From the course: Project Management Foundations

Prepare a project scope statement

From the course: Project Management Foundations

Prepare a project scope statement

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- [Narrator] After all the work you put into defining your project, it's time to get that project definition in writing. Project scope is the culmination of your definition work. It describes the boundaries of the project, what is included in the scope of the project, and just as important, what isn't included. It's important to get the project scope in writing. Otherwise, you're bound to run into scope creep. That isn't some weird guy who casts furtive glances at your project scope. Scope creep is when stakeholders ask questions like, "Can you do this one thing? "We forgot to ask for this. "Can you add it to the project?" And you say yes without running the change through your change management process. The other reason you want project scope in writing is to remind stakeholders what they agreed to at the beginning of the project. If someone says, "I thought you were going to do "X, Y, and Z," you can go back to the scope statement and show them that those items are out of scope. If they really want those things in the project, you can use change management to add them. A scope statement is a document that spells out the project's scope. Everything you've done during project initiation feeds into this document, the goal and objectives, deliverables and success criteria, assumptions, risks, and constraints. Here's what is within scope for the hospital scheduling project. Your scope statement also includes an out of scope section that shows what the project doesn't include. For example, the scheduling project doesn't include an update to the system used to assign staff to work shifts. Scheduling resident rooms in the hospital and rehabilitation wing is also out of scope. Keeping scope under control is one key to a successful project. Use the scope statement template in the Exercise Files folder to create a scope statement for the hospital scheduling project.

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