Scope statement

In project management, scope statements can take many forms depending on the type of project being implemented and the nature of the organization. The scope statement details the project deliverables and describes the major objectives. The objectives should include measurable success criteria for the project.

Overview

A scope statement should be written before the statement of work and it should capture, in very broad terms, the product of the project (e.g., "developing a software-based system to capture and track orders for software"). A scope statement should also include the list of users using the product, as well as the features in the resulting product.

Contents

As a baseline scope statements should contain:

• The project charter Template:Sfn
• The project owner, sponsors, and stakeholders Template:Sfn
• The problem statement Template:Sfn Template:Sfn
• The project goals and objectives Template:Sfn
• The project requirements Template:Sfn
• The project deliverables Template:Sfn
• The project non-goals (what is out of scope) Template:Sfn
• Milestones Template:Sfn
• Cost estimates Template:Sfn

In more project oriented organizations the scope statement could also contain these and other sections:

• Project scope management plan Template:Sfn
• Approved change requests Template:Sfn
• Project assumptions and risks Template:Sfn
• Project acceptance criteria Template:Sfn

The Project Management Institute (PMI) defines the project scope statement to include

• the description of the project scope,Template:Sfn
• major deliverables,Template:Sfn
• assumptions,Template:Sfn and
• constraints.Template:Sfn

and is part of the project scope baseline.