project manager should be able to make proper realistic assumptions during the development of the project scope management plan.
• Thirdly, the required set of skills for the project are to be well documented in the plan and workload is to be analysed efficiently that would be helpful in identification of the weaknesses and the strengths of the teams that are involved in the project.
• Lastly, a proper communication plan is to be developed for the project and use of a collaboration software is to recommended for the mitigation of the issues of the problems regarding the communication during the development of the project.

            Even through there might be a thorough plan ready with the organization for the development of a project, it is necessary that the organization have a scope monitoring plan at their disposal. The monitoring can be very easily facilitated with the help of project change management process or by the implementation of a control mechanism for the project. In case there are request for changes the deliverables that were agreed earlier to the start of the project the request for a new service is to be made on a formal basis.

with the stakeholders of the project fully aware of the proposed changes for the project. In addition to this, desired addition of resources, timeline, quality, or budget are to be evaluated on the basis of the changes proposed for the project. Additionally, there should be introduction of different level of the approvals, authentications and escalations for the project to aid the process.

            There are meetings to be fixed immediately with the team that would checking and selecting the best solution that would be taken, after already defining the solutions and documents that were agreed upon earlier. It is very crucial that the deadline of the project is kept in mind and proper evaluations are done as to see if the deadlines in the projects have been missed or the deadline set is recoverable or not.

            There are various factors that might be responsible for the changes of scope possible, such as, lack of information on the project that is to be developed and the design errors in the project. It is also necessary that the deadline of the project is evaluated and the all the other factors involved such as the incorrect WBS information, climatic factors, need for special materials, budget should be in place in order to proceed further with the project.

            The change control process includes a sequence of six steps that is followed for the proper implementation of the plan. The six steps for the process are Recording, Assessment, Planning, Building and testing, Implementation, Gaining acceptance.

            It is preferable that the software capable for making the comparisons are used, after updating, uploading the daily information of work and information of work that can be seen easily.  A degree of planning, which would be helpful in case there is an alteration in the case of alteration, delay or error in the planning system.

Challenges in Scope Management Plan

            The document that is created should always be informative about the original project and changes that are recorded for the projects. The exact details of the projects, the possible constraints and the impact on the project are to be well documented in the work break down structure. The document is to be signed in between the parties who would be able to authorize the changes in the project. The Gantt Chart for the greenhouse constructing company project has been provided below:

The work breakdown structure for the greenhouse constructing company project has been provided below:

            For reporting the scope changes in the project the following steps are to be taken:

All the actions are to be well documented and signed off in between both the parties who are involved in the project. The Formal agreements are to be included in the change control procedures. It is likely that the major elements in the project would be changed and the project documentations which involve the plans, schedules, directives, guidelines, instructions and statements.

            The best possible example for managing the scope of a project would be automated software created especially for project management. However, Excel spreadsheets developed by Microsoft can also be used for the project provided that the manager of the project would be having an ample amount of knowledge on the software so that all the processes required in a project management technique are applied successfully. This can also be made accessible to all the team members who are involved in the project and it would be sufficient for controlling the project from start to finish.

            The project manager analyses, designs and improves or makes replacements as per requirement of the project and the business processes for the organization. This includes the task of collaboration with the project team and design some high level process designs and models that would be used for understanding the practices that are best utilized in the businesses. The appropriate opportunities and challenges of the previous systems which are currently in place are to be identified by the project manager and simulate critical that is helpful in the identification of the organizational impact areas.

            The examples of the type of project initiation documents are provided below:

Project Goals, Scope, Project Organization, Business Case, Constraints, Stakeholders, Risks, Project Controls, Reporting frameworks

            In the provide example the Widget Management system was used for the one of the greenhouse constructing company. The company makes builds the houses and the buildings. Hence to start with the process of authorization the project charter was created which would be helpful in the identification of the authority and the objective of the project manager who was involved in the project. The business needs, understanding the requirements of the customers’ requirements, deliverables for the project, business case, influences of the stakeholders and project justification needs documentations.

            The Green House Company has branches in several suburbs and builds the houses for their customers across the branches. The Executives, Finance Management Committee, Board of Director, Risk and Internal Audit Committee are introduced with the business case. After having a suitable amount of knowledge on the project and forming a project scope that was convincing the project was authorized.

Solutions for Scope Management Challenges

            The organization matrix was used as the official document which was used for the confirmation form the authorities and the project delegations. It was possible to acquire further information about the authorities and people who were mainly responsible for the key areas of the project. The Executive Sponsors, Business Sponsors, Project manager and the Stakeholders were required for the approval of the project.

            The main boundaries of the project that were identified are Assumptions, Constraints, Exclusions, Inclusions, Principal work activities, Product specification, Project deliverables, Project objectives, Scope of works, Work breakdown structure. The boundaries of the project linked directly to the objectives of the project and the content of the project are defined by these constraints developed for the project.

The clear identification of the project boundaries has some benefits such as it helps in the understanding the start date and end date of the project, ensure the performance of the project, the management of the team and individuals are allowed and the also helps the human resource management procedures to great extent.

            The benefits of the project are measured by various type of metrics such as the customer requirements, geographical characteristics of the land and Australian standards. The main area of benefit for the company would be the customer requirements and expectations which would be increasing the overall reputation of the company in the current market. The constructions layout and the adjustments made to the building that are developed by the company are done according to the regulations and the standards that are prevalent in the market sectors

This would help in the management of the compliance requirements of the organization. After the completion of the project the expert feedback and the customer feedbacks are taken into account which would endure the quality of the products delivered in the scope of the projects and hence would enhance the overall efficiency of the project. It is important that the project outcomes are identified so that overall project performances cloud be evaluated and usually, the tangible results are considered as the outputs and these outputs reveal the measure of the success of the project.

            At the time the project was executed a share of understanding occurred in between the project team members and the project managers. The project team members also gelled quite well among themselves which consisted of a process engineer, machinist, manufacturing, engineer, job security and an industrial engineer. The Green House Constructing Company which is construction company generally outsources their products and there were several instances where there exchanges in between the companies that helped in the development plan of the project.

            The management plan was developed for the project scope and for the measure of the depth of the scope of the project. The plan begins with the analysis of the information which is provided in the project charter of the organization, the preliminary scope of the project was defined by the project team and the final version of the project plan is used for the analysis and all the information which are developed and recorded for the project and the other environmental information for the company. 

Work Breakdown Structure

            For the development of the scope management plan, for the project of the Green House Constructing Company are:

Requirements Collection: The collection of requirements is the first step that is required for the defining and documenting the requirements for meeting the objectives defined in the project. The project charter and the stakeholder register is the foundation for this process. The team would be able identify the business drivers that are necessary for the project. The major procedures that can be followed for this process are interviews and questionnaires.

Define Scope: The definition of the scope of the project is very critical for the success of the project and the definition includes the include deliverables, assumptions, and constraints of the project. It also includes the framework within which the project is to be modelled.

Create Work Breakdown Structure: The process breaks down the deliverables of the project into smaller components that would be creating smaller components that would be easily manageable and the simplicity is maintained with the project.

Verify Scope: The process of scope verification is very important for forming the team for the project. The acceptance of the baseline for the project is derived in this step of the project.

Control Scope: The project control or monitoring process is very important for the project so that if there are any type of changes required for the project, then the changes in the project can be allocated very easily. It is necessary that the scope of the project is controlled and well integrated to make sure that there is scope creep in the project.

            The time constraints and the difficulties to get thorough with all the interviews required for the development of the project is considered and the data that was acquired is analysed by the date delivery as per agreement with the clients. For the management of the impact of scope changes three methods were used were distribution of the larger tasks into the smaller ones, Inclusion of more tasks in the process of completion of the project and adjusting the task durations.

            The biggest scope management issue is scope creep. This happens when the clients is not satisfied with the deliverables and instructs on changing the deliverable of the project mid-way through the project and the defined measurable in the project is exceeded with the further progress of the project. Hence as a solution it is recommended that the project deliverables are discussed during the earlier phase of the project and the deliverables are agreed and signed by both the parties.

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