■ Project scope statement
For example: How will be work to be done by the project be documented?
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■ Requirements documentation
For example: How are individual stakeholder requirements collected and recorded?
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■ Decomposition
For example: What is the tool used to break the project scope down into its component parts?
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■ Work breakdown structure (WBS)
For example: How is the total project scope represented graphically?
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■ Work breakdown structure dictionary (WBS dictionary)
For example: What document provides additional detail about the informa-tion contained in each node of the work breakdown structure?
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■ Scope baseline
For example: How is actual performance in relation to delivery of the project scope measured and evaluated to check for variance?
Scope management plan
The scope management plan, which is created during the plan scope management process, guides the project manager and project team members in all activities relating to defining the scope of the project, and describes how the scope will be monitored and controlled. As such, it is essential to have a scope management plan because it provides guidance on how the WBS is to be created. It includes informa-tion about the tools and techniques to be used to create and present the WBS, as well as how to make changes if necessary.
EXAM TIP The scope management plan is a subsidiary of the project management plan.
True or false? The scope management plan provides detail on the scope of the project and product.
Answer: False. The scope management plan provides guidance on how the scope of the project and product is collected; it does not provide any detail on the scope of the project or product.
Project scope statement
The WBS is a graphical representation of the scope statement, so you should have the scope statement available to create the WBS. The project scope statement contains a full description of all the work to be done on the project and includes a thorough description of any deliverables.
The decomposition of the WBS happens to only those parts of the scope state-ment that can be fully defined. If the project is subject to progressive elaboration or
rolling wave planning of the scope statement, the WBS reflects it and it is subject to progressive elaboration.
True or false? The project scope statement provides a full description of all the work to be done on the project, which includes work to produce the project deliver-ables and all other project-management-related work on the project.
Answer: True. Remember that the total project scope statement is broader than just a description of the deliverables to be produced by the project; it encompasses all the work to be done on the project.
EXAM TIP If you do not have a developed project scope statement, you cannot de-compose it to develop WBS, so you should always ensure that you have a project scope statement before attempting to create the WBS.
Requirements documentation
Having the requirements documentation available in addition to the project scope statement provides an additional level of detail to enable the project manager and project team members to double-check that they have captured all the work required to satisfy stakeholder requirements.
True or false? The requirements documentation provides details on individual stakeholders’ requirements for the entire project, not just deliverables.
Answer: True. Many stakeholders have requirements relating solely to the project deliverables, but there will be some stakeholders whose requirements relate to other work to be done as part of the project. For example, some stakeholders might have requirements about working hours or noise levels for the project.
Decomposition
Decomposition is the main tool to be used to develop the WBS because it takes the higher-level description of the project and breaks it down into deliverables, then into subdeliverables, and finally into work packages. Work packages are the level at which decomposition of the WBS stops. Beneath this level, there is little benefit to be gained for the WBS. Further decomposition of work packages to activity level does occur during the development of the project schedule.
The exact definition of a work package can differ depending on the project size and complexity, but it is generally defined at the level at which both cost and dura-tion can be reliably estimated and managed.
True or false? Decomposition for the creation of the WBS continues until a work package describes work that can reliably be estimated for both time and cost.
Answer: True. For the purposes of creating the WBS, it is necessary to decompose the project work down only to the work package level, which is the level at which both time and cost can reliably be estimated. This level will change depending on the complexity and size of the project.
EXAM TIP Remember that for the creation of the WBS, decomposition goes down to the work package level; for development of the project schedule, it goes down farther to the activity level. additionally, you should always ensure that you use the people responsible for the work to assist in the decomposition of the WBS because they know about the work to be done. By including them in this process, you create buy-in and commitment to the work. If you use the WBS as an estimating tool and you apportion cost or time from the highest level, you are using top-down estimating. If you instead assign individual cost or time estimates to the work package or activity level and then aggregate them upward, you are using bottom-up estimating.
WBS
The WBS is often called the backbone of a project because it acts as an input into many other planning processes. Without a complete and accurate WBS, your efforts in cost estimating, budget estimating, activity definition, risk identification, and scope validation (and all the subsequent processes into which they provide inputs) will be extremely difficult.
A project manager should always involve members of the project team in the creation of the WBS for two main reasons. First, they are the ones expected to complete the work, so their experience and knowledge of the work to be done will be extremely useful in defining the work with the WBS. The second reason is that by involving them in the definition of the WBS, a project manager can create buy-in and commitment from team members.
EXAM TIP If a question presents a scenario in which you discover that you do not have a WBS, the correct answer is always to stop work until you complete the WBS.
Figure 2-4 shows a WBS for a new house project showing the breakdown of dif-ferent work streams to the work package level. Note that all nodes in the WBS have a unique identifying number, as part of your project configuration management system, that enables you to track work being done and also to allocate costs to spe-cific work packages for better cost reporting. The numbering system should clearly identify each node and relate to the node above so you can easily see related nodes and the way they are decomposed.
FIGURE 2-4 WBS showing the total project, deliverables, subdeliverables, and work packages
True or false? Any work that is not part of the WBS is not part of the work to be done on the project.
Answer: True. Because the WBS is a graphical representation of the total project scope, work that is not part of the WBS is not part of the work to be done on the project.
EXAM TIP There are four breakdown structures that can be useful to the project manager: the WBS, the organizational breakdown structure, the resource breakdown structure, and the risk breakdown structure. all look the same graphically and use decomposition to break down a higher-level concept into its constituent parts.
MORE INFO You can find out more about the WBS by reading the Practice Standard for Work Breakdown Structures (Project Management Institute, 2nd edition, 2006).
NOTE Remember to include all the project management work that has to be done on the project, not just the work associated with the product, so you can accurately represent the time and cost associated with the entire project. It is also a great way to communicate all the work to be done on the project to stakeholders.