What is project scope? Defining and outlining project success

Project scope is vital for successful project execution and involves understanding all of a project’s key elements. Here’s what you need to know to achieve your project goals.

By Moira Alexander

Contributing writer, CIO | MAY 15, 2020 3:00 AM PDT

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Clearly defining your project’s scope helps to effectively manage stakeholder expectations and ensures that all of the project’s elements are aligned with the objectives — increasing the chances of success. Here’s what you need to know about defining project scope.

Project scope definition

Project scope is a detailed outline of all aspects of a project, including all related activities, resources, timelines, and deliverables, as well as the project’s boundaries. A project scope also outlines key stakeholders, processes, assumptions, and constraints, as well as what the project is about, what is included, and what isn’t. All of this essential information is documented in a scope statement.

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The project scope statement

The project scope statement is a key document that provides all stakeholders with a clear understanding of why the project was initiated and defines its key goals. Most project scope statements will include these elements.

• A project statement of work (SoW), which is a detailed breakdown of all work to be performed by a project team and any important elements that may impact the outcome

• Constraints that might limit or negatively impact the outcome of the project, including resources, procurement issues, timing, or lack of information

• Scope exclusions, which can be anything that will not be part of the project or its deliverables

• Milestones that provide the exact date that something will be delivered or completed

• The final deliverables that will be provided to the customer at the end of the project — for example, a report, a software feature, any process insights or analysis, or any product or service that a customer needs

• Acceptance criteria that spell out exactly how success will be measured

• Final approval whereby the customer will sign-off on the scope statement confirming that all parameters have been included and the document is complete and accurate

Key steps for defining your project scope

Properly defining the scope of a project is the key to successfully managing your project. Here are the steps you can follow to define your project scope.

1. Work with key stakeholders to define and create a scope statement by identifying what is within scope, and out of scope. Collaborating with stakeholders helps to ensure essential things do not fall through the cracks.

2. Identify, document, and communicate assumptions. Assumptions are those elements that relate to the project that are assumed to be true for the duration of the project. Assumptions are necessary to provide an estimate of the cost and schedule to deliver the project’s scope during the planning phase of a project.

3. Gain buy-in for the scope statement with the stakeholders who are most impacted to ensure that everyone is on the same page.

Project scope example

Let’s say you are a project manager defining the scope for a content marketing project. A very simple project scope statement might include the following.

Introduction

This content marketing project is being undertaken for XYZ company for the purpose of creating an article to be posted on their site to create brand awareness.

Project Scope

This project will include research, content strategy, writing the article, and publishing it on XYZ’s website under the XYZ blog. It will also include sharing the article on social media for the month of April 2020. All activities will be conducted by Joe Smith of ABC company.

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Project Deliverables

Project deliverables will include one well-researched written article of up to 1,000 words to be delivered by email to Jane@XYZ.com no later than ___ date.

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Project Acceptance Criteria

Jane at XYZ company will review and approve the final article version before publishing.

Project Exclusions

This project will not include payment to external vendors for research or outsourced services.

Project Constraints

Constraints may include communication delays, changes in scope, or technical difficulties.

Once the project scope statement is complete and approved, and a project is underway, the project scope will need to be carefully managed to avoid scope creep.

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What is scope creep?

Scrope creep refers to a scenario whereby changes occur after the project has been started and the changes are not defined or anticipated within the scope statement. When scope creep occurs, it can negatively impact the project timeline, deliverable quality, resources, budget, and other aspects. Managing the scope of your project can help avoid unwelcome surprises.

Project scope management

In addition to the ongoing review and monitoring of project activities, there are steps that should be undertaken to manage the scope of the project to avoid scope creep.

1. Identify whether there are any changes to the requirements for your project. This is a vital step since these changes directly affect the project goals and all related activities.

2. Identify how the changes will impact the project. Before you can make adjustments to the scope of the project, you need to understand where and how changes impact the outcome.

3. Gain approval for changes before proceeding with a change in activities or direction.

4. Implement the approved changes in a timely manner to reduce delays and risks.

Project scope template

[Project Title] – Project Scope

Introduction

The Introduction provides a high-level overview of the project.

Project Scope

State the scope of the project. This should include what the project does and does not include. This will help to clarify what is included in the project and help to avoid any confusion from project team members and stakeholders.

Project Deliverables

State the planned deliverables for the project.

Project Acceptance Criteria

Define the acceptance criteria. What objectives will be met, and how will success be measured?

Project Exclusions

What is not included in the scope of this project.

Project Constraints

Provide any constraints on the project, hard dates, staff or equipment limitations, financial or budget constraints, or any technical limitations.

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Developing a solid understanding of a project’s purpose and clearly defining, documenting, and managing your project scope, you can ensure that you are well-positioned to deliver a successful project without having to deal with scope creep.

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• Project management guide: Tips, strategies, best practices

• What is a project manager? The lead role for project success

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• 10 project management myths to avoid

• 16 tips for a smooth switch to agile project management

• The 15 best project management tools for business

• Scrum vs. Lean vs. Kanban: Comparing agile project management frameworks

• How to pick the right project management methodology for success

• Agile project management: A comprehensive guide

• 8 common project management mistakes — and how to avoid them

• Top 11 project management certifications for 2017

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Copyright © 2020 IDG Communications, Inc.

https://www.cio.com/article/3542776/what-is-project-scope-defining-and-outlining-project-success.html

project scope

By

• Ben Lutkevich, Technical Writer

• Mary K. Pratt

• Rachel Lebeaux, Senior Managing Editor

What is project scope?

Project scope is the part of project planning that involves determining and documenting a list of specific project goals, deliverables, tasks, costs and deadlines. The documentation of a project's scope is called a scope statement or terms of reference. It explains the boundaries of the project, establishes responsibilities for each team member and sets up procedures for how completed work will be verified and approved.

During the project, this documentation helps the project team remain focused and on task. The scope statement also provides the team with guidelines for making decisions about change requests during the project. Note that a project's scope statement should not be confused with its charter; a project's charter simply documents that the project exists.

Large projects tend to change as they progress. If a project has been effectively "scoped" at the beginning, then approving and managing these changes will be easier. When documenting a project's scope, stakeholders should be as specific as possible to avoid scope creep. Scope creep is a situation in which one or more parts of a project end up requiring more work, time or effort because of poor planning or miscommunication.

Effective scope management requires good communication. That ensures everyone on the team understands the extent of the project and agrees upon exactly how the project's goals will be met. As part of scope management, the team leader should ask for approvals and signoffs from stakeholders as the project proceeds, ensuring that the proposed finished project meets everyone's needs.

The importance of defining a project's scope

Writing a project scope statement that includes information on the project deliverables is a first step in project planning. The benefits a project scope statement provides to any organization undertaking a new initiative include the following:

• articulates what the project entails so that all stakeholders can understand what's involved;

• provides a roadmap that managers can use to assign tasks, schedule work and budget appropriately;

• helps focus team members on common objectives; and

• prevents projects, particularly complex ones, from expanding beyond the established vision.

Establishing project scope ensures that projects are focused and executed to expectations. The scope provides a strong foundation for managing a project as it moves forward and helps ensure that resources aren't diverted or wasted on out-of-scope elements.

How to define the scope of a project

Defining project scope requires input from the project stakeholders. They work with project managers to establish the key elements of budget, objectives, quality and timeline.

To determine scope, project managers must collect requirements for what the stakeholders need from the project. This includes the following elements:

• the project's objective and deliverables;

• when the project must be completed; and

• how much the stakeholders can pay for it.

The goal is to gather and record precise and accurate information during this process, so the project scope reflects all requirements. Doing this improves the chances for project leaders to deliver products that meet stakeholder expectations on time and on budget.

See how a project's scope fits into an overall project proposal.

Writing a project scope statement

A project scope statement is a written document that includes all the required information for producing the project deliverables. It is more detailed than a statement of work; it helps the project team remain focused and on task. The scope statement also provides the project team leader or facilitator with guidelines for making decisions about change requests during the project.

The project scope statement establishes what is not included in its initiatives, either implicitly or explicitly. Objectives and tasks not listed in the scope statement should be considered out of scope. Project managers can also list specific work that will not be part of the project.

As such, this statement establishes the boundaries of a project. Project leaders must take those requirements and map what should happen and in what order those items should occur. This leads to the creation of a work breakdown structure (WBS). The WBS breaks down planned work into smaller, defined portions and required tasks.

A well-articulated scope statement is a critical part of effective project management. Project scope should be determined for every project, regardless of what project management method is used. Stakeholders for the project should review the project scope statement, revise it as necessary and approve it.

Once the project scope statement is completed and approved, project managers can assign tasks and give their teams directions on what they need to do to meet the target timelines, budget and goals.

Scope planning and management

Updates and changes are part of the project management process. As work progresses, managers must carefully control what changes are made to the project scope and document them. This requires strong project management skills.

The change management process also requires that project managers and stakeholders adhere to the project scope statement. They must recognize what elements are within the project scope and what requests are out of scope.

Change management processes help project managers determine how to evaluate requests for updates and alterations to the project. Distinguishing between needed requests and ones that are out of scope enables organizations to avoid scope creep.

Scope creep is when more work is tacked onto a project while it is underway. It can add costs and unnecessary work, while distracting from the objectives and threatening the quality of the intended deliverables.

Project scope example

Scope statements attempt to provide key stakeholders with all the information they'll need. The following are some elements that should be included in a scope statement:

• Introduction. This defines the what and why of a project. An example would be "This content creation and marketing project is being undertaken by the company RealContent Inc. to distribute articles on its blog and social media sites to raise brand awareness and increase traffic to the website."

• Project scope. This defines the project requirements. It sets the general goals for the project schedule and tasks and identifies who will be involved. In the content creation example, it mightstate: "The project will include research, writing, content strategy and search engine optimization, and publishing on the company's website and social media profiles, in March of 2021. John Smith, RealContent content director, will oversee these tasks. Staff and contract writers will create the deliverables."

• Deliverables. The deliverables section defines what will be provided at the end of the project and specifies a submission date. In our example, "Deliverables for the project will include a well-researched, 2,000-word article to be delivered no later than Feb. 28, 2021. Ten related and linkable articles, expanding on points in the main article will be delivered on that same deadline."

• Acceptance criteria. This describes the project objectives and the metrics that will be used to assess success. For example, "The main article will gain 3,000 cumulative pageviews within six months of publication and generate two new leads."

• Exclusions. This describes what will not be included in the project. For example, "The project will not need the creation of multimedia to go with the articles."

• Constraints. This lists hard limits of the project and things that cannot be changed. Project constraints may pertain to the project schedule, project budget or technical issues. For example, "The project has a hard submission date of Feb.28, 2021, and a firm budget of $5,000 dollars."

Project scope vs. product scope

Project scope should not be confused with product scope. Product scope defines the capabilities, characteristics, features and functions of the deliverables at the end of the project.

Project leaders should create a separate product scope statement. They should use both the project scope and the product scope statements to support each other and establish a clear understanding of what every project aims to achieve.

The takeaway

Defining project scope is an important step in project planning and management. Before a project begins, project managers need to understand what the scope of the project is to determine what must be done and what falls outside of the project.

Project scope is defined in the scope statement, a document that provides the objectives, schedules, tasks and deliverables of a project. Scope statements align stakeholders' expectations and give projects a framework for success.

Once a project is underway, it is important to keep it on track and within scope. Various project management tools and strategies are available to help teams do that.

This was last updated in September 2021

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