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Managing Scope

Effective Requirements Management

„ Team Skill 1 - Analyzing the problem

„ Team Skill 2 - Understanding user needs
„ Team Skill 3 - Defining the system
„ Team Skill 4 - Managing scope
„ Team Skill 5 - Refining the system definition
„ Team Skill 6 - Building the right system

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SWE 214 - Introduction to Software Engineering
 Managing Scope

„ The Problem of Project scope

„ Establishing Project Scope
„ Managing your customer

The Problem of Project Scope

„ What is project scope?

a combination of product functionality, project
resources, and the time available
„ In other words, project scope is a function of
The functionality that must be delivered to meet the
user’s needs
The resources available to the project
The time in which to achieve the implementation

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SWE 214 - Introduction to Software Engineering
 Components of Project Scope
resources

Project scope

e
functionality tim

Functionalities of Project Scope

„ The Functionalities of Project scope is classified into 2
parts:
Functional requirements – (data base, GUI, other business
rules)
Non-functional requirements – (performance, scalability,
reliability, security, etc.)
„ The features of a project are referred to both Functional
and Non-Functional requirements of the Project
„ The PM has to measure at the start of the project “what
is the amount of scope given to the development team
by the management and the customer?”

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SWE 214 - Introduction to Software Engineering
 A Few facts of Project Scope

„ Brooks law:
If the effort required to implement the system
features of the project is equal to the resources over
the time available, the project has an achievable
scope.
„ Adding labor to a late software project makes it
even later

Establishing Project Scope

„ How to establish project scope?

„ Listing a high level requirements baseline, an
itemized set of features intended to be delivered
„ Setting priorities of the features
„ Assessing a rough level of effort required for
each feature of the baseline
„ Estimating the risk for each feature, or
probability that implementing it will cause impact
on the schedule and the budget
„ Reducing the scope

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SWE 214 - Introduction to Software Engineering
 The Baseline Requirements

„ The baseline is the itemized set of features, or

requirements, intended to be delivered in a
specific version of the application
„ For example, let’s consider a shrink-wrapped
software product with a list of following features:
Feature 1: External relational data base support
Feature 2: Multi-user security
Feature 3: Compatibility with Adobe
Feature 4: Implementation of tool tips
Feature 5: Compatibility with Microsoft, Linux, Unix
Feature 6: Compatibility with IE and Netscape

Prioritization

„ Importance
1/3/5
High/ Medium/ Low
Critical/important/Useful
„ Risk
High/Medium/Low
„ Effort
High
Medium
Low

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SWE 214 - Introduction to Software Engineering
 Setting Priorities
„ The priority scale is mutually decided by the
development team and the customers
It may be sometimes decided by voting

Feature Priority
Feature 2 Critical
Feature 5 Critical

Feature 6 Critical

Feature 1 Important

Feature 3 Useful

Feature 4 Useful

Assessing Effort
„ The effort of each feature is decided by the development team
It may be sometimes decided by voting
It is based on the resources available (the experience of the
development team) over the time available

Feature Priority Effort

Feature 2 Critical Medium
Feature 5 Critical High

Feature 6 Critical Low

Feature 1 Important High

Feature 3 Useful Medium

Feature 4 Useful Low

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SWE 214 - Introduction to Software Engineering
 Adding the Risk Element
„ It is the probability that the implementation of a feature will cause an
adverse impact on the schedule and the budget
The development team establishes risk using the same low-medium-
high scale
„ There is often little correlation among priority, effort and risk

Feature Priority Effort Risk

Feature 2 Critical Medium Low
Feature 5 Critical High High
Feature 6 Critical Low Low
Feature 1 Important High Medium
Feature 3 Useful Medium Low
Feature 4 Useful Low Low

Reducing Scope
„ In projects, in order to provide a reasonable probability of success,
it will be necessary to reduce the scope by as much as a factor of
two
Feature Priority Effort Risk
Feature 2 Critical Medium Low
Feature 5 Critical High High
Feature 6 Critical Low Low

Baseline (Features above this line are committed features)

Feature Priority Effort Risk

Feature 1 Important High Medium
Feature 3 Useful Medium Low

Feature 4 Useful Low Low

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 A Thumb Rule for Baseline
„ A thumb rule to draw the baseline at the critical requirements
perhaps one or two important features

Feature Priority Effort Risk

Feature 2 Critical Medium Low
Feature 5 Critical High High
Feature 6 Critical Low Low
Feature 1 Important High Medium
Baseline (Features above this line are committed features)

Feature Priority Effort Risk

Feature 3 Useful Medium Low
Feature 4 Useful Low Low

Managing Your Customer

„ It is how the development team actively engage

the customers in managing their requirements
and their project scope to ensure both the
quality and the timeliness of the software
outcomes
„ Points to remember:
Customer who are a part of the process will own the
result
Getting the job done right means providing enough
functionality at the right time to meet the customer’s
real need

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 The Baselined Requirements

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SWE 214 - Introduction to Software Engineering