When you’re studying for the PMP exam, you’ll notice that Scope Management is an important knowledge area. Scope management itself breaks down into six processes, but the first you’ll cover is Planning Scope Management. The planning process has two outputs: Scope Management Plan and Requirements Management Plan. Scope Management Plan is an agenda for the scope of the project, while Requirements Management Plan covers the requirements for the project to be completed. To better understand what goes into a Requirements Management Plan or a Scope Management Plan, keep reading.
In this article, let’s discuss the different outputs of the Plan Scope Management process: Requirements Management Plan and Scope Management Plan. We’ll define what these are and how they work within the Plan Scope Management process.
To Begin: The Plan Scope Management Process
To understand the outputs, you must understand the Plan Scope Management process as a whole. This element of the Scope Management knowledge area is all about planning the scope for a project and how to manage it as the project goes on. During the Plan Scope Management process, project managers will set out how they want to define, validate, and manage the scope of the project.
The scope will vary from project to project, based on the requirements of shareholders like executives and customers. As the project progresses and creates outputs, those outputs are checked against the expectations and scope of the project. The scope must be closely managed so that project managers can avoid scope creeps.
Plan Scope Management Process:
- Creates a plan for defining scope, quality check, and scope management
- Outputs are: Requirements Management Plan and Scope Management Plan
- Sets the guidelines for how the scope will be defined, developed, managed, and verified
- A key part of the project management plan
So, as we’ve covered, there are two outputs to the Plan Scope Management process: Requirements Management Plan and Scope Management plan. Let’s flesh out those outputs and understand what goes into those plans.
What is the Scope Management Plan?
The PMP exam and PMP exam prep courses define Scope Management Plan as the plan that lays out the margins for the scope. The Scope Management Plan determines how to define, develop, monitor and control, and verify the scope of a project. Some examples of what goes into a Scope Management Plan include:
- Collecting customer and shareholder requirements
- Eliminating conflicting and contrasting requirements
- Tracking the delivery process of the scope agreed upon
- Verifying the project deliverables
Scope Management Plan is part of the Project Management Plan as a whole and a key input for the Develop Management Plan process. There’s a reason why the Scope Management Plan is so interwoven with the rest of the Project Management Plan. The scope of the project essentially defines the rest of the project: the work to be done, the deadlines, the budget, the quality, and the resources. So the plan to finalize the scope management of the project is one of the most important elements.
What is included in the Scope Management Plan?
The first element of the Scope Management Plan is developing processes to prepare a detailed project scope outline. The Project Scope Statement, as it is called, lays out the scope of a project in great detail for shareholders. The Scope Management Plan walks through the preparation for a successful detailed Project Scope Statement.
Next, the Scope Management Plan includes processes to create the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). The WBS lays out activities and resources that will be necessary to achieve the project scope. It is broken down into a series of systems that prioritize the different elements needed, such as: user management, transaction management, marketing, etc. Within these systems are work packages that explain each task needed to make those processes work. Think of the WBS as a blueprint or a preview of all of the work that will need to be done to achieve the scope of the project.
In addition to creating the WBS, the Scope Management Plan also establishes the process of managing and approving the WBS. After the WBS is finalized, it will be approved by shareholders, allowing it to finally be executed.
For the end of the project, the Scope Management Plan defines how project deliverables can be formally accepted. Scope Management Plan also determines how to verify and validate the project scope deliverables. If the customer or shareholders request any changes, the Scope Management Plan lays out how those changes will be handled. These changes must be approved by the change control board of the project in order to be executed.
Scope Management Plan Includes Processes For:
- Preparing a successful Project Scope Statement
- Creating the WBS
- Defining how the WBS will be finalized, approved, and maintained
- Formal acceptance of project deliverables
- Control of change requests
What is a Requirements Management Plan?
The Requirements Management Plan, on the other hand, uses the customer or shareholder requirements as a framework. It defines how those requirements are analyzed, tracked, and monitored. Requirements Management gathers and finalizes the shareholder requirements and then uses them to shape the scope of the project.
What is Included in the Requirements Management Plan?
The Requirements Management Plan includes, first and foremost, the guide for how project activities will be planned, monitored and controlled. All requirements must be documented and recorded in the project’s records. Occasionally, a requirement will be found invalid and eliminated as the project goes on. In those cases, the reason for the project elimination should still be documented for future reference.
Also included in the Requirements Management Plan are configuration management activities. These activities lay out how to manage the documentation of the project. Everything will need to be documented thoroughly, and configuration management handles the versioning of those project documents.
Next, there’s the requirements prioritization process. The Requirements Management Plan must lay out how to prioritize each of the requirements so as to best manage the time and budget for the project. With large projects, there are often a large number of requirements from shareholders. Sometimes these requirements may conflict or have different levels of priority. This process helps to resolve conflicting requirements and properly prioritize the rest.
Second to last, the Requirements Management Plan should include product metrics. Do you need to use European metrics or US metrics? What kind of measurements are you using? Consistent product metrics are essential when it comes to quality assurance and reporting your project outputs in meetings with shareholders.
Finally, there’s the traceability structure within the Requirements Management Plan. The requirements need to be tracked and verified throughout the project during quality control to ensure that the project deliverables have met with each of those requirements. In the Requirements Management Plan, you’ll find an outline that determines how to document and trace requirements for the duration of the project.
Requirements Management Plan Includes:
- Planning processes for the tracking and reporting of requirement activities
- Configuration management activities
- Requirements prioritization process
- Product metrics
- Traceability structure
In Conclusion
The Requirements Management Plan and Scope Management Plan make up the two outputs of the Plan Scope Management process. The Scope Management Plan determines how to define, validate, monitor and control the scope. However, it’s the Requirements Management Plan that lays out how to analyze, document, and control the requirements given by shareholders and customers.
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