Project Scope Management

Study Hints

The Project Scope Management questions on the PMP® certification exam cover a diverse, yet fundamental, set of project management topics. Planning scope management activities, collecting requirements, defining requirements with a scope statement, creating the WBS, validating the scope with accepted deliverables, and managing scope changes are among the topics covered.

PMI® views scope management as a six-step processes that consists of: plan scope management, collect requirements, define scope, create WBS, validate scope, and control scope. PMBOK® Guide Figure 5-1 provides an overview of the structure of Project Scope Management. Know this chart thoroughly.

The Project Scope Management questions on the exam are straightforward. Historically, most people have found these questions to be relatively easy; however, do not be lulled into a false sense of security by past results. These questions cover a wide breadth of material, and you must be familiar with the terminology and perspectives adopted by PMI®.

You also may wish to consult PMI®’s Practice Standard for Work Breakdown Structures—Second Edition (2006) for additional information.

Following is a list of the major Project Scope Management topics. Use it to help focus your study efforts on the areas most likely to appear on the exam.

Major Topics

Plan Scope Management

• Preparing a scope management plan
• Preparing a requirements management plan

Collect requirements

• Tools and techniques
• Requirements documentation
• Requirements traceability matrix

Define scope

• Product analysis
• Alternatives analysis
• Facilitated workshops
• Project scope statement

Create WBS

• Benefits
• Uses
• Development/decomposition
• WBS dictionary
• Scope baseline

Validate scope

• Inspection
• Group decision-making techniques
• Accepted deliverables
• Change requests
• Work performance information

Control scope

• Variance analysis
• Work performance information
• Updates to the project management plan and to the project documents

Practice Questions

INSTRUCTIONS: Note the most suitable answer for each multiple-choice question in the appropriate space on the answer sheet.

1. Progressive elaboration of product characteristics on your project must be coordinated carefully with the—
   1. Proper project scope definition
   2. Project stakeholders
   3. Scope change control system
   4. Customer’s strategic plan
2. You are examining multiple scope change requests on a project you were asked to take over because the previous project manager decided to resign. To assess the degree to which the project scope will change, you need to compare the requests to which project document?
   5. Preliminary scope statement
   6. WBS
   7. Change management plan
   8. Scope management plan
3. You and your project team recognize the importance of project scope management to a project’s overall success; therefore, you include only the work required for successful completion of the project. The first step in the Project Scope Management process is to—
   9. Clearly distinguish between project scope and product scope
   10. Prepare a scope management plan
   11. Define and document your stakeholders’ needs to meet the project’s objectives
   12. Capture and manage both project and product requirements
4. An example of an organizational process asset that could affect how project scope is to be managed is—
   13. Personnel administration
   14. Marketplace conditions
   15. Historical information
   16. Organizational culture
5. You are managing a complex project for a new method of heating and air conditioning in vehicles. You will use both solar and wind technologies in this project to reduce energy costs. Therefore, you must ensure that the work of your project will result in delivering the project’s specified scope, which means that you should measure completion of the product scope against the—
   17. Scope management plan
   18. Project management plan
   19. Product requirements
   20. Requirements management plan
6. A key tool and technique used in define scope is—
   21. Templates, forms, and standards
   22. Decomposition
   23. Expert judgment
   24. Project management methodology
7. Alternatives generation often is useful in defining project scope. An example of a technique that can be used is—
   25. Sensitivity analysis
   26. Decision trees
   27. Mathematical model
   28. Lateral thinking
8. Product analysis techniques include all the following EXCEPT—
   29. Value engineering
   30. Value analysis
   31. Systems analysis
   32. Bill of materials
9. The baseline for evaluating whether requests for changes or additional work are contained within or outside the project’s exclusion is provided by the—
   33. Project management plan
   34. Project scope statement
   35. Project scope management plan
   36. WBS dictionary
10. Rather than use a WBS, your team developed a bill of materials to define the project’s work components. A customer review of this document uncovered that a scope change was needed, because a deliverable had not been defined, and a change request was written subsequently. This is an example of a change request that was the result of—
    37. An external event
    38. An error or omission in defining the scope of the product
    39. A value-adding change
    40. An error or omission in defining the scope of the project
11. Collecting requirements is critical in project scope management as it becomes the foundation for the project’s—
    41. Scope management plan
    42. WBS
    43. Schedule
    44. Scope change control system
12. The project scope statement addresses and documents all the following items EXCEPT—
    45. Project exclusions
    46. The relationship between the deliverables and the business need
    47. Product scope description
    48. Project management methodology (PMM)
13. The first step in collecting requirements on any project, large or small, is to—
    49. Talk with the project stakeholders through interviews
    50. Review the scope management plan
    51. Conduct facilitated workshops with stakeholders
    52. Prepare a requirements document template that you and your team can use throughout the collect requirements process
14. You want to structure your project so that each project team member has a discrete work package to perform. The work package is a—
    53. Deliverable at the lowest level of the WBS
    54. Task with a unique identifier
    55. Required level of reporting
    56. Task that can be assigned to more than one organizational unit
15. Quality function deployment is one approach for collecting requirements. Assume that you have studied the work of numerous quality experts, such as Deming, Juran, and Crosby, and your organization has a policy that states the importance of quality as the key constraint of all project constraints. You and your team have decided to use quality function deployment on your new project to manufacture turbines that use alternative fuels. The first step you should use is to—
    57. Determine the voice of the customer
    58. Build the house of quality
    59. Address the functional requirements and how best to meet them
    60. Hold a focus group of prequalified stakeholders
16. On the WBS, the first level of decomposition may be displayed by using all the following EXCEPT—
    61. Phases of the project life cycle
    62. Subcomponents
    63. Major deliverables
    64. Project organizational units
17. Change is inevitable on projects. Uncontrolled changes are often referred to as—
    65. Rework
    66. Scope creep
    67. Configuration items
    68. Emergency changes
18. Each WBS component should be assigned a unique identifier from a code of accounts to—
    69. Link the WBS to the bill of materials
    70. Enable the WBS to follow a similar numbering system to that of the organization’s units as part of the organizational breakdown structure
    71. Sum costs, schedule, and resource information
    72. Link the WBS to the project management plan
19. In scope control it is important to determine the cause of any unacceptable variance relative to the scope baseline. This can be done through—
    73. Root cause analysis
    74. Control charts
    75. Inspections
    76. Project performance measurements
20. To assist your software development team in collecting requirements from potential users and to ensure that agreement about the stakeholders’ needs exists early in the project, you decide to use a group creativity technique. Numerous techniques are available, but you and your team choose a voting process to rank the most useful ideas for further prioritization. This approach is known as—
    77. Brainstorming
    78. Nominal group technique
    79. Delphi technique
    80. Affinity diagram
21. You have been appointed project manager for a new project in your organization and must prepare a project management plan. You decide to prepare a WBS to show the magnitude and complexity of the work involved. No WBS templates are available to help you. To prepare the WBS, your first step should be to—
    81. Determine the cost and duration estimates for each project deliverable
    82. Identify and analyze the deliverables and related work
    83. Identify the components of each project deliverable
    84. Determine the key tasks to be performed
22. Assume that you are a major subcontractor doing work for a prime contractor on a major project. Your change control system should—
    85. Be identical to that of the prime contractor
    86. Follow the rigor of international configuration management standards
    87. Comply with relevant contractual provisions
    88. Only consider approved change requests
23. You are leading a project team to identify potential new products for your organization. One idea was rejected by management because it would not fit with the organization’s core competencies. You need to recommend other products using management’s guideline as—
    89. An assumption
    90. A risk
    91. A specification
    92. A technical requirement
24. Validate scope—
    93. Improves cost and schedule accuracy, particularly on projects using innovative techniques or technology
    94. Is the last activity performed on a project before handoff to the customer
    95. Documents the characteristics of the product or service that the project was undertaken to create
    96. Differs from perform quality control in that validate scope is concerned with the acceptance—not the correctness—of the work results
25. Any step recommended to bring expected future performance in line with the project management plan is called—
    97. Performance evaluation
    98. Corrective action
    99. Preventive action
    100. Defect repair
26. Written change requests should be required on—
    101. All projects, large and small
    102. Only large projects
    103. Projects with a formal configuration management system in place
    104. Projects for which the cost of a change control system can be justified
27. Updates of organizational process assets that are an output of control scope include all the following EXCEPT—
    105. Causes of variations
    106. Lessons learned
    107. Work authorization system
    108. Reasons certain corrective actions were chosen
28. Work performance information includes all the following EXCEPT—
    109. Started deliverables
    110. Costs authorized and incurred
    111. Progress of deliverables
    112. Completed deliverables
29. Your project is now under way, and you are working with your team to prepare your requirements management plan. Which of the following strongly influences how requirements are managed?
    113. The phase-to-phase relationship
    114. A set of procedures by which project scope and product scope may be changed
    115. Requirements traceability matrix
    116. Requirements documentation
30. You are project manager on a systems engineering project designed to last six years and to develop the next-generation corvette for use in military operations. You and your team recognize that requirements may change as new technologies, especially in sonar systems, are developed. You are concerned that these new technologies may lead to changes in the scope of your product, which then will affect the scope of your project. Therefore your requirements traceability matrix should include tracing requirements to all the following project elements EXCEPT—
    117. Business needs
    118. Product design
    119. Product development
    120. Project verification
31. Your customer signed off on the requirements document and scope statement of your video game project last month. Today she stated she would like to make it an interactive game that can be played on a television and on a computer. This represents a requested scope change that, at a minimum—
    121. Should be reviewed according to the perform integrated change control process
    122. Results in a change to all project baselines
    123. Requires adjustments to cost, time, quality, and other objectives
    124. Results in a lesson learned
32. The key inputs to the validate scope process include all the below items EXCEPT—
    125. The project management plan (scope management plan and scope baseline)
    126. Change requests
    127. Validated deliverables
    128. Requirements traceability matrix
33. Modifications may be needed to the WBS and WBS dictionary because of approved change requests, which shows that—
    129. Replanning is an output of control scope
    130. Scope creep is common on projects
    131. Rebaselining will be necessary
    132. Variance is relative to the scope baseline
34. You and your team are documenting requirements on you project to control fatigue as people need to work more hours to keep up with the competition. You decided to set up components for the requirements on your project. Acceptance criteria are an example of—
    133. Stakeholder requirements
    134. Transition requirements
    135. Project requirements
    136. Business requirements
35. Which following item is NOT an input to control scope?
    137. Requirements traceability matrix
    138. Work performance data
    139. Deliverables
    140. Scope management plan
36. You are the project manager for a subcontractor on a major contract. The prime contractor has asked that you manage your work in a detailed manner. Your first step is to—
    141. Follow the WBS that the prime contractor developed for the project and use the work packages you identified during the proposal
    142. Develop a subproject WBS for the work package that is your company’s responsibility
    143. Establish a similar coding structure to the prime contractor’s to facilitate use of a common project management information system
    144. Develop a WBS dictionary to show specific staff assignments
37. The project scope statement is important in scope control because it—
    145. Is a critical component of the scope baseline
    146. Provides information on project performance
    147. Alerts the project team to issues that may cause problems in the future
    148. Is expected to change throughout the project
38. The product scope description is documented as part of the project’s scope statement. It is important to include it because it—
    149. Facilitates the project acceptance process
    150. Describes specific constraints associated with the project
    151. Progressively elaborates characteristics
    152. Shows various alternatives considered
39. How is a context diagram used?
    153. To depict product scope
    154. To trace requirements as part of the traceability matrix
    155. To develop the scope management plan
    156. To develop the requirements management plan
40. You are establishing a PMO that will have a project management information system that will be an online repository of all program data. You will collect descriptions of all work components for each project under the PMO’s jurisdiction. This information will form an integral part of the—
    157. Chart of accounts
    158. WBS dictionary
    159. WBS structure template
    160. Earned value management reports

Answer Sheet

1.	a	b	c	d
2.	a	b	c	d
3.	a	b	c	d
4.	a	b	c	d
5.	a	b	c	d
6.	a	b	c	d
7.	a	b	c	d
8.	a	b	c	d
9.	a	b	c	d
10.	a	b	c	d
11.	a	b	c	d
12.	a	b	c	d
13.	a	b	c	d
14.	a	b	c	d
15.	a	b	c	d
16.	a	b	c	d
17.	a	b	c	d
18.	a	b	c	d
19.	a	b	c	d
20.	a	b	c	d

21.	a	b	c	d
22.	a	b	c	d
23.	a	b	c	d
24.	a	b	c	d
25.	a	b	c	d
26.	a	b	c	d
27.	a	b	c	d
28.	a	b	c	d
29.	a	b	c	d
30.	a	b	c	d
31.	a	b	c	d
32.	a	b	c	d
33.	a	b	c	d
34.	a	b	c	d
35.	a	b	c	d
36.	a	b	c	d
37.	a	b	c	d
38.	a	b	c	d
39.	a	b	c	d
40.	a	b	c	d

Answer Key

1. a. Proper project scope definition

   Progressive elaboration of a project’s specification must be coordinated carefully with proper scope definition, particularly when the project is performed under contract. When properly defined, the project scope—the work to be done—should remain constant even when the product characteristics are elaborated progressively. [Planning]

PMI®, PMBOK® Guide, 2013, 6, 107–108

1. b. WBS

   The WBS, along with the detailed scope statement and the WBS dictionary, defines the project’s scope baseline, which provides the basis for any changes that may occur on the project. [Planning]

PMI®, PMBOK® Guide, 2013, 131–132

1. b. Prepare a scope management plan

   The work involved in the six Project Scope Management processes begins by preparing a scope management plan, which is a subsidiary plan for the project management plan. It describes the Project Scope Management processes from definition to control. [Planning]

PMI®, PMBOK® Guide, 2013, 109–110

1. c. Historical information

   Organizational process assets that can influence plan scope management include formal and informal policies, procedures, and guidelines impacting project scope management. Historical information and the lessons learned knowledge base are other examples. [Planning]

PMI®, PMBOK® Guide, 2013, 109

1. c. Product requirements

   Completion of the project scope is measured against the project management plan, and completion of the product scope is measured against the requirements. In the project context, product scope consists of features and functions that characterize the product, service, or result. Project scope is the work that must be done to deliver the product, service, or result with specified features and functions. [Planning]

PMI®, PMBOK® Guide, 2013, 106

1. c. Expert judgment

   Expert judgment is used to analyze the information needed to develop a project scope statement. It is applied to any technical details. [Planning]

PMI®, PMBOK® Guide, 2013, 122

1. d. Lateral thinking

   Lateral thinking, brainstorming, and analysis of alternatives are examples of alternatives generation that can be used to develop as many potential options as possible to execute and perform the project’s work. [Planning]

PMI®, PMBOK® Guide, 2013, 123

1. d. Bill of materials

   Product analysis techniques vary by application area, and each application area generally has accepted methods to translate project objectives into tangible deliverables and requirements. Other product analysis techniques include product breakdown, requirements analysis, and systems engineering. [Planning]

PMI®, PMBOK® Guide, 2013, 122

1. b. Project scope statement

   Project exclusion identifies generally what is included within the project, and state explicitly what is excluded from the project, if a stakeholder might assume that a particular product, service, or result could be a project component. Project boundaries are described as part of the detailed project scope statement. [Planning]

PMI®, PMBOK® Guide, 2013, 123–124

1. b. An error or omission in defining the scope of the product

   The bill of materials provides a hierarchical view of the physical assemblies, subassemblies, and components needed to build a manufactured product, whereas the WBS is a deliverable-oriented grouping of project components used to define the total scope of the project, providing a structured vision of what has to be delivered. Using a bill of materials where a WBS would be more appropriate may result in an ill-defined scope and subsequent change requests. [Monitoring and Controlling]

PMI®, PMBOK® Guide, 2013, 125, 140; Ward 2008, 40

1. b. WBS

   Collecting requirements provides the basis for defining project scope and product scope. It also involves determining, documenting, and managing stakeholder needs to meet project objectives. The requirements become the foundation for the WBS; moreover, cost, schedule, and quality planning are built upon the requirements. [Planning]

PMI®, PMBOK® Guide, 2013, 110, 127

1. d. Project management methodology (PMM)

   The PMM is an organization-approved approach for project management that is used on every project. It is not part of the project scope statement, which describes the project scope, major deliverables, assumptions, and constraints. It describes the project’s deliverables and the work required to complete them. [Planning]

PMI®, PMBOK® Guide, 2013, 123–124

1. b. Review the scope management plan

   The scope management plan is reviewed first as it provides clarity as to how the project team will determine which requirements need to be collected on the project. [Planning]

PMI®, PMBOK® Guide, 2013, 113

1. a. Deliverable at the lowest level of the WBS

   A work package is the lowest or smallest unit of work division in a project or WBS. The work package can be scheduled, cost estimated, monitored, and controlled. [Planning]

PMI®, PMBOK® Guide, 2013, 126

1. a. Determine the voice of the customer

   Quality function deployment is an example of a facilitated workshop used in the manufacturing industry as a tool and technique to collect requirements. It helps to determine the critical characteristics for new product development and starts by collecting customer needs, known as the voice of the customer. [Planning]

PMI®, PMBOK® Guide, 2013, 114

1. d. Project organizational units

   The WBS includes all work needed to be done to complete the project. The organizational breakdown structure (OBS) includes the organizational units responsible for completing the work. [Planning]

PMI®, PMBOK® Guide, 2013, 126, 548

1. b. Scope creep

   Project scope creep is typically the result of uncontrolled changes. Scope control works to control the impact of any project scope changes. [Monitoring and Controlling]

PMI®, PMBOK® Guide, 2013, 137

1. c. Sum costs, schedule, and resource information

   The key document generated from the create WBS process is the actual WBS. Each WBS component is assigned a unique identifier to provide a structure for hierarchical summation of costs, schedule, and resource information. [Planning]

PMI®, PMBOK® Guide, 2013, 132

1. d. Project performance measurements

   Variance analysis is a tool and technique for control scope. Project performance measurements are used to assess the magnitude of variance, to determine the cause of the variance, and to decide whether corrective or preventive action is required. [Monitoring and Controlling]

PMI®, PMBOK® Guide, 2013, 139

1. b. Nominal group technique

   The nominal group technique enhances brainstorming with a voting process, which is used to rank the most useful ideas for further brainstorming or for prioritization. [Planning]

PMI®, PMBOK® Guide, 2013, 115

1. b. Identify and analyze the deliverables and related work

   Identifying and analyzing the deliverables and related work is the first step in the decomposition of a project. The deliverables should be defined in terms of how the project will be organized. For example, the major project deliverables may be used as the second level. [Planning]

PMI®, PMBOK® Guide, 2013, 128–129

1. c. Comply with relevant contractual provisions

   In addition to complying with any relevant contractual provisions, scope change control must be integrated with the project’s overall change control system and with any systems in place to control project and product scope. [Monitoring and Controlling]

PMI®, PMBOK® Guide, 2013, 96, 137

1. a. An assumption

   Assumptions are factors that, for planning purposes, are considered to be true, real, or certain without proof or demonstration. They are listed in the project scope statement. [Planning]

Ward 2008, 24; PMI®, PMBOK® Guide, 2013, 124 and 529

1. d. Differs from perform quality control in that validate scope is concerned with the acceptance—not the correctness—of the work results

   Documentation that the customer has accepted completed deliverables is an output of validate scope. [Monitoring and Controlling]

PMI®, PMBOK® Guide, 2013, 134

1. b. Corrective action

   Recommended corrective action is an output from control scope. In addition to bringing expected future performance in line with the project management plan, it also serves to bring expected future performance in line with the project scope statement. [Monitoring and Controlling]

PMI®, PMBOK® Guide, 2013, 140, 534

1. a. All projects, large and small

   A system is needed for careful monitoring of changes made to the requirements. Use of written change requests encourages the individuals asking for changes to take responsibility for their requests and reduces frivolous requests that may adversely affect the project. [Monitoring and Controlling]

PMI®, PMBOK® Guide, 2013, 94–97 140

1. c. Work authorization system

   The work authorization system is not used in control scope. The others are examples of organizational process assets that may require update as a result of scope control. [Monitoring and Controlling]

PMI®, PMBOK® Guide, 2013, 140

1. b. Costs authorized and incurred

   Work performance information is an output of validate scope. It emphasizes deliverables—whether or not they have started, their progress, and ones that have finished or have been accepted. [Monitoring and Controlling]

PMI®, PMBOK® Guide, 2013, 136

1. a. Phase-to-phase relationship

   The requirements management plan defines how requirements will be analyzed, documented, and managed. It is strongly influenced by the phase-to-phase relationship. The project manager selects the most effective relationship for the project and documents it in the plan. [Planning]

PMI®, PMBOK® Guide, 2013, 42–44, 110

1. d. Project verification

   The requirements traceability matrix is an output of the collect requirements process. It includes tracing requirements to business needs, opportunities, and objectives; project objectives; project scope: WBS deliverables; product design; product development; test strategy and scenarios; as well as high-level requirements to more detailed requirements. [Planning]

PMI®, PMBOK® Guide, 2013, 118–119

1. a. Should be reviewed according to the perform integrated change control process

   A requested change is an output from the control scope process. Such a change should be handled according to the integrated change control process and may result in an update to the scope baseline or other components of the project management plan. [Monitoring and Controlling]

PMI®, PMBOK® Guide, 2013, 140

1. b. Change request

   The change requests are not an input of the validate scope process but are an output. The other items are all inputs to help the project manager validate the scope of the project. [Monitoring and Controlling]

PMI®, PMBOK® Guide, 2008, 124–125

1. d. Variance is relative to the scope baseline

   Approved change requests will most likely impact and cause updates to the WBS, WBS dictionary, and project scope statement. In other words, they will cause variance to the scope baseline. [Monitoring and Controlling]

PMI®, PMBOK® Guide, 2013, 139–140

1. c. Project requirements

   Various components of requirements documentation can be used. Examples are: business requirements, stakeholder requirements, solution requirements, project requirements, and requirements assumptions, dependencies, and constraints. Project requirements consist of acceptance criteria and levels of service performance, safety, and compliance. [Planning]

PMI®, PMBOK® Guide, 2013, 117–118

1. c. Deliverables

   Verified deliverables that are completed and checked for correctness are inputs to validate scope. [Monitoring and Controlling]

PMI®, PMBOK® Guide, 2013, 135, 138–139

1. b. Develop a subproject WBS for the work package that is your company’s responsibility

   Work packages are items at the lowest level of the WBS. A subproject is a smaller portion of the original project when a project is subdivided into more manageable components or pieces. A subproject WBS then breaks down work packages into greater detail. A subproject WBS generally is used when the project manager assigns a scope of work to another organization, and the project manager at that organization must plan and manage the scope of work in greater detail. [Planning]

PMI®, PMBOK® Guide, 2013, 129, 564

1. a. Is a critical component of the scope baseline

   The project scope statement, along with the WBS and WBS dictionary, is a key input to scope control. [Monitoring and Controlling]

PMI®, PMBOK® Guide, 2013, 138

1. c. Progressively elaborates characteristics

   The project scope statement describes the deliverables and the work required to create them. It also provides a common understanding of the scope among stakeholders. The product scope statement is a key component as it progressively elaborates the characteristics of the product, service, or result in the project charter and requirements documentation. [Planning]

PMI®, PMBOK® Guide, 2013, 123–124

1. a. To depict product scope

   It is a tool and technique in collect requirements and is an example of a scope model. The context diagram visually depicts the product scope as it shows a business system (process, equipment, or computer, etc.) and how people and other systems (actors) interact with it. The diagram shows inputs to the business system, the actor(s) providing the input, outputs from the business system, and actor(s) receiving the output. [Planning]

PMI®, PMBOK® Guide, 2013, 117

1. b. WBS dictionary

   The WBS dictionary typically includes a code of accounts identifier, a statement of work, responsible organization, a list of schedule milestones, associated schedule activities, required resources, cost estimates, quality requirements, acceptance criteria, technical references, and agreement information. [Planning]

PMI®, PMBOK® Guide, 2013, 132