10 Managing Scope and

chapter

Configuration
Hemanta Doloi

Projects are strategic tools of organizations which help them to achieve their business
goals and objectives (Chapter 3). Projects provide different deliverables including
products, services, knowledge and so on. Project deliverables create business changes
and these business changes help organizations achieve their goals (Chapter, 2, Turner,
2009). In the context of developing a project scope management plan, project scope
must include all the activities and only activities that should be performed to provide the
deliverables. However, an important issue in scope delivery is how to align business goals
and objectives with the project activities. Lack of effective scope management will lead
to different issues such as unsatisfied customers and potentially contribute significantly
to the failure of the project. Thus, project managers need a comprehensive approach in
scope management.

Scope Definition Chain and Errors

Projects are defined when organizations need to align themselves with some necessary
changes in business environment. These changes are required because of new opportunities,
problems, threats or legislation compliances (Chapter 2, Turner, 2009). On the basis
of business changes, mission, vision and finally goals and objectives of organizations
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may need to be revised. In order to meet organizational goals and underlying business
objectives, a project should be defined with a clear goal and objective. The vital point is
thus the alignment between business and project goals and objectives. Figure 10.1 shows
the scope chain encompassing the business environment and project environment in the
scope management context.
This figure illustrates that projects need a sequential top down evaluation to identify
the precise and accurate scope. Using the scope chain helps the project team to harmonize
all of the project efforts with the business goals and objectives. Scope definition based on
the scope chain diagram will be described later in this chapter.

Scope Identification Errors

In the scope chain process, some errors can potentially occur due to lack of accurate scope
definition. These errors can be categorized in five types as depicted in Figure 10.2.

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Figure 10.1 Scope definition chain diagram

Error Type 1: Inconsistency between business and project goals and objectives

Error Type 2: Inconsistency between project goals and objectives and project scope
statement

Error Type 3: Inconsistency between project scope statement and project Work
Breakdown Structure (WBS)/deliverables
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Error Type 4: Inconsistency between project WBS/deliverables and work packages

Error Type 5: Inconsistency between project work packages and activities

In order to mitigate these errors, the project manager must orchestrate the project
team and other stakeholders so that inconsistency in different levels is prevented. There
are two important points to be considered in mitigating the scope errors:

1. Impact of upper errors will be more than the lower levels. For example, if there is not a
complete alignment between business and project objectives, the project scope, time
and cost will be affected significantly. In the instance of project goals and objectives
being unclear, project scope statement, WBS, Work packages and activities will not be
comprehensive consequently.

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2. Secondly, any error in the upper levels will affect on the lower ones. In other words,
if Error Type 2 occurs, there is a definite chance that Error Types 3, 4 and 5 will occur
as well. For example, when a project does not have an accurate and comprehensive
WBS and it does not cover project goals and objectives in entirety, consequently work
packages will be deficient too. Therefore, it is important to prepare a clear scope chain
from business goals and objectives to project activities.

Progressive Elaboration

As projects create unique products or services at different times, the projects are new
experiences. Although almost always there are some similar experiences, by taking into
consideration of the time and location of projects, there is not any similarity between
two projects in their entirety. This characteristic of a project creates some impact on
project behavior. There are always unknown unknowns in every project and often there
is a tendency that projects can be planned without considering them. During the project
life-cycle, these unknowns are transformed to known items. Therefore project scope and
consequently time, cost and other relevant plans should be revised based on them. In the
project environment this phenomenon is called progressive elaboration. It means that
during project life-cycle more detailed information about the project is being identified.
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Figure 10.2 Scope definition errors

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Scpe Creep

Changes are an unavoidable part of any project. It is not possible to prevent changes.
Some changes are positive for projects and without them, project goals and objectives
cannot be achieved. However, it is important to prevent uncontrolled changes in the
project especially in project scope. Scope creep is an uncontrolled change in the project
scope and it is the project manager’s responsibility to prevent the scope creep.

Scpe Management Scope

Referring to the scope chain diagram in Figure 10.1, there are seven important stages in
defining an accurate, comprehensive, unambiguous scope. However, it is worth noting
that this chain is not only the responsibility of scope management but must be managed
in conjunction with the other core knowledge areas as well. Defining comprehensive
scope management is possible when corporate management, integration management,
scope management and time management work closely and are completely harmonized.
Figure 10.3 illustrates the responsibilities of each one in the scope chain diagram.
From Figure 10.3, we can see a clear relationship between corporate, integration,
scope and time management in order to prepare a precise scope. The integration between
these areas is created based on clear deliverables, Figure 10.4.
One of the key inputs to the integration management is the availability of the business
goals and objectives. The process and functionalities within integration management
results in the project charter. The project charter is the major inputs of scope management.
Scope management (as it will be discussed later) evaluates the project charter and defines
project scope with detailed information. The major scope management outputs are project
scope statement and WBS. Finally time management based on scope management inputs
provides project activities.
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Figure 10.3 Relationship between scope management and other core

knowledge areas in scope definition chain

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Figure 10.4 Approach to prepare an accurate and comprehensive scope

Current Best Practices

Among many available standards in the project management area, the two major standards
are the Project Management Institute’s Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK)
(Project Management Institute, 2013) and PRINCE2 (Office of Government Commerce,
2009). In fact, most of the location specific standards have been derived from these two
key standards across the countries and thus the current review of the best practice is
limited to these two key sources in the context of scope management.

PMBOK

The PMBOK contains five process groups and nine knowledge areas. Scope management is
one of the knowledge areas within the nine key knowledge areas of project management.
It considers five key processes in order to managing project scope as discussed below.
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1. Collect requirement: Stakeholders are the primary source of identifying project

requirements (Chapter 9). These requirements are derived from business goals and
objectives. In this process, detailed information about project requirements is sought
and analyzed with respect to the underlying project objectives.
2. Define scope: Based on the gathered information, project scope should be defined
in a detailed manner. The description of the scope of the project within the scope
definition document is known as the scope statement. The scope statement should
include detailed information about project deliverables and its products.
3. Create WBS: In order to provide a clear structure for the project, the project should be
broken into more manageable components. The most appropriate way to provide this
structure is preparing WBS (Project Management Institute, 2006).
4. Verify scope: After identifying detailed information about the project scope including
the project scope statement and WBS, project execution is started to provide project

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deliverables. After completing each deliverable, it should be formally verified that the
project customer or sponsor are satisfied with completed deliverables.
5. Control scope: Changes are the inseparable parts of any projects. Any change in the
project will have a clear impact on project scope, time and cost. Control scope is
one of the key elements to manage any change on project scope during the project
life-cycle.

In addition to managing scope changes, control scope evaluates the project status
during the project in comparison with scope base line. The control scope processes are
the key elements in the context of scope creep prevention.

PRINCE2

Unlike the PMBOK, the PRINCE2 (Office of Government Commerce, 2009) does not have
a separate part that directly refers to scope management, but it has a clear approach to
scope management, which is distributed into plans and quality themes. PRINCE2 consists
of Principals, Themes and Processes. Furthermore, ‘Product focus’ is a PRINCE2 principal
that states that project scope should be defined based on products. In fact, PRINCE2 uses
a technique in planning called ‘Product based planning’.
In PRINCE2, following are the key processes used to define the project scope:

1. Write the Project Product Description: The Project Product Description describes the
major project products and customer quality expectation and acceptance criteria.
2. Create the product break down structure: Based on the products that were identified
in the Project Product Description, product breakdown structure is created. Product
breakdown structure is a specific type of WBS that breaks down project scope on the
basis of its products.
3. Write the Product Descriptions: For each of the identified products in the Project Product
Description, a document should be prepared which provides detailed information
about them. In other words, project scope detail is provided in this stage.
4. Managing product delivery: After providing a detailed definition on project scope,
project execution starts and the deliverables are produced in the ‘Managing product
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delivery’. At the same time ‘Controlling a stage’ reviews work package status and
controls the project progress in terms of time, cost and scope management. This
process prevents scope creep.
5. Managing a stage boundary: ‘Managing a stage boundary’ may be a most significant part
of PRINCE2 and it relates to the progressive elaboration. As stated before, progressive
elaboration is an important concept in scope management. In the PRINCE2 model,
at the end of each stage, different aspects of the project including business aspect and
scope are evaluated and updated again. At this point, new findings can be added to
the project scope by considering business, financial and social impacts. Therefore, the
project manager should be mindful about the progressive elaboration issue.

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Scope Management Process

The scope management process is usually launched after receiving a clear project
charter from integration management. Figure 10.5 depicts the general process of scope
management.

Figure 10.5 Scope management process

As seen, the scope management process consists of five major parts:

• Define scope;
• Create WBS;
• Verify scope;
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• Review scope;
• Control scope.

Define Scope

Define Scope is the first step in scope management. The main responsibility of scope
management is producing a comprehensive statement about the project, based on the
project charter. In the project charter the majority of information is of high level including
high level definition, requirements and goals and objectives. They are neither measurable
nor tangible. Scope definition should define the project as Measurable Deliverables and
Products specifically (Turner, 2009).

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An effective solution for scope clarification is defining project scope as a set of

products. If a project is defined as a set of products, project scope will entail product
descriptions. If for each product, detailed and clear information including product
purpose, product elements and quality and acceptance criteria is provided, project scope
will be clarified as well. This approach, defining scope based on the products, is called
product based planning and is a suitable approach for project scope definition. Designing
a product break down structure is a helpful approach in illustrating products and their
relationship. After defining different products, provided information will be documented
in the project scope statement. The project scope statement includes detailed information
about the underlying scope of the project such as:

• Project description
• Project products structure
• Product detailed information
• Project assumptions and constraints
• Project exclusions

Project exclusions can be helpful especially in projects where scope is not clear.
Referring to Figure 10.2, there are usually two major errors that should be managed
by scope definition. Error Type 2 is created when the defined project scope statement
does not cover all of the project goals and objectives that are defined in the project
charter. Usually, a project benefits map (Chapter 8) helps to prevent this error type quite
effectively. By using a project benefits map, each project’s goals and objectives can be
assigned to project products. This helps to firstly, analyze whether or not there is a clear
product or products for each of project goals and objectives and secondly, answering to
the question ‘do all of the products relate to one or more project goals and objectives’?
Figure 10.6 gives an example of a project benefits map for a typical combat planning
project.
As seen, the project objectives are clearly mapped with the underlying change
processes and the final products. This process clearly helps to avoid any usual errors in
the scope statement definition process.

Create the WBS

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Although the scope statement includes detailed information about project scope,
further planning needs a suitable scope structure. Project management needs accurate
estimation of cost and time. The most appropriate approach is dividing project scope
into more manageable, measurable and time bounded components. A WBS is one of
the best approaches. It helps the project team provide detailed information about works
that should be done in the project with a clear exposition of what is included and not
included in the project.
Furthermore, the schematic structure of the WBS is the unified and perceptible model
between project team, suppliers and customer. The WBS is an appropriate tool that
facilitates any debates on project scope among the major project stakeholders.
There are different approaches in defining the WBS. Some of the common approaches
are:

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Drivers Business Project Project

(Problems,
Objectives Changes
opportunities) Objectives Products

Analyzing the new

Increased availability
Limitation in moving needs to improve the
of helicopter in the
troop and munitions Provide enough efficiency and
special operation
to support special capacity for special effectiveness of New health and
(45%)
operations (45%) operations to support helicopters usage monitoring
army as quickly as and communication
possible (45%) Improved defensive system
Risk of carrying the Implement strategies
systems (5%)
fuel in the to improve defensive
helicopters (10%) Reduce the systems
possibility of
Meet the safety New unique cockpit
unforeseen system
Lack of enough requirement Implement strategies display system
and safety problems
capability to work in during flight (10%) certificated (5%) to improve safety and
the low light operational
condition (10%) Align characteristics
Align characteristics requirements
of
of helicopters with
helicopters with Meet the longstanding
typical climate
typical climate requirement (20%) Establish the new
Inability to New larger fuel tanks
conditions of
conditions of
contract with clear
overcome climate Afghanistan (20%)
Afghanistan (20%) schedule and
risks (10%)
Meet the acceptance criteria
Improve efficiency airworthiness standard
Inability to meet and safety to achieve for legislation and
emerging legislation needed standards operational Increasing the number
and standards (25%) (25%) requirement (25%) of flight capacity
helicopters

Figure 10.6 Example of a project benefits map

• Phased-based WBS;
• Deliverable-based WBS;
• Geographical WBS;
• Technical process-based WBS.

There is a golden rule in preparing a WBS which is usually called Rule 100%. This
Rule states that Project WBS should cover 100% of the works included in the project. This
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rule is related to Error Type 3 in Figure 10.2. It means that all of the project deliverables
identified in the project scope statement and contract should be covered in the WBS. An
example of a WBS from a software development project is shown in Figure 10.7.
The lowest level of WBS is called the Work Package. Work Packages are the measurable
components in the WBS and they can be estimated with reasonable accuracy. This means
that they can be scheduled and their cost can be estimated. Work packages are further
broken down into project activities in the time management module. An important
point in designing a WBS is the consideration of the appropriate level of scope and
required effort details. The level of information that the project needs to know about
each deliverable is detailed in the WBS. The project manager and the project team are
usually responsible for identifying an appropriate scope and level of detail in the context
of developing the WBS in the project. Figure 10.8 illustrates the scope and concept of
details in the development of the WBS.

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Customer
Relationship
Management
Software Project

.
Requirement
Requirement Software Design Implementation Testing
Testing
Analysis
Analysis

Database Application Interfaces Module A Module B Technical Test User acceptance

Stakeholder
Stakeholder Software
Software Technical
Technical test
requirement
requirement requirement
requirement requirement
requirement

Database Application Integration

Figure 10.7 Example of a WBS from a software development project

 M a n a g i n g S c o p e a n d C o n f i g u r a t i o n 171

Figure 10.8 WBS scope and detail

As part of the scope management plan and developing the WBS, the project should
be divided into smaller components in the WBS hierarchy until the work packages can be
defined with the following information:

• Required effort and materials;

• Clear, technical, agreed-upon specifications;
• Quality requirements;
• Acceptance criteria;
• Verification procedure;
• Related milestones.

The above information for all the work packages is then aggregated into the scope
plan. A sample template for developing a scope definition plan is shown in the Appendix.
After providing a comprehensive WBS with adequate scope and necessary details, the
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scope baseline is then established capturing a clear project scope statement, WBS and the
scope plan. The scope baseline is a reference for further scope monitoring and control.
Scope baseline is the best reference for project manager, project team, customer and other
stakeholders to evaluate whether a product, component or functionality is included in
project scope or not.

Verify Scope

Based on the prepared comprehensive scope statement and WBS, project activities are
defined in project time management. When project deliverables are completed, the
project team should evaluate the deliverables and obtain customer acceptance. At this
stage, the project team should compare the characteristics and functionality of the
deliverables in comparison with the contract, scope statement and other documents that
describe deliverables.

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Review Scope

As stated above, progressive elaboration is an important issue in the project. Managing

progressive elaboration needs an iterative process in scope definition. It means that after
specific points throughout the project life-cycle, the project team should evaluate the
scope definition chain. Once a new component including product, functionality and/or
serviceability is found necessary in the project scope, the project scope document should
be updated. The new component should however be accepted by the change control
board before finalization. The review scope can be done at any time but a review at the
end of each project phase or stage is effective and efficient.

Control Scope

Control Scope has three main responsibilities:

Prevent Error Types 2, 3 and 4

As shown in Figure 10.2, there are five major errors in the Scope Definition chain. Three of
them, Error Types 2, 3 and 4, are under the control of Scope Management. Scope control
always oversees the alignment and consistency between project goals and objectives,
scope statement and the project WBS. On the other hand, scope control ensures that all
the works stated in the project scope statement are covered by the WBS and get delivered
so that the project goals and objectives are met.

Manage Scope Changes and Prevent Scope Creep

Scope Creep is a large issue in project management and control scope thus ensures
that project scope is not changed without following agreed upon processes for change
management throughout the project life-cycle.
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Compare Carried Out Works With Project Baseline

Responsibility for scope control concentrates on integrating accurate scope definition

with the scope baseline. When scope control makes certain the definition of scope is clear,
it increases the accuracy of the project team’s implementation based on an accurate scope
baseline. The key significance of controlling scope is thus to ensure project activities are
carried out accurately and the final products are produced in accordance with the scope
baseline.

Managing Scope Configuration

A project produces new assets or products. These assets should be managed during the
project life-cycle. Each project asset that should be delivered on the basis of the scope

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baseline is called a configuration item (CI). CIs have two major relationships, internal
and external. This means that the project team should consider the relationship between
project products (CIs) in relation to the external items, potentially needed to be integrated
with the end product after project completion.
For example, consider an IT project delivering project management software that
includes different modules including WBS creation, schedule management, cost
management and so on. This software will install in the ‘X Company’ that has other
systems such as human resource management, asset management and financial
management. Therefore the final project product (project management software) will be
added to the existing systems. Figure 10.9 illustrates the relational links between various
levels of CIs.
Figure 10.9 shows three main relationships between project CIs and the CIs of
other units within the organization. The project technical team should consider these
relationships during the design and implementation of the project and the project
manager should monitor the underlying efforts associated with the CIs. In addition to the
external relationships, different project CIs may be logically or physically related to each
other. The project technical team should take into account these relationships as well.
Configuration management is responsible for identifying CIs and controlling their
status during project execution and finally verifying them when they are delivered. The
configuration management process is quite similar to the scope management process
and should be conducted in parallel. Configuration management is more technical while
scope management concentrates on the management aspect. Therefore, providing a clear
relationship between scope and configuration management is an appropriate approach
to create a closed and effective relationship between management and technical team.
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Figure 10.9 Relationship between project CIs and existing CIs

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Figure 10.10 Configuration management and its relationship with the scope
    management process

Figure 10.10 illustrates the configuration management process and its relationship with
scope management.
The configuration management process includes four major activities.

Identifying Configurations

At this stage, CIs that are included in the project scope should be identified. Figure 10.10
suggests that this activity should be carried out at the same time as the define scope
process. It means that when the project team defines project scope, project products or
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deliverables, the configuration management team should identify the CIs that are related
to those products or deliverables.

Create a Configuration Management Database

After identifying the project CI, information about them that is needed by the project team
should be identified and recorded. Different information can be recorded for different
CIs. The document containing configuration information is called the Configuration
Management Database (CMDB). Although the CMDB is almost similar to the WBS, there
are three major differences between them. Firstly, the CMBD only includes the final
project products and their components, while the WBS can include different components
including project phasing, geographical locations, planning, control and so on. Secondly,
the CMDB generally includes the technical and logical relationship between different
CIs (products or their components). Thirdly, the CMDB includes a more detailed level of

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information about project products than the WBS. Figure 10.10 suggests that the CMDB
should be developed at the same time as WBS.

Control Configurations

The aim of this activity is to ensure that no CI can be added, deleted or changed without
clear change management procedure. The nature of control configurations is similar to
control scope.

Verify Configurations

When CIs are provided completely, their functionality should be evaluated in comparison
with the information that is recorded in the CMDB. This evaluation should be carried out
within the verify scope process.

Scope Management Using a Life-Cycle Project Management

Model
Life-cycle management refers to the management of systems, products or projects
throughout their useful economical lives ( Doloi, 2008). Projects pass through a succession
of phases throughout their lives, each with their own characteristics and requiring
different types of management. Project life-cycle usually is a part of the product life-
cycle. The product life-cycle has a broader view than the project life-cycle and effective
management of project life-cycle is highly significant in meeting target objectives over
product life-cycle. Different stages of project life-cycle with respect to product life-cycle
are shown in Figure 10.11.
Scope management based on a Life-cycle Project Management (LCPM) perspective can
be highly effective. The LCPM allows identification of the project scope encompassing
evaluation of opportunities or problems from a very early stage of project creation. It then
defines the required functionalities that should be delivered by the project. Based on the
identified functionalities, a feasible study is carried out in order to identify the required
project scope. A comprehensive and precise feasible study should include financial,
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economical and social analysis as well. At this stage, the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
and Value for Money (VFM) are calculated for objective considerations. The TCO not
only evaluates the cost of project implementation but also considers the operation and
maintenance cost after project closure when products are ready to use. It describes how
much money the project sponsors will earn if they implement the project based on the
identified scope. Thus they can objectively decide whether to initiate the project or not.
LCPM is a powerful approach in scope management because it defines the scope in
the early stage of the product life-cycle and controls any change in scope, cost or time
during the project and product. Considering the fact that changes are inevitable during
projects and they can have different impact on projects, providing a precise approach to
evaluate their impacts on project TCO is a critical success factor over project life-cycle.
Within the LCPM model, process simulation capability empowers accurate definition of
project scope on the basis of required functionality and operability of the project facility
over the product life-cycle. Simulation is a reliable way to evaluate different alternatives

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 176 G o w e r H a n d b o o k o f P r o j e c t M a n a g e m e n t

Figure 10.11 Product and project life-cycle

affecting the project scope and making decisions on optimal scope definition. Simulation
can help project sponsors to evaluate benefits of any changes in project scope such as
adding a new function and making decisions whether requested change is worthwhile
or not.
In large projects, changes can be proposed by different stakeholders. These changes
may have negative and positive impacts on project objectives. Identifying the precise
impact is not easy in large projects. Simulation increases the accuracy of estimation
significantly and provides a robust input for the project sponsor to decide about changes
during the project life-cycle. Using simulation within the LCPM model has major benefits:

• Map project objectives to business objectives;

Copyright © 2014. Taylor & Francis Group. All rights reserved.

• Evaluate and identify the functionality and operability of product life-cycle before
deciding on project scope;
• Provide precise information for calculating TCO and VFM; and
• Managing scope changes effectively by considering TCO and VFM.

The use of process simulation within the LCPM model is shown in Figure 10.12.

Concluding Remarks
In summary, scope management is one of the key knowledge areas within the project
management context. Understanding the project scope requirement from the long
term business objectives and accurate scope definition at the outset of scope planning
is crucial in achieving success over both project and product life-cycle. The introduction

Turner, Rodney. Gower Handbook of Project Management, Taylor & Francis Group, 2014. ProQuest Ebook Central,
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 M a n a g i n g S c o p e a n d C o n f i g u r a t i o n 177

Figure 10.12 Managing project scope using simulation

of the LCPM model for optimal scope evaluation and definition is clearly a significant
enhancement in project scope management within the current scientific domain.

Acknowledgement
Copyright © 2014. Taylor & Francis Group. All rights reserved.

The author wishes to acknowledge the contribution of Mr. Iman Baradari for his help as
research assistant in preparing this chapter.

References and Further Reading

Doloi, H., 2008, Life Cycle Project Management: A Systems Based Approach to Managing Complex Projects,
Saarbrucken, Germany: VDM Verlag.
Office of Government Commerce, 2009, Managing Successful Projects with PRINCE2, 5th edition,
London: The Stationary Office.
Project Management Institute, 2006, Practise Standard for Work Breakdown Structure, Newtown Square,
PA: Project Management Institute.

Turner, Rodney. Gower Handbook of Project Management, Taylor & Francis Group, 2014. ProQuest Ebook Central,
http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/usyd/detail.action?docID=1643845.
Created from usyd on 2023-05-15 13:02:01.
 178 G o w e r H a n d b o o k o f P r o j e c t M a n a g e m e n t

Project Management Institute, 2013, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, 5th
edition, Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute.
Turner, J.R., 2009, The Handbook of Project Based Management, 3rd edition, New York: McGraw-Hill.

Appendix

Figure 10.13 Scope plan template

Copyright © 2014. Taylor & Francis Group. All rights reserved.

Turner, Rodney. Gower Handbook of Project Management, Taylor & Francis Group, 2014. ProQuest Ebook Central,
http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/usyd/detail.action?docID=1643845.
Created from usyd on 2023-05-15 13:02:01.