5th Edition PMBOK® Guide—Chapter 5: Process 5.6 Control Scope

Posted on March 16, 2013 by Jerome Rowley

This process is probably one of the most crucial when it comes to maintaining the scope baseline and only changing it when necessary. If the scope is expanded in an uncontrolled manner, this is called “scope creep” and something which the Project Management Institute wants project managers to avoid.

The following is a summary of the inputs, tools & techniques, and outputs of the 5.6 Control Scope process. The inputs have to do with the scope, change, configuration and requirements management plans, the only tool and technique used is that of variance analysis, and the outputs have to do with updates to the scope management-related plans and documents.

5.6 CONTROL SCOPE
INPUTS
1. Project Management Plan The following elements are inputs to the process:

  • Scope baseline—compared to actual results to determine if a change request is necessary
  • Scope management plan—describes how the project scope will be monitored and controlled
  • Change management plan—defines the process of managing change requests on a project
  • Configuration management plan—defines items that are configurable, those items that require formal change control, and the process for controlling changes to such items
  • Requirements management plan—describes how project requirements will be analyzed, documented, and managed
2. Requirements Documentation Well-documented requirements make it easier to detect any deviation in the scope agreed for the project or product.
3. Requirements traceability matrix Helps detect the impact of any change or deviation from the scope baseline.
4. Work performance data Number of change requests received, the number of change requests accepted, number of deliverables completed.
5.. OPAs
  • Scope-related policies, procedures, guidelines
  • Monitoring and reporting methods and templates
TOOLS & TECHNIQUES
1. Variance analysis Used to determine the cause and degree of difference between the baseline and actual performance.
OUTPUTS
1. Work performance information How the project scope is performing compared to the scope baseline.
2. Change requests Analysis of scope performance can result in a change request to the scope baseline, or a change such as defect repair, corrective action, or preventive action.
3. Project management plan updates
  • Scope baseline updates
  • Cost and schedule baseline updates
4. Project documents updates
  • Requirements documentation
  • Requirements traceability matrix
5. OPA updates
  • Causes of variance
  • Corrective actions taken
  • Lessons learned from scope control

This is the last process in the Scope Management Area.

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  1. Scope Creep: How It Happens And How You Can Prevent It | Clickup Blog, on July 12, 2018 at 2:22 am said:

    […] very official Project Management Body of Knowledge Guide says that scope creep is “when the scope is expanded in an uncontrolled […]

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