Chapter 4

Defining the Project

 Learning Objectives
 Identify key elements of a project scope statement
 Understand why it is important to establish project priorities
in terms of cost, time, and performance
 Demonstrate the importance of a work breakdown structure
(WBS)
 Create responsibility matrices for small projects
 Create a communication plan for a project
 Defining the Project

• Step 1: Defining the Project Scope

• Step 2: Establishing Project Priorities
• Step 3: Creating the Work Breakdown
Structure
• Step 4: Integrating the WBS with the
Organization
• Step 5: Coding the WBS for the Information
 Step 1: Defining the Project Scope
• Project Scope
• A definition of the end result or mission of the project—a
product or service for the client/customer—in specific,
tangible, and measurable terms.
• Purpose of the Scope Statement
• To clearly define the deliverable(s) for the end user.
• To focus the project on successful completion of its goals.
• To be used by the project owner and participants as a
planning tool and for measuring project success.
 Project Scope Checklist
1. Project objective
2. Product scope description
3. Justification
4. Deliverables
5. Milestones
6. Technical requirements
7. Limits and exclusions
8. Acceptance criteria (Reviews with
customer)
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1. Project objective: the first step of project scope
definition is to define the overall objective to meet
the customer's needs. The project objective
answers the questions of what, when, how much
and at times where.
2. Product scope description: detailed description
of the characteristics of the product, service. for
example, if the product is cell phone, its product
scope will be a screen size, battery, processor,
camera type and so on.
3. Justification: It is easily includes cost or benefit
analysis and strategic significance on a new
release project that the justification maybe and
expected ROI of 30%.

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1. Project objective: the first step of project scope
definition is to define the overall objective to meet
the customer's needs. The project objective
answers the questions of what, when, how much
and at times where.
2. Product scope description: detailed description
of the characteristics of the product, service. for
example, if the product is cell phone, its product
scope will be a screen size, battery, processor,
camera type and so on.
3. Justification: It is easily includes cost or benefit
analysis and strategic significance on a new
release project that the justification maybe and
expected ROI of 30%.

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4. Deliverables : it is the expected measurable output
over the life of the project. For example, deliverables in the
early design phase of the project might be a list of
specification. In the second phase Deliverable might be
software coding and Technical manual. The next phase
might be prototype. The final phase might be final test and
approve software.
5. Milestones: it represents first rocket is the mails of
time cost and resources of the project. for example, testing
complete and finished by July 1, 2023.
6. Technical requirements: It typically clarifies the
performance specifications. For example, in information
systems projects include the speed and capacity of
database systems and connectivity with alternative systems
.
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7. Limits and exclusions: the limits of scope
should be defined. Failure to do so can lead to false
Expectations and to expanding resources and time
on the wrong problem. for example, a house will be
built but no landscaping or security devices added.
8. Acceptance criteria (Reviews with
customer) : acceptance criteria are a set of
conditions that must be met before the deliverables
are accepted. for example, all tasks and milestones
are completed.

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Project Scope Checklist

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 Project Scope: Terms and Definitions
• Scope Statements
• Also called statements of work (SOW)
• detailed milestone schedule or risk analysis report .
• Project Charter
• Can contain an expanded version of scope statement
• A document authorizing the project manager to initiate and
lead the project.
• Project Creep
• The tendency for the project scope to expand over time due
to changing requirements, specifications, and priorities.
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 Step 2: Establishing Project Priorities
• Causes of Project Trade-offs
• Shifts in the relative importance of criterions related to cost,
time, and performance parameters
(Budget–Cost) (Schedule–Time) (Performance–Scope)

• Managing the Priorities of Project Trade-offs

• one technique that is useful to complete a parity matrix for the project which
criterion is constrained, which should be enhanced and which can be accepted.
• Constrain: a parameter is a fixed requirement.
• Enhance: optimizing a parameter over others.
• Accept: reducing (or not meeting) a parameter requirement.
Project Management Trade-offs
Project Priority Matrix
 Step 3: Creating the Work
Breakdown Structure

• Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

• An hierarchical outline (map) that identifies the
products and work elements involved in a project.
• Defines the relationship of the final deliverable (the
project) to its sub deliverables, and in turn, their
relationships to work packages.
Hierarchical
Breakdown
of the WBS
 How WBS Helps the Project Manager
• WBS
• Facilitates evaluation of cost, time, and technical
performance of the organization on a project.
• Provides management with information appropriate to
each organizational level.
• Helps in the development of the organization breakdown
structure (OBS) which assigns project responsibilities to
organizational units and individuals
• Helps manage plan, schedule, and budget.
• Defines communication channels and assists in
coordinating the various project elements.
Work Breakdown Structure
 Work Packages
• A work package is the lowest level of the WBS.
• It is output-oriented in that it:
• Defines work (what).

• Identifies time to complete a work package (how long)

• Identifies a time-phased budget to complete a work package (cost)

• Identifies resources needed to complete a work package (how much)

• Identifies a single person responsible for units of work (who)

• Identifies monitoring points (milestones) for measuring Progress (how

well).
 Step 4: Integrating the WBS
with the Organization
• Organizational Breakdown Structure (OBS)
• Depicts how the firm is organized to discharge its work
responsibility for a project.
• Provides a framework to summarize organization work unit
performance.

• Identifies organization units responsible for work packages.

• Tie the organizational unit to cost control accounts.

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 Project Roll-up
• Cost Account (project control point)
• The intersection of the WBS and the OBS that is a
budgetary control point for work packages.

• Used to provide a roll-up (summation) of costs incurred

over time by a work package across organization units and
levels, and by deliverables.
 Process Breakdown Structure
• The WBS is best suited for design and build projects that
have tangible outcomes such as an offshore mining facility
or a new car prototype.
• It is more difficult to apply WBS to less tangible, process-
oriented projects in which the final outcome is a product
of a series of steps or phases.
• for example, creating an extranet website or an internal
software database system.
• Process projects are driven by performance requirements,
not by plans/blueprints.

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Step 5: Coding the WBS
for the Information system
• The maximum usefulness of a WBS depends on a
coding system.
• The codes are used to define levels and elements in
the WBS, organisation elements, work packages,
budget and cost information.
• On larger projects, the WBS is further supported with
WBS dictionary that provides the work package level
(code), name, functional description which helps to
avoid scope creep.

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 Responsibility Matrices
• Responsibility Matrix (RM)
• Also called a linear responsibility chart.
• Summarizes the tasks to be accomplished and who is
responsible for what on the project.
• Lists project activities and participants.
• Clarifies critical interfaces between units and individuals
that need coordination.
• Provide a means for all participants to view their
responsibilities and agree on their assignments.
• Clarifies the extent or type of authority that can be
exercised by each participant.
Responsibility Matrix for a Market Research
Project
Responsibility Matrix for the Conveyor Belt
Project

Figure 4.8 is an RM for a larger, more complex project to develop a

new piece of automated equipment. Notice that within each cell a
numeric coding scheme is used to define the nature of involvement on
that specific task.
 Project Communication Plan
• The communication plan is usually created by the project
manager and/or the project team in the early stage of project
planning.
• Project communication plans address the
following core questions: ∙
• What information needs to be collected and
when? ∙ Who will receive the information?
• What methods will be used to gather and store
information? ∙
• What are the limits, if any, on who has access to
certain kinds of information? ∙
• When will the information be communicated? ∙
• How will it be communicated?
• Developing a communication plan that answers
these questions usually entails the following basic
steps:
• 1. Stakeholder analysis. Identify the target groups.
Typical groups could be the customer, sponsor,
project team, project office, or anyone who needs
project information to make decisions and/or
contribute to project progress.
• 2. Information needs. Frequent information needs
found in communication plans are: Project status
reports Deliverable issues Changes in scope Team
status meetings Gating decisions Accepted request
changes Action items Milestone reports.

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• 3. Sources of information. information relating to
the milestone report, team meetings, and project
status meetings would be found in the minutes and
reports of various groups.
• 4.Dissemination modes. In today’s world,
traditional status report meetings are being
supplemented by e-mail, teleconferencing,
SharePoint, and a variety of database sharing
programs to circulate information.
• 5. Responsibility and timing. the responsibility lies
with the project manager or project office.

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 Manchester United Soccer Club
Nicolette Larson was loading the dishwasher with her husband, Kevin,
and telling him about the first meeting of the Manchester United
Tournament Organizing Committee. Nicolette, a self-confessed “soccer
mom,” had been elected tournament director and was responsible for
organizing the club’s first summer tournament.
Manchester United Soccer Club (MUSC), located in Manchester, New
Hampshire, was formed in 1992 as a way of bringing recreational players
to a higher level of competition and preparing them for the State Olympic
Development Program and/or high school teams. The club currently has
24 boys and girls (ranging in age from under 9 to 16) on teams affiliated
with the New Hampshire Soccer Association and the Granite State Girls
Soccer League. The club’s board of directors decided in the fall to sponsor
a summer invitational soccer tournament to generate revenue. Given the
boom in youth soccer, hosting summer tournaments has become a
popular method for raising funds. MUSC teams regularly compete in three
to four tournaments each summer at different locales in New England.
These tournaments have been reported to generate between $50,000 and
$70,000 for the host club. 34
MUSC needs additional revenue to refurbish and expand the number
of soccer fields at the Rock Rimmon soccer complex. Funds would
also be used to augment the club’s scholarship program, which
provides financial aid to players who cannot afford the $450 annual
club dues.
Nicolette gave her husband a blow-by-blow account of what
transpired during the first tournament committee meeting that night.
She started the meeting by having everyone introduce themselves
and by proclaiming how excited she was that the club was going to
sponsor its own tournament. She then suggested that the committee
brainstorm what needed to be done to pull off the event; she would
record their ideas on a flipchart.
What emerged was a free-for-all of ideas and suggestions. One
member immediately stressed the importance of having qualified
referees and spent several minutes describing in detail how his son’s
team was robbed in a poorly officiated championship game. This was
followed by other stories of injustice on the soccer field. Another
member suggested that they needed to quickly contact the local
colleges to see if they could use their fields. 35
The committee spent more than 30 minutes talking about how they
should screen teams and how much they should charge as an entry
fee. An argument broke out over whether they should reward the
winning teams in each age bracket with medals or trophies. Many
members felt that medals were too cheap, while others thought the
trophies would be too expensive.
Someone suggested that they seek local Chapter 4 Defining the
Project 125 126 Chapter 4 Defining the Project corporate sponsors to
help fund the tournament. The proposed sale of tournament T-shirts
and sweatshirts was followed by a general critique of the different
shirts parents had acquired at different tournaments. One member
advocated that they recruit an artist he knew to develop a unique
silk-screen design for the tournament. The meeting adjourned 30
minutes late with only half of the members remaining until the end.
Nicolette drove home with seven sheets of ideas and a headache.

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As Kevin poured a glass of water for the two aspirin Nicolette was about
to take, he tried to comfort her by saying that organizing this tournament
would be a big project not unlike the projects he worked on at his
engineering and design firm. He offered to sit down with her the next
night and help her plan the project. He suggested that the first thing they
needed to do was to develop a WBS for the project.
• 1. Make a list of the major deliverables for the project and use them to
develop a draft of the work breakdown structure for the tournament
that contains at least three levels of detail. What are the major
deliverables associated with hosting an event such as a soccer
tournament?
• 2. How would developing a WBS alleviate some of the problems that
occurred during the first meeting and help Nicolette organize and plan
the project?
• 3. Where can Nicolette find additional information to help her develop
a WBS for the tournament?
• 4. How could Nicolette and her task force use the WBS to generate cost
estimates for the tournament? Why would this be useful information?
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