arlene trimbleAssistant IT Director| Local GovernmentAlamo, Ca, United States
Scope defines the project parameters - what elements are included in the project and what elements are excluded in the project.
Requirements defines the specific storyboards of the project within the boundaries of the scope. Requirements may include technical, functional, interface, legal, security, reporting, etc. Saving Changes...
Edward DanielsProject Manager| IndependentGlen Burnie, Md, United States
In my personal experience of managing projects, Scope management simply means "what we plan on including or excluding from a project" while Requirements management refers to "information gathered relevant to what is in scope for the project".
Our scope management plan could be that "scope would be defined based on the results of requirement gathering (fact-finding) exercise". The requirement management plan would state "how we plan on gathering the information; face-to-face interviews, surveys, observations, questionnaire and etc), maybe for how long and managed.
This is where EEFs and OPAs come in, different organizations have culture and ways of doing business that may affect scope management or requirements management planning.
As PMs, we shouldn't get bogged down by one versus the other, we should make our project plans subject to progressive elaboration. We know what we know now, and our plans should reflect that. If more information that we didn't have come in, our planning documents should be updated to reflect this.
So to answer the question, two documents are needed because they both give a plan of action to two different activities. "Plans are what we are / are not planning to do when it comes to the project". Saving Changes...
The scope management is concerned with the definition of the deliverables needed to be produced by the project, wich are key to fullfil the requeriments of stakeholders.
In the other hand requirement management is about collecting, analizing and controlling, those requirements that also have to be aligned with the objectives of the project stated in the project charter during initiation.
So for me, the key is that you have to relate the scope management with the WBS while requeriment management is related with the requirement traceability matrix. Saving Changes...
Pat KuperPM Specialist| BayerUnion, Mo, United States
Great information, very helpful. Saving Changes...
