6/27/2025
Project Management
Lecture 5
Project Scope, Planning, Organisation &
Termination
Kwasi Dartey-Baah, PhD
Overview
◼ Project Scope
◼ What is Project Planning & Organisation in
Project Management?
◼ What is WBS?
◼ Project Termination
◼ Discussions
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Project Scope
◼ What do we mean by Project Scope?
❑ Project Scope refers to the magnitude of the work to
be done and the specific requirements to be met.
❑ A project scope defines the following:
(a) A project manager’s visibility to the end date
(b) The magnitude or size of the job
(c) The limit of the project manager’s authority
❑ Note: Beware of changes to Project Scope because
they can ‘kill’ the project.
Project Scope
◼ Key Project Scope checklist
❑ Project Objectives
❑ Deliverables
❑ Milestones
❑ Technical Requirements
❑ Limits and exclusions
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Project Planning & Organising
◼ Planning the Project
❑ A project plan provides a roadmap for detailing how
your project will reach its desired goals. It should be
written in the project planning phase.
❑ Step by Step Guide to Planning. Know the following:
1.Project Goal/Objective
2. Project Deliverables (Outcomes expected in meeting project goal)
3. Project Schedule - List of tasks that need to be carried out for
each deliverable (Time required & who to do the work)
Project Planning & Organising
◼ Planning the Project
4. Supporting Plans
❑ Human Resource Plan - Identify by name, the individuals and their
role/responsibilities in the project.
❑ Communications Plan - Document showing who needs to be kept
informed about the project . How often; Progress Report - weekly
or monthly
❑ Risk Management Plan - Risk management is an important part of
project management. Anticipating what can go wrong. Risk is
tracked using a risk log
❑ We can control only what we have planned
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Project Planning & Organising
◼ Planning the Project
❑ Planning is about asking the following questions:
❑ (i) What actions need to be done?
❑ (ii) When are these actions required?
❑ (iii) Who is going to do them?
❑ (iv) What equipment and tools are required?
❑ (v) What is not going to be done?
❑ The purpose is to convert the contents of the project
scope details into a time-based plan of action
Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
◼ WBS covers all that has to be done on the project.
❑ It is the identification of all the tasks to be
performed in order to achieve project objectives;
❑ The idea behind WBS is to subdivide a
complicated task into smaller tasks until a level
when it can no longer be subdivided.
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Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
◼ Why WBS ?
❑ WBS allows resources to be identified and tied to the
entire project;
❑ WBS therefore essential for resource allocation.
❑ Note: The general guide to do with WBS is: “ You stop
breaking down work when you reach a low enough level
to do an estimate of the desired accuracy”
Project Planning & Organising cont’d
◼ Identifying key stages in Planning
❑ Two approaches are frequently used depending on the
size of the project.
❑ Top-down method
(i) Write out the list of the final deliverables as identified
during the project definition stage.
(ii) Identify all the interim deliverables that must be
produced to reach the point of completion of that
deliverable in (i).
(iii) List the tacks for each of the interim deliverables
(iii) Examine how these are related to each other
(iv) Group as appropriate to establish the key stages
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Project Planning & Organising cont’d
◼ Bottom-up method
(i) Lists all the activities or tasks to be carried out. It could be
through brainstorming.
❑ Remember quantity first not quality.
❑ Reduce your tasks list to a reasonable number of
activities depending on the size of the project.
❑ Group related items to establish the key stages.
Note: Never consider the identification of the key stages as a
waste of time. It is an investment that will save you time
later.
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Project Planning & Organising cont’d
◼ In organising resources do/have the following:
❑ List of team members, essential details – i.e.
whatsapp, email etc
❑ Details to be sent to all members
❑ Have regular team progress meetings – Typically
weekly or monthly
Inception meeting is key and aim for all to be present
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Organising
◼ In organising:
❑ Be structured in your work
❑ Have details of the current work and know what
others are involved in
❑ Documentation / filing should be properly done –
appropriate areas/headings
❑ Effective Time Management
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Project Termination
◼ Project Termination can happen for two main
reasons:
◼ (a) When the original business case put forward for
carrying out the project is no longer viable
financially or Reasons could be changing
environments etc.
◼ (b) When the project has been finally completed and
responsibility transferred to the client.
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Reading List
◼ Hamilton, A (1997) Management by Projects, Thomas Telford, London.
◼ Winch, GW (2002) Managing Construction Projects, Blackwell Science
Ltd., Oxford.
◼ Young, T.L., (2006), Successful Project Management. Kogan Page,
London.
◼ Carroll, J., (2009), Project Management for effective business change.
In Easy Steps, London.
◼ Heyworth, F., (2003), A Guide to Project Management. Council of
Europe Publishing.
◼ Pinto, J. K., (2007), Project Management: Achieving Competitive
Advantage. New Jersey: Pearson-Prentice Hall.
◼ Turner, J.R., and Simister S.J., (2004), Project Management: A
Comprehensive Handbook. New Delhi: Gower Publishing Ltd.
◼ Nokes, S., and Newton R., (2007), Definitive Guide to Project
Management /Project Manager, Pearson.
◼ Chandra, P., (2008), Projects Planning, Analysis, Selection, financing,
Implementation and Review, 6th edition, New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill
Publishing company limited.
◼ Westland, J., (2006), The Project Management Life Cycle. Kogan Page,
London.
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