MGMT7020 Chap.7 Requirements, Scope, WBS and Scheduling
Requirements, Scope, WBS and Scheduling
From goals to defined work
Week 4 turns an approved project into defined work.
This chapter follows a bike-share expansion through a scope statement of inclusions, exclusions and assumptions, functional and non-functional requirements, a three-level work breakdown structure and a milestone schedule.
Why the early steps matter
It uses evidence from the readings on requirements defects and on milestone planning to show why errors made here are the most expensive ones.
Connecting planning to later weeks
The artefacts in this chapter feed almost everything that follows.
Work packages carry the estimates that earned value measures in Week 5. Exclusions and assumptions are what change control protects.
Testable requirements become the acceptance tests of Week 10, and the milestones become the dates a steering committee watches.
Common errors on this topic
Typical errors include writing activities instead of deliverables in the breakdown, leaving exclusions implied, writing requirements that cannot be tested, and drawing a schedule with dates but no dependencies.
Each one tends to surface later as a disagreement about what was agreed, which is far more expensive to resolve than a careful first draft.
What this chapter covers
- 01
Scope statement: inclusions, exclusions, assumptions
- 02
Functional and non-functional requirements
- 03
Testable requirement wording
- 04
Work breakdown structure levels
- 05
Common breakdown errors
- 06
Milestones and dependencies
Worked example · free
Break a festival website project into a three-level WBS
- 1Level 1: Festival website. Level 2: Events calendar, Ticketing, Volunteer portal.
- 2Level 3 under the calendar: event data feed, calendar pages; under ticketing: payment integration, e-ticket delivery.
- 1Level 3 under the volunteer portal: sign-up form, roster export. Every element is a deliverable noun, not an activity.
Key terms
- Scope Statement
- A record of what a project includes, excludes and assumes.
- Functional Requirement
- A statement of what a system must do.
- Work Package
- The lowest element of a work breakdown, where estimates and owners attach.
- Milestone
- A verifiable result marking that a key point in the schedule has been reached.
Requirements, Scope, WBS and Scheduling FAQ
What is the difference between functional and non-functional requirements?
Functional requirements describe how the system works, what it does for users. Non-functional requirements describe how it performs, such as capacity, speed, reliability or accessibility. Both should be testable.
How detailed should a work breakdown structure be?
The Week 4 seminar asks for at least three levels and fifteen to twenty elements for an infrastructure project. Decompose until each lowest element can be estimated, owned and tracked, and no further.
Why include exclusions in a scope statement?
Because silence is not an exclusion. Writing down what the project will not do prevents later disputes about whether a request was part of the agreed scope.
What makes a requirement testable?
It states a condition an independent tester can check as pass or fail without asking what was meant, such as a response time under a stated load. Vague words like user-friendly or fast are not testable until they are given a measure.
Why do milestones beat detailed activity networks in some projects?
Dvir and Lechler report that network techniques systematically fail to predict durations in complex projects. Milestones keep attention on results that can be verified, which is easier to manage and report when the work is uncertain.
How many levels should a work breakdown structure have?
The Week 4 seminar asks for at least three: the project, its deliverables and their sub-deliverables, with some level-four elements where needed. The right depth is reached when each lowest element can be estimated, assigned to one owner and tracked.
Should assumptions be in the scope statement?
Yes. Assumptions record the conditions the plan depends on, such as an approval arriving on time. When one proves false, the written assumption shows which part of the scope and schedule must be revisited.
Exam move
Practise writing one scope statement and one three-level breakdown for a project you know, then convert two requirements into testable wording. Check that every milestone you write closes at least one deliverable from your breakdown.
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