Project Scope Impact Factors

Posted by SkillMaker in Dec, 2016

Project Scope Impact Factors

Project scope impact factors, as the name suggests, are the various factors that affect, or may potentially affect, the scope of a project. They would include, for instance, identified risk factors.

These factors need to be identified, analysed and understood before the scope of a project can be properly defined. Otherwise the project is likely to be subject to later requests for change to scope, as these factors become apparent. Managing change to scope is likely to be less problematic if the widest range of potential impact factors is identified from the very start.

The good and the bad of impact factors

Project scope factors may benefit or adversely affect a project. If these factors are known at the start of a project, the Project Manager can identify strategies that optimise those likely to have positive benefit and mitigate any likely to have an adverse effect. In other words, he or she can anticipate them, whether or not they materialise. Failure to invest time in properly identifying and understanding what these impact factors are can lead to diminished managerial control of a project during its planning and implementation or to project goals not being fully realised.

What are some project scope impact factors?

Project scope impact factors can include:

variable resource levels
legal constraints
regulatory constraints
changing stakeholder requirements
managerial constraints
external and internal risks
constraints on time.

Though all project scope impact factors should be identified very early in the project, additional factors can be added at any time during the course of a project should they become evident. This, however, will involve potential change to scope. Managing these factors well works towards the efficient management of the project overall.

Additional information

To find out more about project scope impact factors, and to view a sample project impact analysis plan, visit these websites:

http://www.tobyelwin.com/impact-analysis-template/