PM-P2

MGT 6305, Project Management 1

Course Learning Outcomes for Unit II Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to:

3. Develop a quality management plan to ensure project quality. 3.1 Evaluate the impact of quality parameters on a project scope. 3.2 Develop the scope management, scope statement, and a work breakdown structure (WBS).

Course/Unit

Learning Outcomes Learning Activity

3.1

Unit Lesson Chapter 5 Article: “Project Scope and Project Performance: The Effect of Parts Strategy

and Supplier Involvement on Product Development” Unit II Project

3.2 Unit Lesson Chapter 5 Unit II Project

Required Unit Resources Chapter 5: Scope Management It is not required to read the case studies at the end of the chapter. In order to access the following resource, click the link below. Clark, K. B. (1989, October). Project scope and project performance: The effect of parts strategy and supplier

involvement on product development. Management Science, 35(10), 1247–1263. https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?dire ct=true&db=bsu&AN=6700145&site=ehost-live&scope=site

Unit Lesson

Plan Scope Management

A project is chartered and exists for the sole purpose of producing specific deliverables. Having done so, the project ends. The purpose of a project and its temporary nature places a strong focus and importance on developing the project scope. The scope of a project is therefore concerned with what the project will deliver. The project scope includes many elements and is subject to too many different factors throughout the project lifecycle. As an example, it is common for clients to change their mind and request that the scope be modified and often increased. Further, during a project, the project team will likely uncover new work in the course of developing project deliverables. This is because scope estimates are never perfectly accurate. Also, the project team may face unanticipated difficulties and may need to attempt different approaches. The additional work equates to additional scope.

UNIT II STUDY GUIDE Project Quality, Scope, and Performance

MGT 6305, Project Management 2

UNIT x STUDY GUIDE Title

Since so much management effort is involved in defining, delivering, and controlling scope, it is important for the project manager to “take a step back” before jumping into scope definition and take time to think through the basic strategy for managing the scope. Strategy is involved in deciding what tools to use for converting client requirements into a workable project scope. It also involves deciding who on the project team will be involved in this effort as well as what process will be used. The unchecked growth of scope can incur delays and budget overruns—so scope management strategy naturally includes change control processes. When planning scope management, the project team will specify a change control process that includes who is responsible for approving changes in a scope. Scope management would not be complete without the ongoing verification and validation of a project scope. Policies developed by the project team in this case describe how verification and validation will be done including how features and specifications are traced back to the original client requirements. While the plan scope management process may appear on its face to be nothing more than additional process overhead—it is consistent with the project management focus on plan before doing. There is no substitute for thinking through what is to be done prior to doing it. In essence, therefore, plan scope management refers to develop and document the strategy for how the scope is to be managed throughout the project. In the context of building a home—particularly the case of a contractor building a home for a client—the scope management plan is essential. There will no doubt be circumstances when the client will stop by to view progress on the building process. When this happens, it is natural to expect comments like, can you change this? or I don’t like that. Requests for adding scope may also be encountered. The scope management plan will need to be explicit on how to manage such scope change requests. Typically, a contractor will advise the client regarding the change request process, supply forms, and insist that all such requests be documented. Finally, the contractor (or project manager) sets the expectation that changes incur costs and schedule penalties. Once the contract with the client is signed, there must be a strategy in place to address anything requested that deviates from the original plan.

Scope Statement The scope of a homebuilding project can be very large. It consists of many layers including internal finishing, the roof and exterior walls, and the internal wiring and plumbing—to identify just a few key elements. When it comes time to document the scope details, it is easy for a project team to get lost in the weeds. What aids in preventing this and enables the project team to keep eyes focused on the big picture is to create a simple scope statement capturing the essence of what the project will deliver. What exactly is the scope statement? To make an analogy, consider the relationship between the United States Constitution and the complete body of federal laws. The constitution succinctly captures the essence of the legal framework of the United States. It is upon this foundation that the nearly infinite list of laws is built. If any given law is in dispute, the Supreme Court evaluates it in reference to the constitution. Likewise, when the project team is fleshing out the project scope—any disagreement between what should and should not be included can be resolved by referring back to the scope statement. Writing such a succinct statement that spells out the essence of what the project will (and will not) do is no simple exercise. It requires considerable thought, but once completed, it acts as a sort of internal compass for scope development and management. One suggested means for developing the simple scope statement is to hold a brainstorming session with the project team using a whiteboard. An assigned scribe can capture key elements of scope and constraints. Once the details are captured, then it is a matter of distilling the statement to a compact form with the use of some wordsmithing.

Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) The WBS is one of the most misunderstood of all elements of the project plan. Often the WBS is thought of as a task list, a to-do-list, or a schedule. In reality, the WBS is a structured outline of project deliverables. Since the WBS is the complete elaboration of project scope or what the project will deliver, each of the elements will be nouns. There are no verbs (i.e., activities), resources, milestones, schedules, or cost information in the WBS. Such information belongs in the project schedule rather than the WBS. Since project managers often use support software such as Microsoft Project or free packages such as Project Libre to develop a project schedule, it is often the case that the WBS is developed within the application. Such packages are designed for schedules rather than a WBS. It is therefore common to mix the WBS with the schedule and add things that only go into the schedule.

MGT 6305, Project Management 3

UNIT x STUDY GUIDE Title

The fact that the WBS should contain only nouns raises questions for new project managers. For example, it could be asked, “Why should a project be planned this way?” The idea behind the WBS and scope development in general is that it is important to focus first on the what prior to moving on to consider the when, who, how, and how much. The danger in combining all elements of planning into a single step is that it is easy to include unnecessary tasks in the schedule. The only tasks that belong in a project schedule are those designed to produce project deliverables. By strictly focusing on deliverables first and overlaying activities later, this problem may be avoided. It is often better to create the WBS first and then proceed to enter WBS elements into project software applications. A common way to create the WBS is to employ a graphical structure similar to an organization chart. An example of a simple, generic WBS for a home is presented below.

Simple Generic WBS for a Home

MGT 6305, Project Management 4

UNIT x STUDY GUIDE Title

Another way to create a WBS is to develop it in the form of an indented outline. This may be done in Excel and then imported into a project management software. Alternatively, the indented outline form may be entered directly into project software. The WBS will be correct as long as the outline is limited only to the indented deliverables. After populating project software with a WBS in outline form, then activities required to produce each deliverable may be inserted adjacent to a WBS element. This process is much easier to carry out in outline form than it is in the graphical view. The graphical sample of WBS for a home is recreated below in outline form.

0.0 Home 1.0 Roof 1.1 Underlayment 1.2 Shingles 1.3 Gutters 2.0 Exterior 2.1 Foundation 2.2 Frame 2.3 Windows/Doors 2.4 Siding 3.0 Interior 3.1 Floors 3.2 Walls 3.3 Trim 4.0 Furnishings 4.1 Light Fixtures 4.2 Appliances 4.3 Outlets 4.4 Kitchen 4.5 Bath 5.0 Land 5.1 Clearing 5.2 Utilities

Table 1: Outline Sample of WBS for a Home While this is an example of a correct WBS, it will lack sufficient detail for a real homebuilding project. For example, many elements may include additional sub-elements. Element 5.2 provides an example of this. Utilities will include water, power, sewer, cable, and more. All sub-elements of a scope will need to be fleshed out since a project WBS includes 100% of the project scope.

Quality Objectives: A Part of Project Scope

The level of performance or quality of project deliverables has implications for project scope. Generally speaking, the higher the level of performance, the greater the effort to produce. Additional work related to such effort equates to additional scope. It is for this reason that project quality is considered an element or subset of project scope. Quality is therefore usually considered in the project triple constraint or trade-off between scope, schedule, and budget. On the other hand, since it is the client who determines the overall level of quality for all elements of the triple constraint, it is not uncommon to think of quality as a fourth project constraint. Project quality will be presented in this way in many texts. Suggested Unit Resources In order to access the following resources, click the links below. Review the Chapter 5 PowerPoint Presentation to supplement the textbook reading and lesson content. You can also view a PDF version of the Chapter 5 presentation.