Project Scope Statement: How to Write One With Examples

The scope of a venture is the sum of all of the work that must be executed. A venture scope assertion helps venture managers outline the boundaries of what is going to and what received’t be executed. However scope statements aren’t nearly work administration.

To write down a venture scope assertion, you’ll want to know the venture objectives, work breakdown construction and necessities, amongst different issues. Then, when you’ve outlined your venture scope, you’ll be able to create a scope doc.

What Is a Venture Scope Assertion?

A scope assertion is a doc that defines all the weather of the venture scope in addition to assumptions, venture necessities and acceptance standards. Your venture scope assertion will act as the first instrument for stakeholders and teammates to reference and use as a suggestion to precisely measure venture success.

A venture scope assertion is a part of the scope administration plan, a bigger doc that accommodates all of the methods, guidelines and procedures to handle your venture scope. In the identical means, the scope administration plan is a crucial part of your venture plan.

 

What Does a Venture Scope Assertion Embrace?

This detailed venture doc defines the boundaries of a venture, outlining inclusions and exclusions. Usually, the venture scope assertion begins with a venture description with a quick overview of its objective and targets. There’s additionally an inventory of tangible and intangible product deliverables in addition to outlined venture targets.

Venture acceptance standards must also be included to find out whether or not the venture deliverables are acceptable, whereas venture exclusions define what isn’t included within the venture. This doc outlines venture constraints which will impression the venture’s execution and an inventory of assumptions made throughout the planning course of. Additionally included within the venture scope assertion is an in depth scope description, venture boundaries, preliminary venture dangers and stakeholder acceptance standards.

Venture Scope Assertion Pattern

To higher perceive what the venture scope assertion is, we thought it’d be useful to visualise it utilizing our free venture scope template for Phrase as a venture scope assertion instance. As you’ll be able to see, it has the fundamental venture scoping info on high after which goes right into a normal justification for the venture’s want and the way it’ll fulfill that.

Then we get into the principle a part of the venture scope assertion, akin to what can be in scope and out of scope for the venture. This creates boundaries for the venture and makes clear what is important and should be prioritized.

Now we get into explanations of the enterprise targets, akin to targets that the venture must hit with a purpose to achieve success, and the deliverables that’ll be produced over the life cycle of the venture.

From there, you’ll describe venture exclusions, problems with time, price, scope, danger, sources and so forth that might constrain it and no matter is assumed to be executed within the venture.

Lastly, you’ll go into prices. The venture scope assertion goes to estimate the prices and listing all of them, together with the estimated price, the precise price and the price on completion of the venture. Then you’ll be able to present the variance, which is the distinction between the estimated price and the precise price.

How one can Write a Venture Scope Assertion

Now that we all know what a venture scope assertion is, let’s learn to write this vital venture administration doc. Much like the 5 Ws of journalism—who, what, when, the place, why—to correctly define your venture scope assertion, you could handle these seven issues:

1. Venture Targets & Targets

Venture objectives and targets are what outline the aim of a venture. Venture targets are the smaller steps that result in the venture objectives, that are broader. Begin your venture scope doc by explaining them. These objectives and targets needs to be documented in a venture constitution, too.

2. Venture Necessities

Venture managers and stakeholders should attain an settlement concerning the venture scope and different venture necessities such because the anticipated high quality, danger, advantages and price, amongst others.

3. Venture Scope Description

It’d sound simple sufficient, however that is an important step. Right here is the place you’ll outline your venture scope, which is all of the work that must be executed to finish the venture. Listed here are some easy steps that can assist you outline the venture scope.

• Use a piece breakdown construction to visualise all of your venture duties, deliverables, and milestones.
• Checklist what’s throughout the scope of your venture, and what’s out of scope. Every little thing that’s not included within the venture scope is called venture exclusions.
• Establish venture constraints, that are all the constraints akin to time or price.
• Create a scope baseline to check your precise progress to the deliberate venture scope.

Venture exclusions and constraints are important as a result of they assist set up boundaries for the venture to exist. In addition they handle your stakeholders’ expectations/enter and provides your staff members some artistic limitations to work inside.

4. Venture Exclusions

Whereas it’s crucial that you simply outline the boundaries round what the venture consists of from the outset, it’s additionally extraordinarily vital that you simply listing what this venture doesn’t embody. For instance:

• Software updates which might be deliberate for a later venture and are deliberately not included on this venture
• Restricted or rescheduled buyer entry to sure help strains/product options

5. Venture Constraints

Venture constraints are what make managing initiatives such a puzzle to resolve. The highest three constraints to managing any venture are usually time, cash and scope, referred to as the triple constraint of venture administration. They’re interconnected, which means that when you pull one lever on ‘scope,’ one other lever on ‘cash’ or ‘time’ can even transfer.

However there are extra venture constraints that may crop up at any time, together with danger, sources, group, technique, clients and extra. Checklist all of the constraints you foresee in your venture, so you’ll be able to attempt to have options in place able to launch when wanted.

6. Venture Assumptions

Your venture assumptions usually revolve across the very issues that find yourself being constraints, together with time, cash and scope. For instance, it’s on this part of your venture scope doc, “the front-end improvement staff can be obtainable throughout this venture time interval,” or, “the client help staff will obtain new product coaching by x time.” It’s vital to listing these out as this received’t solely inform key stakeholders what your main useful resource wants are to make the venture go, however it additionally provides you quick perception as to the place your largest danger elements lie.

7. Venture Deliverables

Checklist out the deliverables your staff members want to supply with a purpose to meet enterprise targets. This may embody the product itself, instruction and set up manuals, advertising supplies, press releases, promoting campaigns and extra.

Your venture scope assertion define helps act as a marker as you construct out your full scope assertion. As a result of whereas predicting the way forward for the venture is not possible at such a excessive degree, this is step one to getting your venture as near the result as potential. By beginning with the seven key statements above, you will get a head begin on a profitable venture.

Gantt charts are the workhorses of scope administration. Nonetheless, most Gantt chart software program is woefully restricted by way of its performance. ProjectManager has dynamic on-line Gantt charts that do the common organizing, prioritizing and linking dependencies and including milestones. However in contrast to different instruments, you’ll be able to filter for the vital path. Once you set the baseline, you’re capable of evaluate your precise progress to what you had deliberate. There’s no higher solution to monitor venture scope.

Venture Scope Assertion Examples

Now let’s evaluation two easy venture scope assertion examples to higher perceive how a scope assertion can be utilized in several industries.

Building Venture Scope Assertion Instance

Defining the scope of a venture is among the most vital steps within the venture planning course of. In building, defining the scope helps building venture homeowners, contractors and subcontractors not solely attain an settlement on what the development venture will appear to be but additionally create an correct venture price estimate primarily based on the work, supplies, tools and labor that’ll be required.

1. Venture Targets & Targets: Construct a residential building venture, an house advanced that can generate income for the development agency.
2. Venture Necessities: Architects, engineers and building venture managers will work on the development design to find out the specs and necessities for the venture. These embody high quality requirements for building supplies and security necessities, amongst others. To have a transparent understanding of what these venture necessities will appear to be, they’ll must create a set of building drawings and building paperwork akin to blueprints, a invoice of portions and computer-assisted designs.
3. Venture Scope Description: As soon as there’s a design for the constructing, the venture scope will be outlined through the use of a piece breakdown construction that’ll enable the development administration staff to zoom into the sorts of duties that can must be executed, akin to masonry, plumbing, electrical and different sorts of building actions.
4. Venture Exclusions: Some of the vital issues when writing a scope assertion is to state what actions received’t be executed, referred to as venture exclusions. Clearly explaining this helps keep away from misunderstandings down the highway.
5. Venture Constraints: In venture administration, there are three conventional venture constraints; time, scope and price. Nonetheless, there are much more venture constraints that may have an effect on a building venture, akin to sources, high quality and danger. For any building venture, there can be constraints that must be factored in throughout the venture planning part akin to environmental issues, native rules and constructing codes.
6. Venture Assumptions: In any venture, there are assumptions that material specialists will draw earlier than the development part begins. These are normally issues past the management of the development administration staff, akin to climate situations, availability of suppliers and the power of the staff to finish work throughout the deliberate timeframe. These assumptions can be confirmed true or false as soon as the work begins.
7. Venture Deliverables: As beforehand acknowledged, the development venture includes several types of work akin to HVAC, electrical work, woodwork and masonry, amongst others. Every of those building crews or subcontractors can be chargeable for producing many venture deliverables all through the development part.

Manufacturing Venture Scope Assertion Instance

Manufacturing initiatives typically contain the manufacturing of bodily merchandise. This takes a collection of steps wanted to remodel uncooked supplies into completed items. Right here’s a easy scope assertion instance for manufacturing.

1. Venture Targets & Targets: Create a completed product primarily based on market analysis and the strategic planning of the corporate.
2. Venture Necessities: There can be inside and exterior necessities for the event and manufacturing of your product. When it comes to inside necessities, take into consideration the issues of your organization stakeholders who will need low manufacturing prices, excessive revenue margins and the shortest time potential to get a return on their funding. When it comes to exterior necessities, contemplate the competitors in your market and the preferences of your goal clients akin to the standard, value and options they count on out of your product.
3. Venture Scope Description: The venture scope on this case will summarize the completely different actions which might be a part of the manufacturing cycle. This consists of the product improvement course of, the procurement and transportation of uncooked supplies, components and elements from suppliers to the manufacturing line, the assembling course of, high quality management procedures and the distribution channels that’ll be utilized to convey the product to the market.
4. Venture Exclusions: It’s vital to clarify to your stakeholders precisely what options can be included in your product in addition to the standard requirements that can be adopted. Product documentation akin to a invoice of supplies is right to outline your venture exclusions.
5. Venture Constraints: There can be venture constraints particular to manufacturing akin to restricted manufacturing capability, useful resource availability, buyer demand and equipment upkeep.
6. Venture Assumptions: Brainstorm with completely different departments concerned with the product, akin to advertising, gross sales, manufacturing and upkeep to draft as many venture assumptions as you will get. The extra cross-functional insights you will get, the higher. It’s vital to be able to face a number of situations. A great way to take action is to make use of linear programming fashions to simulate completely different ranges of manufacturing and buyer demand.
7. Venture Deliverables: The deliverables can be all of the completely different product improvement paperwork that’ll information the manufacturing course of, the product prototype and at last the ultimate model of the product that’ll be launched to the market.

Venture Scope Assertion vs. Scope of Work

There are some things that venture scope statements usually get confused with, together with your scope of labor. They might sound like related venture scoping paperwork, however listed below are the first variations between these two.

Your scope of labor is an settlement of labor, usually between guide and shopper, that particulars the work plan to be carried out, together with, however not restricted to:

• Deliverables/merchandise/outcomes
• Venture timeline
• Venture milestones
• Reviews to catalog venture progress

Whereas your scope of labor will be time-consuming to put in writing, it outlines the venture itself and never essentially the plan that’s to observe. The venture scope assertion, in flip, fulfills that function by detailing and mapping out precisely what to anticipate with the venture plan and the venture itself.

Scope Assertion vs. Scope Administration Plan

They could sound related, and the result of the venture could also be related, however a venture scope assertion is completely different out of your venture scope administration plan. A venture scope administration plan is what follows the venture scope assertion, detailing the scope administration course of from the begin to the end of your venture life cycle.

Moreover, it helps outline the work that should be executed over the course of the venture, and it controls and displays these processes. It additionally paperwork and tracks phases to keep away from scope creep and assists with venture closing, together with an audit of deliverables and assessing the venture end result for fulfillment elements.

Your scope assertion isn’t almost as concerned—it’s simply the umbrella over your venture scope administration plan, appearing as a rubric for stakeholders and staff members to observe.

How Does a Venture Scope Assertion Assist a Venture Staff?

This significant doc considerably advantages a venture staff in some ways. It acts as a information that gives readability and understanding, outlining what’s included and excluded from the venture. It clarifies venture deliverables and connects the venture to the general enterprise wants.

A venture scope assertion additionally breaks the venture into manageable duties, making it simpler to find out what sources are wanted for every. All stakeholders, together with the shopper, sponsor and staff, have a shared understanding of the venture scope, which minimizes disagreements. Finally, this doc can contribute to a extra profitable venture end result.

Tricks to Write a Venture Scope Assertion

Listed here are one of the best practices to contemplate as you write your venture scope assertion:

• Keep away from utilizing jargon-heavy language. You’ll be speaking to a number of folks throughout a number of departments and specializations, so hold the language constant and clear.
• Contain all related stakeholders such because the shopper, sponsor, staff members and finish customers. Their enter and suggestions guarantee everybody agrees on the boundaries and targets.
• Preserve it quick. Since this can be a venture doc that’s in search of stakeholder buy-in, there’ll doubtless be loads of modifying to be executed earlier than it’s finalized, and it’ll must be a fast reference information for later. So, hold it easy and save the verbiage in your full venture plan.
• Steer clear of sweeping statements. You don’t need to over-commit your sources to the venture earlier than it even kicks off.
• Explicitly state what’s out of scope to higher handle expectations and stop the venture from increasing past its supposed boundaries.
• Deal with deliverables as an alternative of duties, as the top services or products assist the venture staff decide one of the best method to finish the work.
• Be certain it solutions questions, like:
  • What are the long-term enterprise advantages?
  • What does it present our clients that don’t exist already?
  • Is that this higher than what we presently provide in the marketplace?

ProjectManager & Venture Scope Administration

Main venture rollouts will be demanding on each your time and vitality. Don’t let it overwhelm you earlier than kick-off. For starters, you need to use our Gantt chart software program to create a WBS and get a visible on deliverables, in addition to the duties wanted to finish earlier than submitting your venture scope assertion.

From there, you’ll be able to strive ProjectManager and use our activity administration options to get all the required duties organized, prioritized and sorted by venture part. You may even ask different folks for enter: staff members can remark instantly on the duties so communication stays organized and to the purpose.

Preserve tabs in your sources, duties, deliverables and extra so you’ll be able to hold your venture on observe. With ProjectManager, you’ll be able to observe mapping out your venture timeline through the use of our Gantt chart, itemizing out deliverables utilizing our activity listing or kanban instrument and alluring staff members to evaluation the timeline earlier than submitting the scope assertion to key stakeholders. Begin your free 30-day trial at present.