Scope Management Plan

Purpose

The scope management plan establishes how scope management will be carried out in the project. It serves as guidance for scope process and formats and defines the roles and responsibilities for stakeholders in those processes. It is not the detailed requirements information, but instead explains how that information will be captured, expressed, and modified (if or when necessary).

Application

The scope management plan is used by project managers and the project office to define how management practice will be conducted. In some organizations, it may be a standardized document, applied across multiple projects and modified only slightly to reflect the individual resource and delivery requirements of the project. It is used to prevent project managers from reinventing the process every time they face a new project.

Content

The scope management plan includes descriptions of required documents (e.g., functional requirements, technical requirements, change control forms), as well as some insight on how those documents may be developed.

1.0 Scope Process

Scope process will include definitions on how the scope for the project will be documented. It will address the nature of functional and technical requirements and the areas/individuals responsible for developing those requirements. It will also include detail on how and when the scope may be modified both before and after the project baseline is established. The process includes information on when the scope should be baselined and when certain types of documents (e.g., change control logs, functional and technical requirements documentation) should be updated.

2.0 Scope Responsibilities

The responsibilities should reflect who will be accountable for scope definitions (functional and technical), updates, and real-time information capture on project and task performance. This may also include who is in charge of the scope documentation and who is conducting data entry.

3.0 Scope Statement

Either by reference or in whole, the scope statement should be incorporated in this document.

4.0 Change Control

Again, either by reference or in whole, the change control process should be embedded in the scope management plan.

Approaches

Although the approaches to scope management may vary, some of the elements are consistent. The scope management plan should express how and where scope will be definitively captured and how and when it may be modified. The plan may go into detail about how the requirements and scope will evolve (through team processes, expert assessment, or otherwise) or may simply identify a single team member with “go-to” responsibility for all scope issues. Because it is integrated with other baseline issues (including cost, schedule, and risk), the scope management plan should be coordinated with any management plans that have been developed for those areas.

Considerations

Organizations may forego scope management plans in deference to organizational process documentation that covers the same issues. As long as there is an accessible resource for information on how the scope is developed, updated, and maintained, the essence of the scope management plan is addressed.