Scoping a Project

Project Scoping Report

1. Project Objectives and Terms of Reference (Project Mission)

What the project is there to achieve and by when. Best done by:

Stakeholder Analysis.
Reviewing the various stakeholders of the project (those with a vested interest in the project and its outcomes) and establishing the criteria by which they will assess the project.
Project Mission.
Developing a project mission statement to satisfy those criteria. An overall definition and description of the project and its aims, supported by project objective for each of the major stakeholders.

2. Project Benefits & Costs

The benefits and costs of doing the project. Initiator, sponsors, project manager and team need to be clear about these before investing time, effort and energy into a project. To also cover how the project fits into other organisational initiatives and projects. Depth depends on the project - in many organisational project, simple brainstorm is sufficient. The details are often used later when marketing and communicating the project.

3. Top-Level Plan

Certainly a top-level plan (project stages) and if possible milestones/Gantt charts showing planned progress.

4. Project Organisation

People.
Those actively involved in carrying-out the project: - project sponsor, project manager, the project team - and the key responsibilities and delegations. Any other key contributions needed - specialist support, contractors, etc.
Project Control.
Planned review meetings (sponsor/manager), team meetings, and end-of-phase reports.

5. Implementation Issues & Risks

Identification of key likely implementation issues and general strategies (pilots, surveys, etc) for resolving or avoiding them.
Simply brainstorm the issues and "sift" onto a HI-Lo chart.