Scope Management Plan

Scope management plan contains –

• scope planning

• execution

• control

Scope management is created as a part of Define Project Management plan process and is not included as a separate scope management process. Scope management plan tries to answer:

• How will the scope be achieved by the project?

• The tools required to accomplish the project scope

• The enterprise environmental factors required for accomplishing project scope

• The organizational process assets required

• How the scope is managed and controlled throughout the project?

Organizations should have templates, forms, or standards for scope management. These are critical for any project. Scope management plan may have topics that can be standardized for the organization, however, every scope management plan is unique. The project manager uses the scope management plan as a baseline to guide and measure the project until closing. As discussed earlier, the scope management plan is a part of the project management plan. Like other knowledge areas, a scope management plan may not be developed at one time. However, it could be developed in stages, or iterated, during project planning. The project manager first determines how to define the scope.

Once the project is completely planned, the project manager has enough information to decide how the scope will be executed and controlled. These decisions then become part of the scope management plan. The project manager can use another aspect of iteration. In this iteration, the later parts of project planning, such as the Human Resource planning process, can add a new scope to the process, thereby changing the scope management plan. A project manager is required to have a good understanding of the project scope to create a scope management plan. It is a major mistake to work on a project before the product and project scope are identified. Creating a scope management plan is a required part of project management.