Project Scope Management: Defining Scope

Overview/Description
 Whether your project requires a team of hundreds working together for five years or three colleagues joining forces for two months, defining the project scope at inception is a critically important activity. Scope definition entails breaking down the work required to meet the project's interim and long-term goals in detail. With proper scope definition, all work and deliverables are subdivided into clear, manageable units. The result of the definition process is the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) the project's organizational foundation. In this course, you will learn how to accurately define project scope and create a WBS that details all work components, yet is sufficiently flexible to accommodate future scope modifications.

Target Audience
 Project managers, team leaders, program managers, group managers

Expected Duration
2.0 hours

Lesson Objectives:

Requirements for Scope Definition

  • recognize the importance of scope definition.
  • identify the reasons why scope definition is an important process.
  • identify the planning documents required for scope definition.
  • identify the other sources of information that can assist in scope definition.

    • Deliverable Decomposition

  • recognize the value of accurately decomposing project deliverables.
  • identify the most common ways to organize a Work Breakdown Structure.
  • identify the steps in the decomposition process.
  • identify the techniques for verifying the correctness of the decomposition process.

    • The Work Breakdown Structure

  • recognize the importance of the Work Breakdown Structure in defining the project scope.
  • identify the characteristics and functions of the Work Breakdown Structure.
  • identify the Work Breakdown Structure features that facilitate ongoing scope management.
  • identify other project breakdown structures that are used in conjunction with the Work Breakdown Structure.

    • Case Studies: Defining Scope

  • recognize the benefit of applying newly learned information to practical situations.
  • identify the best practices for initiating the scope definition process.
  • select the best practices of the project decomposition process.
  • identify the best practices for employing the Work Breakdown Structure.

    • Course Number: PROJ0232