Main content

Effective Scope Management for Project Managers

The genesis of most failed projects can be traced back to a poorly defined scope statement—the foundational building block providing stakeholders with a common understanding of the project’s content and output. Poorly defined scopes result in harmful impacts to the schedule, resource requirements, cost estimates, and project quality. To counter this -- and to prevent scope creep, cost overruns and missing schedule deadlines -- scope management processes and procedures must be well-defined and implemented.

Participants will learn effective scope management techniques: defining the requirements to drafting the initial statement, building the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), and development and management of the Statement of Work (SOW). Students will also learn the importance of managing and tracking scope changes as well as the impact of changes on the project’s cost and schedule.

It is highly recommended that students complete this course after Introduction to Project Management and before Scheduling Concepts for Project Managers. It is also recommended that students complete this course prior to Foundations in Cost Management for Project Managers.

After completing this course, participants will be able to:

  • Describe the project manager’s role in managing the scope
  • Define the project requirements, and develop a clear and concise scope statement
  • Develop a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) and a Statement of Work (SOW)
  • Explain the importance of establishing a baseline scope
  • Define the change control process and how to apply it
  • Describe how to maintain an audit trail for all proposed and approved changes
  • Describe deliverable acceptance process

    • Course Content


    Lesson 1. Foundations of Scope Management

  • Define and distinguish scope management, a scope statement, a project charter and a statement of work
  • Define processes, procedures and framework to define project scope, measure outcomes and control scope throughout the project
  • Define the Scope Management Plan
  • Define the project manager’s role in managing scope

    • Lesson 2. Define Scope Statement
  • Identify requirements needed at all stages of a project organization and project communication channels
  • Recognize the different types of requirements
  • Create the project scope statement

    • Lesson 3. Create WBS
  • Defining the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
  • Guidelines for creating the WBS
  • Tools for developing the WBS
  • WBS Exercise

    • Lesson 4. Develop the Statement of Work (SOW)
  • Defining the SOW
  • Benefits of the SOW
  • Types of SOW’s
  • Role of the SOW in the contract
  • Guidelines for developing the SOW

    • Lesson 5. Managing Change to the Scope
  • Defining change control
  • Sources of change
  • Structure and format of the change management plan
  • Evaluating change requests (e.g. decision matrix)
  • Developing the audit trail for project changes
  • Update the project management plan