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Systems development requirements evolve over the life of the project. As more and more detail is understood about the project, an ongoing assessment of project requirements and objectives occur. This continuous reassessment generates questions and ultimately changes the original project requirements. As such, projects must be planned to allow incremental checkpoints for this reassessment process to occur.
Project when first defined, is at best, a projection of things to come. Controlling project scope is one of the most important project management processes. Controlling project scope does not mean limiting project changes, it means managing the process of change.
Each requested change must be defined and quantified. The project impact and additional costs, if applicable, are developed and communicated to the client for review and approval. Upon approval by the client, the Changes are incorporated in the project plan or added at the end of the original plan, as an enhancement step.
A revised project plan is then created and distributed to all responsible parties. Managing project scope increases the possibility of project success and aligns the project on schedule keeping in sync with the budget.
All combined phases of a project are called the Project’s Life Cycle. Each project has its own unique life cycle. The life cycle provides the road map to successfully produce the expected project objectives. The project life cycle provides the framework for project procedures that will present an objective project status at any point of time during the project. This will provide a more realistic project progress overview.
Project status must be reviewed at regular periods during the project. Weekly project assessment is recommended. There are three good reasons why these assessments are necessary: |
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to provide the client and Innominds management with project status |
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to insure that deliverables are delivered on time and meet project requirements |
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to insure that current project objectives/goals continue to be valid. |
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The mechanism for tracking task completions, scope changes and functional issues is automated Task, Issues and Change request tracking system. Task tracking is done using Microsoft Project. Variations between actual task status and scheduled task status are reported using the tool. It is the responsibility of the project manager to identify tasks behind-schedule and correct the causes.
The client and Innominds personnel will encounter issues and request changes in original project scope during the course of the project. These also must be logged and responded to, to maintain project direction. Issue and Change request tracking are considered a critical factor insuring successful project outcomes. |
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