Project Scope Management in Healthcare

The project scope consists of a detailed set of deliverables and features of any project. (2020). Managing scope is very crucial for healthcare projects, as it will keep the projects team on track and also the project to be delivered within budget if everyone in the team correctly abides and works within the scope of the project. It is the responsibility of the healthcare project manager to allocate the correct task to the team members and convey clearly what is the scope and what is not a part of the project scope.

Three Main Processes of Healthcare Project Scope Management

Planning – The healthcare projects need to be planned well in advance to set the goals and define to be completed within the project deadline.

Controlling – The healthcare projects need to be controlled and monitored to make the teamwork in line with the scope of the project. A well-documented scope document helps the teams to check the scope items and only work on the items in that, anything outside the scope must be removed and worked as future deliverables.

Closing – The closing process helps to compare the project outcome with the original scope document and analyze if all the items are developed and tested as per the plan.

Steps to Outline the Scope Management for Healthcare

Plan Scope – In this step, the healthcare project manager first needs to set and plan the scope of the project at hand. This needs to be done with proper analysis and taking into consideration of both internal and external factors affecting the project. As once this original scope document is prepared it can be referred to at every phase of development. This detailed plan for the scope requires to be validated, defined, and controlled.

Requirement Gathering- In this step, the healthcare project team must plan and outline the detailed requirement document. This has to be prepared by asking all the minor and major expectations from the stakeholders. It is important to align the stakeholder’s expectations with that of the organization. Though this step will need more time to be invested, it has to be right at the first go to avoid more change requests and modifications at a later stage.

Scope Definition- In this step, the healthcare project manager will define the scope with the major project deliverables. The entire scope documents is reviewed to check if it is in line with the project goal. This scope definition helps to communicate with the development team about the project expectations and sets the target to deliver on time.

Creating the Work Breakdown Structure – The healthcare project managers focus on the WBS that helps to break a larger piece of the project into smaller manage work units called “work packages”. This helps the healthcare team to focus on small pieces of work and completing that on time. This also helps the team to see the work as a small unit of work than a complex high-level of work. The managers who skip this step are at risk for planning the projects inaccurately.

Scope Validation – This step, requires the healthcare team to get the scope validated from the end-user or client for their acceptance. This validation is performed at the closure of every project phase and the client’s feedback is taken for the same.

Project Scope Management Tips

To have a well-defined scope document, the healthcare development team and the manager must review the scope document to avoid the following errors:

Ambiguous Scope – Ambiguity leads to confusion and reworks, so the scope must be defined with clear project goals right at the initial project phase.

Incomplete Scope Definition – The scope needs to complete and accurately defined. As the incomplete scope leads to delayed project delivery and also increases the overall project costs.

Transient Scope – This leads to scope creep and is known for delayed project outcomes with never-ending project results. This can be avoided if the team sticks to the original scope document without altering it much for the entire project duration.

So for a healthcare project scope management is very crucial to keep both the team and the stakeholders on the same page and in-line with the project goal. If the scope is not defined accurately, it will lead to many changes and affect the time and the cost of the project negatively.

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