Preliminary Project Scope

For some reason, those of us who have been utilizing the practice PMP tests, our study group has challenges with the preliminary project scope. Below is the official definition along with a detailed description of the 14 components. Don't let it throw you when the question lists alot of details about the 'preliminary project scope'. It's true that in the initiation phase, the 14 components are detailed in the project scope and 'refined' in the Planning process. FYI: (Courtesy of Anticlue.com)


Developing the Preliminary Project Scope
The preliminary Project Scope statement documents product requirements, project boundaries, methods of acceptance, and high-level scope control. As scope is defined a shared understanding among the stakeholders and project management team occurs, and it is further defined by the projects boundaries. This process of reviewing and analyzing project scope is commonly referred to as the Scope Definition process.

There are four inputs into the process of developing a preliminary project scope. They are:
1. Project Charter - This is the document that formally authorizes a project.
2. Statement of Work (SOW) - The SOW is a narrative description of products or services to be supplied by the project. It often indicates a business need, product requirements, and the strategic alignment with the performing organization.
3. Enterprise environmental factors – The Enterprise environmental factors are conditions within and outside an organization, from any or all of the organizations involved in the project, that may have an effect on the project outcome. Such factors include a company's structure and resources, and market and industry conditions.
4. Organizational process assets – Organizational Process Assets are resources, procedures, or processes, from any or all of the organizations involved in the project, that influence the process or outcome of a project. Organizational process assets include plans, policies, procedures, and guidelines.

The preliminary Project Scope Statement defines the project and establishes what must be accomplished at a high level. Commonly there are tools and techniques exploited by the project team to create the preliminary Project Scope Statement. These tools and techniques are:
1. A project management methodology - A set of guidelines or principles that can be tailored and applied to a specific situation. This methodology aids a project team in the development of the preliminary Project Scope Statement. For example, the system development life cycle methodology is often used to in IT projects.
2. A project management information system (PMIS) - A PMIS provides tools, including document management and collaboration tools, that can help project managers control project information and aid in the development and publication of the preliminary Project Scope Statement.
3. Expert judgment - The exercising of skills or knowledge gained from previous experience to make decisions on the project at hand. It is applied to technical and management details to be included in the preliminary Project Scope Statement. Am example of expert judgement is the project teams inclusion of patient census and patient days report for the design of a hospital registration reporting system.

Once you have it the preliminary Project Scope Statement content typically includes 14 components – give our take a few as one traverses industries.
1. Project and product objectives - Project objectives are the measurable success criteria of the project. Product objectives are the desired characteristics of the product, service, or result that the project was undertaken to create.
2. Product or service requirements and characteristics - These are conditions or capabilities that must be met or possessed by a system, product, service, result, or component to satisfy a contract, a standard, a specification, or other formally imposed documents.
3. Project boundaries - Project boundaries explicitly define what's included in and excluded from the project.
4. Project requirements and deliverables - Project requirements describe the conditions or capabilities that must be met or possessed by the project deliverables to satisfy stakeholder expectations. Project deliverables include the outputs of the project and auxiliary results, such as reports and documentation.
5. Product acceptance criteria - Product acceptance criteria include performance requirements and essential conditions that must be met before project deliverables are accepted.
6. Project constraints - A constraint is a state, quality, or sense of being restricted to a given course of action or inaction. It is an applicable restriction or limitation, internal or external to the project, that will affect the performance of the project or a process.
7. Project assumptions - Assumptions are factors that, for planning purposes, are considered to be true, real, or certain without proof or demonstration. Assumptions affect all aspects of project planning.
8. The initial project organization – the project organization consists of the project team members, project stakeholders, and performing organization.
9. The initial defined risks – Risks are possible events or conditions that would have a significant effect on the project outcome if they were to occur. Some risks, when matched with their possible outcomes, could lead to time and cost overruns.
10. Schedule milestones – Milestones are key events in the project schedule that may affect the project timeline. Schedule milestones also indicate the completion of a major deliverable. An example is the completion of a design prototype.
11. Initial work breakdown structure - A WBS is a hierarchical chart that shows the breakdown of a project's activities and deliverables. The initial WBS should consist of a "bare bones" outline of activities and deliverables.
12. The order-of-magnitude cost estimate – The order-of-magnitude cost estimate is one way to estimate the project's cost. It is an estimate that is made without detailed data.
13. Project configuration management requirements – Configuration Management requirements describe the degree to which configuration management and change control will be implemented on the project.
14. Approval requirements – Approval requirements outline approval processes and procedures that can be put in place by any stakeholder. Approval requirements can be applied to project objectives, deliverables, and work.

The Preliminary Project Scope Statement provides a guideline for project decision and assures a shared knowledge of project scope among stakeholders has occurred.
Project managers will continue to refine project scope as the project continues, but they need to develop a preliminary version to establish project scope for progressing through the initial project phases.