Question

How are project scope and earned value managwment mutually supported and where do they diverge?

Answer 1

Project scope is the part of project planning that involves determining and documenting a list of specific project goals, deliverables, features, functions, tasks, deadlines, and ultimately costs. In other words, it is what needs to be achieved and the work that must be done to deliver a project.

Importance of Project Scope:

Project scope is critical because without it project managers would have no clue what time, cost or labor was involved in a project. It forms the basis for every decision a project manager will make on a job and when it needs to change, proper communication will ensure success every step of the way.

Earned Value Management (EVM) helps project managers to measure project performance. It is a systematic project management process used to find variances in projects based on the comparison of worked performed and work planned. EVM is used on the cost and schedule control and can be very useful in project forecasting.

Importance of EVM:

It provides a clear communication of the activities involved and improves project visibility and accountability. The basic principle of earned value management (EVM) is that the value of the piece of work is equal to the amount of funds budgeted to complete it.

Divergence phase of Project Scope and EVM:

Project Scope	Earned Value management
Project scope contains the detailed description of the project starting from planning till the process closure	EVM is a guideline for the project managers to assess the projects progress in terms of planned performance and actual performance
It is used to explain the most important deliverables of a project. These include the major milestones, top level requirements, assumptions as well as limitations	It is used as a monitoring control for executing the project activities by comparing the budgeted cost to the actual cost..