Project Scope Management – Inclusions, Exclusions, and Assumptions

 

One of the hardest things to manage to be a contractor or service provider is to manage your client’s expectations for the project and scope variations. Understanding the project scope clearly is the best way to execute and build a project effectively without losing money.

The best way to manage your project scope is by clearly defining project goals. The description of project scope must be of high-level clearly identifying why the project was initiated and what opportunities it is intended to seize or what problems it is intended to solve.

The next important parameter to consider in scope management is project feasibility. Under this heading, the comment on project feasibility should clearly mention the model used to assess and estimate the feasibility.

 

Scope Inclusions & Exclusions

So, regardless of what industry you’re offering services in, the contract must clearly define key issues regarding project scope. In case of any missing information, there will be a conflict that will create a whole lot of annoyance for all stockholders and things will be pretty harsh. In the end, all will vow never to work again together.

But such situations can be avoided by considering in detail the project scope and quickly resolve any scope related to conflict during project execution.

One way of doing this is by understanding exclusions and inclusions.

 

What are inclusions?

Inclusions define the description of tasks, items, and works that are specifically included in the project scope. In an inclusive bid, the bidder clearly defines what will be undertaken exhaustively. Such a bid clearly shows that everything else is excluded from the project scope.

 

What are exclusions?

Exclusions, on the other hand, define the description of items, tasks, or works that are not included in the project scope. It is the opposite of inclusion and in such a bid you should provide a list that will not be offered to the client.

 

Why inclusions & intrusions?

Both exclusions and inclusions are done to address any underlying assumptions a client might have about the work entails. A typical example of the exclusion list will be listing of hours the worker will be on job site to clearly let clients know that the labor will not be available during nights or weekends.

For smaller jobs when the project is straightforward and there are not so many things in the scope, you may not need to add exclusions. This is useful only for in-depth and complicated projects. Exclusions help keep the project scope contained, manageable, and profitable. This is also very helpful in projects that may have unexpected results.

Similarly, the exclusion list is also used by the client during the invitation for a bid to keep down the project cost. In that case, you don’t have to prepare your own list but make sure to go through that list to avoid any untoward situation in the future.

For adding exclusions, you need to prepare it in a list format with the heading “Exclusions” and attached to the project proposal. But make sure to use clear and concrete language and avoid confusing words. You can save your time for future bids by preparing a standard template.

 

 

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