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Defining the Scope in IT Projects - Part II
March 30, 2008 | Author: PM Hut | Filed under: Project Scope Management, Scope Management
Defining the Scope in IT Projects - Part II (#2 in the series Defining the Scope in IT Projects)
By Neville Turbit - Project Perfect
How Scope is usually defined
Scope definitions often account for a paragraph or two in a Business Case or Project Charter. Often, they are qualitative and/or focus on general statements.
“We will improve service by providing an information system to respond to customer inquiries.” Is it a real time system? Is it all screen-based?
What reports can be produced? Where does the information come from? What manipulation is required for the data? Is all the data compatible? Do you want to generate standard letters? How many letters? How customizable are the letters? Do you want to store the questions? Do you want to store the answers? Etc. etc. etc.
Define the Outcome
We will cover several different ways to successfully define scope. All should start with an agreement on the outcome. The outcome is the change that will occur when the project is complete. Examples are:
- We will be able to answer customer queries regarding statements over the phone.
- All licensing details will be accessible on-line and we will be able to identify when they are due.
Assumptions
In order to define the scope, there will be assumptions that need to be made. There is no point in waiting until everything is clear to define scope. By that time, the project will probably be finished. Each of these assumptions should be documented and followed up at a later date to validate the scope. If the assumption is false, it may have an impact on the scope.
Which way to define Scope?
There are numerous ways to define. Ideally several ways should be used. Each looks at the situation from a different perspective and will elicit different information. We look at three main ways in this article. They are:
- Define Deliverables
- Define Functionality and Data
- Define Technical Structure
Previous article: Defining the Scope in IT Projects - Part I
Project Perfect is a project management software and project infrastructure consulting organisation based in Sydney Australia. Their focus is to provide creative yet pragmatic solutions to Project Management issues as well as to set up the infrastructure an organisation requires to successfully manage projects.
Project Perfect sell “Project Administrator” software, which is a tool to assist organisations better manage project risks, issues, budgets, scope, documentation planning and scheduling. They also created a technique for gathering requirements called “Method H”, and sell software to support the technique. For more information on Project tools or Project Management visit www.projectperfect.com.au
Related Articles
- Defining the Scope in IT Projects - Part VIII - Other Work
- Defining the Scope in IT Projects - Part VII - Other Considerations
- Defining the Scope in IT Projects - Part I
- Defining the Scope in IT Projects - Part IV - Define the Functionality
- Defining the Scope in IT Projects - Part III - Define Deliverables
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