Scoping a Project

A Project Scoping Study gives the project manager the opportunity to look at and assess the project before it becomes formally "live". Not so much to query whether the project should go ahead but to establish how it needs to be organised and managed, specifically:

what the project aims and objectives should be
what the risks and possible difficulties are,
and how the project should be organised and tackled.

Such a study may take only a week or may take several months depending on the size of the project. Usually it is based around discussions with key stakeholders (those with a vested interest in the project) and potential team members and contributors.

This section describes the 5 steps involved in scoping a project. In summary they are:

Project Mission & Objectives	to clarify what the project is to deliver
Cost Benefit Analysis	to clarify the benefits sought and the costs to be contained.
Top-Level Plan	to establish how the project should progress
Project Organisation	to clarify who is involved and where the responsibilities lie.
Risk Analysis	to establish what needs to be done to make the project a success.

Guidance for each of these can be accessed by the navigation panel to the left.