Introduction to Scope for Management
This term refers to getting all the work that is needed to do in a project, product or service, performed by various managers. In our day to day lives, we come across a multitude of projects in our organization, be it organizing a felicitation program for your staff or constructing a building after winning a contract, a project’s scope consists of the entire return of its’ investment and efforts towards its’ completion right from its’ inception. It is a list of all the outcomes got at the end of the work, the benefits derived post its’ closure and the nature and quantity of work required to finish them. It is this scope in the work which is a determining factor of how likely it would be treated as a project, a service, a portfolio or a program.
In this article, we would like to highlight theories that are integral in the scope for management in the field of projects and products. Very often, a scope is majorly managed by narrowing it down to two points. First, where the very nature of project objectives is well stated (defined), for example, this includes documenting the outcomes, results or even strategic and second, how these objectives are further defined as openly as possible. As already said, the scope for management encompasses the outputs but is likely to be expanded to cover benefits as well. Without digressing on this factor, in the case of scope for a program, it inevitably includes benefits and the management approach in change. Finally, the scope of management for a portfolio could be defined as what are the strategic objectives that it is supposed to design in order to achieve.
Execution
Scope for management requires it to gather the information that is crucially needed in order to kick-start a project. Further, the features of a product based project would meet the requirements of its’ stakeholders.
Coming to the field of project management, the scope for management has two featured uses which are as follows:
1. Project Scope for Management– It defines the work that has to be done in order to accomplish the project, to deliver its’ product, service and/or outcome with all the features taking care of the stakeholder’s requirements. This is more of a work-oriented approach that takes care of the ‘hows’ on getting things done.
2. Product Scope for Management– The characteristics of a product or a service which are basically its’ functions and features. This is more of a functional centric approach that addresses the ‘whats’ in a product launch.
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By scope management, we list the necessary items that would be needed to produce or steps that are to be taken in an optimized quantity and quality along with time and resources that are to be allocated to an endeavor. All these factors could be change-oriented as requirements could always be altered in any phase of the execution. Such a situation is called Scope creep.
Six Areas of Scope for Management
There are six areas of Scope for Management which works in unison for identifying, defining and monitoring the scope. Let us take a dig at what these areas are:
1. Requirements Management: This management gathers and assembles stakeholders to identify their needs and expectations. At this stage, the interests of the stakeholders are described and nothing is spoken about how to achieve the solutions that are to be met
2. Solutions Development: Next the development takes place that carefully investigates about the requirements of the stakeholders and that what could be the best way to offer high value to them
3. Benefits Management: The management takes upcharge to meet the requirements which have been laid out that would benefit the stakeholders and monitors and them through their final delivery
4. Change Management: Is responsible for dealing with the transformation of goals in the business that is crucial to make use of outputs and get the benefits
5. Change Control: Are an approach and a step to capture and assess potential changes that are bound to be in scope. This makes sure that only vital changes be made
6. Configuration Management: This is the body that controls and documents all the product developments. It is responsible for confirming that changes that are approved have been recorded and that the altered enhanced versions have archived. The information that is kept in this management body assures the impact due to potential changes.
The extent to which a detailed prediction of requirements and solutions can be inferred during the inception of the project or a service or a program will impact how smoothly a scope is handled.
Key Takeaways
Where an objective is correctly defined and communicated which also has an output that is tangible (say for example constructing a bridge), it is of utmost necessity that the scope for management is defined within the best possible accuracy and at the outset of a project or a portfolio life cycle. This significantly reduces the level of changes that are required to be done and thereby checks costs from rising and fluctuating. It is also helpful to state the potential factors that may arise outside the scope to escape misunderstandings. Defining clearly those parameters that are in scope and out of a scope significantly reduces risks which also handles and deals with the requirements and needs of all the indispensable stakeholders, ensuring their satisfaction to be as high as possible.
In the case where an objective isn’t that tangible, say, for example, fixing an IT system, there arises a better approach for drafting scope for management to keep rising costs at bay.
Finally, the most important factor in scope for management is maximizing the value of money. Value management is a discipline that takes form when all the six areas mentioned above work in unison in a set of processes that need techniques to be operated. This is because, as always, the investment towards a project has to be met with an optimized return that it can deliver.
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This has been a guide to Scope for Management. Here we discuss the Concept, Key Takeaway, area of scope, and its Execution. You can also go through our other suggested articles to learn more –
