203 / 252
191
CHAPTER 8
PURCHASING ANALYSIS TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES
programme team, the project manager will define the issue, determine the critical
level of the issue and assign the resource or make the necessary corrections
to resolve the issue. Issues should be described and defined in terms of their
potential impact on the project. The person raising the issue must also identify
at least one viable alternative required to resolve the issue and a planned date
by which the issue must be resolved or escalated.
8.7.5 SCOPE MANAGEMENT AND SCOPE CHANGE CONTROL
Scope changes may be as requests from a client or because of unplanned/
unforeseen activities occurring. In either case, a process for managing scope
change is essential on a project. The purpose of Change Control is to ensure
that any proposed changes to project scope are:
• Reported/requested.
• Impact assessed and evaluated.
• Accepted (or rejected).
• Implemented.
• Incorporated into the applicable baseline in a controlled manner.
Scope creep is one of the key reasons for project failure. It is essentially all the
small incremental changes that occur to the project scope during the project
which cause the nature/size of the project to change. These small changes
may be as the result of additions to the project required by the client, which are
outside the original terms of reference. They may also be due to the various
tasks in a project taking slightly longer than planned. Careful evaluation of all
change requests must be made to ensure that they do not significantly affect
the scope of the project. If they do then the scope change process should be
followed to help avoid scope creep (including reference to the original project
terms of reference where necessary).
8.7.6 KEY STAKEHOLDER REVIEWS AND REPORTING PROJECT
PERFORMANCE
The most common performance reports are status reports. The frequency,
content and format of these reports vary greatly from organisation to organisation,
and yet all are designed to make sure everyone involved understands where the
project is at any given point in time. The following are the key steps in creating
status reports:
• Evaluate audience:
The first step in creating your status reports is to evaluate
the audience. The different categories of stakeholders will have different
needs for status data.
• Gather status data:
Once you have an understanding of the potential
audiences for your status updates, you are ready to start gathering the data.
There are three main ways to gather status data from the team. The first is
to hold status meetings, the second is to use written or oral status reports,
and the third is to use time sheets.