PART 2 | Control Means Maintaining Baselines as the Scope Evolves
The Life Cycle Model | Evolution of Scope
Baselines and Freezes at Milestones 3 and 4 | Baselines and Freezes: Milestones 5 through 8
 Design Reviews | Managing Changes | Summary of Project Scope Management Principles

Summary of Project Scope Management Principles

This is a summary, in highly abbreviated form, of the essential principles of effective scope management on a project. This summary reflects the conclusions reached from the review of the experience and literature presented in this paper.

• Identify the scope objective as one of achieving the agreed results or outputs of the project. Scope is separable from cost and schedule as a measure of project performance; it can be independently monitored and audited.
• Document a scope baseline early in the life of the project. Prepare a comprehensive statement of client requirements, both for the final product and for the intermediate outputs.
• Adopt a structured, "top-down" approach to designing the configuration of the final product. Organize the life of the project into distinct, sequential stages corresponding to steps in the evolution of the configuration: concept, functional design, detailed specification, and physical product.
• Design the project WBS to reflect the progressive subdivision of the configuration of the end product. WBS elements should correspond to configuration items. WBS levels should correspond to the stages of design development for configuration items.
• To assure compliance with the scope baseline, and to monitor progress in accomplishing the scope objective, conduct a planned review, at the conclusion of each stage, of the design choices made during that stage. Freeze the configuration as a design baseline following each successful review.
• Inspect the physical deliverable items for compliance with the detailed design specifications.
• Be in control of changes. At each stage of the life cycle, maintain procedures, information systems, and administrative mechanisms for the timely identification, screening, evaluation, approval, and incorporation of changes to the required or planned project outputs.
• Maintain change processing mechanisms that:
• Separate scope changes from design changes; only scope changes may amend the agreed baselines for the scope, cost, and schedule objectives of the project design changes should not
• Promptly revise all requirement and design baselines affected by an authorized change
• Promptly communicate approved changes throughout the project organization, so that team members always work to a consistent and valid set of baseline standards

Managing Changes

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