Keeping Scope Controlled

Kenneth has 14 years of healthcare experience in government and private industry. Over eight years of experience managing healthcare IT projects, operations, contracts, and personnel. His work experience includes project management, contracts and procurements, data analysis, claims adjudication, business writing, and business process modeling. Kenneth was certified in 2006 as a Project Management Professional.

  Scope Management  

Scope management is a key component of project management. Unfortunately, nobody likes to be the bad guy and tell the customer that they cannot have something because it is beyond the agreed-upon scope of the project.

Managing the scope can be difficult, and the project manager may be the lone voice in the room trying to keep the scope controlled so the project can be successful. While there are a lot of details that go into managing the scope, it can be very helpful to step back and make sure you know the basics of when, where, what and how to manage the scope on a project.

When
The “when” of scope management is very important. The easy answer to “when” is as early as possible. The earlier in the project the scope can be defined, agreed upon and set in stone, the better it will be for the project manager and the project team.

However, scope management does not end when the project charter and scope document are finished. There will be demands and changes throughout the project. There might even be a change request the week before implementation. Scope management exists to make sure that scope can be changed when absolutely necessary; when it is not necessary, then scope change must be stopped. The project manager should never stop managing the scope of the project until the project is considered complete by the customer and the …

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