All projects need a project scope statement, this document defines what the project needs to accomplish in order for the project to be deemed complete.  The project scope statement should always include Project and Product Objectives, Product Acceptance Criteria, Project Boundaries, Assumptions and Constraints, Project Requirements and Deliverables, Initial Defined Risk Schedule, Work breakdown structure,  Summary of Budget and Configuration Management. The above mentioned will help control the scope of your project if they are properly documented and adhered to strictly. Many project management courses and books leave the impression that scope management is a straightforward application of well-defined processes create a scope statement develop a work breakdown structure establish a change process and respond to change orders. However, the need to manage the change process is the short story (Milton Woodward, 2007, para. 5). For a successful project, the Project Manager is in charge of scope control.

Scope control is concerned with influencing the factors that create project scope changes and controlling the impact of those changes. Scope control assures all requested changes and recommended corrective actions are processed through the project Integrated Change Control process. Project scope control is also used to manage the actual changes when they occur and is integrated with the other control processes. Uncontrolled changes are often referred to as project scope creep. Change is inevitable, thereby mandating some type of change control process. A project scope change control system, documented in the project scope management plan, defines the procedures by which the project scope and product scope can be changed.

The system includes the documentation, tracking systems, and approval levels necessary for authorizing changes. The scope change control system is integrated with any overall project management information system to control project scope. Verifying the project scope is the process of obtaining the stakeholders formal acceptance of the completed project scope and associated deliverables. Though quite confused with quality control, project scope verification deals with the actual formal acceptance of the finished product.

Quality control is primarily concerned with meeting the quality requirements specified for the deliverables. Deliverables are measured, examined, and verified in order to ascertain whether they meet the product acceptance criteria. The outputs of scope verification include-Accepted Deliverables-this document contains acknowledgements and proofs that the stakeholders accepted the project deliverables and if they were not accepted, the reasons must also be stated, Requested changes and Recommended Corrective Actions.

There are a lot of changes that can happen in a project that have a relatively low impact, but changes that impact your scope ripple through your project and become magnified. Scope creep is sneaky and it often happens when you least suspect (Susan Snedaker, 2006, para. 1). Scope Management can be defined in a project as all the work required, but limited only to the work required, to complete the project successfully.

When managing a project, its important to continually keep an eye on scope. Every time you consider making a change, you should ask what effect the change will have on scope (Susan Snedaker, 2006, para. 8). Scope management is important to business operations because if the scope of operation is changed for any reason it will affect the cost and time of operation. Project scope control and management is often overlooked in the management ranks. However, the impact of lax scope control on the organization, its customers, and its employees careers can be devastating. For successful scope management, you must exercise due diligence in all of the initial planning activities, including a detailed scope statement, specific project tasks, resources, communications plans and major project assumptions(Milton Woodward, 2007, para. 12).