PRJ566: Project Planning and Management

Lecture 8: Managing Scope and the Project Initiation Document

Agenda

• The other half of the requirements for WP3

What is project scope?

•A definition of the boundaries of the project

Why is scope important?

•One of the biggest factors in project success

•Good scope definition = good client and IT understanding of what will be delivered and when

•Ensures you understand WHERE you are going, HOW you will get there and WHEN you will arrive

•This is where most projects start to fail!

When do you define scope?

•You define scope at the beginning of the project

•You manage and control scope throughout the life of the project

How do you define scope?

•You talk to your client! •You research and clarify •You document •You negotiate •YOU DO THESE THINGS AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN....

(Bad) Example:  

• Client: “Hmm…December 2003…Do you think you could deliver the reporting component by October?”

You: “Sure! No problem!”

NO NO NO NO NO!

(Good) Example:

• Client: “Hmm…December 2003…Do you think you could deliver the reporting component by October? You: “Let me look into it. I will get back to you with an answer by Friday.”

•You go and do some research...

You: “I have looked into delivering the reporting component early, by October 10th.

We can deliver Report A by October 10th, but our staff will be completely tied up with the main system until December 15th so we cannot deliver reports B and C until the original deadline. To give you B and C early we will have to pull people off of the main project at our busiest time which could make

our project late.”

Remember!

•Be SPECIFIC •Be REALISTIC--research!

Use Cases: Helping Define Scope

•You can start defining business and systems use cases right from your initial client interviews.

•This will help you develop a more accurate model of the system more quickly!

Themes To Guide Investigation

• What are business processes and operations?

• How should the business processes be performed?

• What are the information requirements?

Understand the Users’ Needs!

Use Cases: Helping Define Scope

•You can start defining business and systems use cases right from your initial client interviews.

•This will help you develop a more accurate model of the system more quickly!

Example

• You are developing a system to manage advertising campaigns. You are talking to your client.

 

 

• YOU: “You were telling me about idea notes. What do you mean by them?” CLIENT: “Well when we have an idea for a campaign we use WORD to create an idea note. We keep all the idea notes in one directory for the campaign but it’s hard for us to go back and find a specific one.” YOU: “Is this something you’d want the new system to do?” CLIENT: “Yes, we need to be able to enter an idea note and then find it again.” (THERE ARE TWO POSSIBLE USE CASES HERE! WHAT ARE THEY?)

 

 

• YOU: “Who would need to do this?” CLIENT: “Well any of the marketing staff that are on a campaign should be able to create notes.” YOU: “Only campaign staff? No one else?” CLIENT: “Yes--only campaign staff.” YOU: “What about finding them again--do you want to be able to change the notes or just view them?” CLIENT: “Oh, no, we should not be allowed to change them--that would be a new idea note.” YOU: “Who can retrieve and read the idea notes? Can anyone do this or only the campaign staff?” CLIENT: “Yes anyone…Well, actually only campaign staff and the rest of staff in marketing.” (WHO ARE THE ACTORS?)

A good Text Reference

•On pages 110-111 of your text you will find a good example of how to clarify information during an interview.

Use Case Technique

• System Use case diagram provides system overview

– Defines system scope as the actors represent the boundaries of the system

A good Text Reference

•On pages 110-111 of your text you will find a good example of how to clarify information during an interview.

PRACTICE

• Let’s start the Tutorial 8 by looking at a PID that is filled in

• example of a SPY web site• Now let’s fill in the scope

statement of the ISPY PID from the requirements and the use case diagram for ISPY

A good Text Reference

• Chapter 6 of your textbook deals with PID