The standard for project management

  

Part 1 - Guide

TRENDS AND EMERGING PRACTICES IN PROJECT SCOPE MANAGEMENT

Requirements have always been a concern in project management and have continued to gain more attention in 

the profession. As the global environment becomes more complex, organizations are starting to recognize how to 

use business analysis to their competitive advantage by defining, managing, and controlling requirements activities. 

Activities of business analysis may start before a project is initiated and a project manager is assigned. According 

to 

Requirements Management: A Practice Guide

 [14], the requirements management process starts with a needs 

assessment, which may begin in portfolio planning, in program planning, or within a discrete project. 

Eliciting, documenting, and managing stakeholder requirements takes place within the Project Scope Management 

processes. Trends and emerging practices for Project Scope Management include but are not limited to a focus on 

collaborating with business analysis professionals to:

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Determine problems and identify business needs;

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Identify and recommend viable solutions for meeting those needs;

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Elicit, document, and manage stakeholder requirements in order to meet business and project objectives; and

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Facilitate the successful implementation of the product, service, or end result of the program or project [7].

The process ends with the requirements closure, which transitions the product, service, or result to the recipient in 

order to measure, monitor, realize, and sustain benefits over time.

The role with responsibility to conduct business analysis should be assigned to resources with sufficient business 

analysis skills and expertise. If a business analyst is assigned to a project, requirement-related activities are the 

responsibility of that role. The project manager is responsible for ensuring that requirements-related work is accounted 

for in the project management plan and that requirements-related activities are performed on time and within budget 

and deliver value.

The relationship between a project manager and a business analyst should be a collaborative partnership. A project 

will have a higher likelihood of being successful if project managers and business analysts fully understand each other’s 

roles and responsibilities to successfully achieve project objectives.

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