Project Scope Management Essay

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 1. What is involved in project scope management, and why is good project scope management so important on information technology projects? Scope refers to all the work involved in creating the products of the project and the processed used to create them. Project scope management includes scope planning, scope definition, WBS creation, scope verification, and scope control. It’ important to Information Technology because it is good for preventing scope-related problems on information technology projects. 2.What is involved in collecting requirements for a project? Why is it often such a difficult thing to do? There are many ways to collect necessities for a project, such as interviewing stakeholders, holding focus groups, using questionnaires and surveys, observation, and prototyping. It can be difficult to collect requirements because of different stakeholders often have different needs, they can change quickly, and many are difficult to implement with the present systems. 3.Discuss the process of defining project scope in more detail as a project progresses, going from information in a project charter to a project scope statement, WBS, and WBS dictionary. The project charter is the document that officially authorizes a project. The project charter provides the project manager with the authority to apply organizational resources to project activities. A project manager is identified and assigned as early in the project as is achievable. The project manager should be assigned prior to the start of planning first while the project charter is being developed. Projects are usually chartered and authorized external to the project organization. The project scope statement is the formal definition of the project and what needs to be accomplished. This process addresses and documents the characteristics and boundaries of the project and its associated products and services, as well as the methods of acceptance and scope control. The project scope statement is developed from information  provided by the initiator or sponsor. The Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) organizes and defines the total scope of the project. It is a deliverable-oriented categorized breakdown of the work to be executed by the project team to accomplish the project objectives and create the deliverables. The WBS subdivides the project work into smaller, more controllable pieces. The work contained in the lowest-level WBS components which are called work packages, can be scheduled, cost estimated, monitored, and controlled. 4.Describe different ways to develop a WBS and why it is often so difficult to do. You can develop a WBS by using guidelines, the analogy approach, the top-down approach, the bottom-up approach, and the mind-mapping approach. It is difficult to create a good WBS because each WBS is unique based on the project and the team. 1. Types of WBS: Construct a WBS base on the following task list from MS Project. Another type of WBS 5.What is the main technique used for validating scope? Give an example of scope validation on a project. 6.Using examples in this book or online, describe a project that suffered from scope creep. Could it have been avoided? How? Can scope creep be a good thing? When? What can organizations do to successfully manage inevitable changes in scope that are good for business? IT projects within the UK health care industry suffer the most from Scope Creep; which they rarely meet the needs of users and stakeholders. This is why they are almost always significantly over budget in a project. It could be avoided by never forget what your project scope is. Everyone will try to get you to make seemingly small scope changes; which you should not do and get a Project Scope Statement that is approved by all Project Stakeholders during the project initiation. It can be a good thing, if you realize a better way to  scope the project or make a better product than your competitor and the client finds out that the company has capabilities; which the client was not initially aware of and the client learns new details about a competing product. With this knowledge, the client presses for changes to the project, often at little or no additional cost. The project manager effectively manages change by maintaining the appropriate balance between control and discipline to manage to the baseline plan, and flexibility to adapt the plans to meet customer expectations. In addition to, using project metrics to monitor and identify creep. 7.Why do you need a good WBS to use project management software? WBS helps to more accurately and precisely define and organize the scope of the total project. What other types of software can you use to assist in project scope management? Microsoft Project – is a large, powerful, and widely used package that offers a ton of planning functionality. Omni Plan – is a similar to Microsoft Project, but smaller project-planning package for Macs. Dream Team – offers project-planning tools combined with more collaborative task- and document-management functionalities. Gantt Chart – a type of bar chart that illustrates a project schedule. Gantt charts illustrate the start and finish dates of the terminal elements and summary elements of a project. Terminal elements and summary elements comprise the work breakdown structure of the project.