Difference between Scope management plan and Requirements management plan

Submitted by asmitag on Tue, 06/17/2014 - 02:46

Hi All,

Can somebody please explain the Difference between Scope management plan and Requirements management plan

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admin

Tue, 06/17/2014 - 03:55

Good question - there is generally fuzzyness between Scope and requirements and hence scope management plan and requirements management plan. Lets understand the definitions - 
 
Requirement: A condition or capability that is required to be present in a product, service or result to satisfy a contract or other formally imposed specification.
 
Scope: Total scope is summation of products, services and results to be provided as a project. 
 
Product Scope: The features and functions that characterize a product, service or result.
 
Project Scope: The work performed to deliver a product, service or result with the specified features and functions.
 
Scope is mainly about tasks or actions required to complete the product or project and  Requirements, on the other hand, are features, or specifications you intend to build as a result of the project. Requirements are ideas you want to implement. Say you want to build a house which is the best looking in the locality. This is an idea and every one will have their own interpretation of what is the best looking house in the locality. However when you go deeper and thrash out the finer details it becomes the scope , for eg: 1) House will have teak wood doors 2) Chimney would be made out of stone 3) Facade would be from brown italian marble and so on. 
 
So now lets move to Scope Management Plan and the Requirements Management Plan.
 
SCOPE MANAGEMENT PLAN is written with following in mind. 
  • How do we preapare a good project scope statement?
  • Who all needs to be involved to prepare a complete and foolproof Work Breakdown Structure
  • How do we handle changes to WBS. Who will review and approve ? Overall how do we handle changes in the project scope. ?
  • How will the Acceptance criteria be dervied
REQUIREMENTS MANAGEMENT PLAN
  • Requirements traceability and tracking the implementation w.r.t plan
  • Prioritizing the requirements - Nice to have vs Must have
  • How do we handle changes, missed requirements, additional requirements ?
  • How do we measure and check if the project is really on right track and meeting the requirements.
These documents are mainly for planning and do not deal with actual scope or requirements of the project. A good planning is very essential step  and it will help minimize conflicts and mis-understandings. These documents will serve as guideline on what needs to be done when there are issues with scope/requirements. A good planning serves as foundation. 

asmitag

Tue, 06/17/2014 - 06:55

A Big thanks.. It is indeed a very good explaination.

Can we say Requirements management plan is a kind of subset of Scope Management Plan?

shermang467

Wed, 12/18/2019 - 00:03

The work performed to deliver a product, service or result with the specified features and functions. Thanks for the breakdown. Similar to how I break down my project scope for computer repairs