Validate Scope

00:01 This module covers the validate scope process from the PMBOK guide.

00:07 The exam importance, memorization and difficulty are all rated as medium.

00:13 You probably do some of this already, but you may not be used to all of the tools and techniques you can do.

00:21 The validate scoped process is part of the project scope management knowledge area.

00:27 It's one of two monitoring and controlling processes, with the other one being the control scope process.

00:37 The domain task that this process helps you understand better is the monitoring and controlling task one which says measure product performance using appropriate tools and techniques in order to identify and quantify any variances and corrective actions.

00:59 The key themes of the validate scope process are we're going to review our work products and our results to ensure that they are all completed according to our required and expected work specifications, i.e. what you said you would deliver is what you're actually delivering.

01:18 This differs from our control quality process.

01:21 Some people get them confused.

01:24 The control quality process, which is part of another module, will cover.

01:29 Talks about and focuses upon checking the product internally as part of your quality management processes, the validate scope is about getting the client to accept those deliverables as appropriate.

01:45 So control quality is about correctness of deliverables.

01:49 Validate scope is about accepting those deliverables.

01:54 Another key theme is that whatever happens with the project, with validate scope, it must always be performed even if a project is cancelled before completion.

02:03 Simply to find out how far the product had progressed before the project was cancelled.

02:12 The useful inputs that you may want to get to help you perform the validate scope work include the project management plan.

02:20 Now here it's a catch all term project management plan, and it actually refers more specifically to the subsidiary plans that are useful to us.

02:29 For example, the Scope Management Plan, the requirements management plan, those are the parts of the project management plan that we will find most useful for validating the scope. We may also find useful requirements documentation because these outline the requirements that we're expected to deliver with our scope. In the same way we may find our requirements traceability matrix useful, we can make sure that the requirements we're delivering still get back to those expected business objectives.

03:01 Perhaps most importantly, though, as an input, we need those verified deliverables now verify deliverables are an output from the control quality process. Here they are as an input into the validate scope process. So first up, we need to have performed the control quality work before we can do the scope validation work.

03:24 We also may want some raw data about how well we're going with delivering our project scope, and we'll have a closer look at work performance data shortly.

03:35 Let's take a closer look at the verified deliverables.

03:38 The verified deliverables are an output from the control quality process and the Project Quality Management Knowledge area.

03:45 They have passed your internal quality inspections and are now ready to be presented to the customer for their acceptance.

03:52 One of the key elements of exam success is understanding how outputs from one area become inputs into another area.

04:00 So here we can see the output from the control quality process.

04:05 The verified deliverables becomes an input into the validate scope process. If they're accepted by the client, they become accepted deliverables and go on to be used as an input into the closed project or phase process. That's one example of how our outputs from one area become inputs into another area.

04:26 Put some time and practice into asking the question when you see an input.

04:31 Where did it come from as an output and where is that output going as an input? Let's take a closer look at work, performance data, work performance information and work performance reports.

04:44 For the validate scope, we have work performance data as an input into it now, data is just any raw number or metric about the project.

04:52 But it doesn't really tell us too much until we turn it into useful work performance information. So work performance information as raw data that has been subjected to a particular tool or technique to make it useful and understandable.

05:08 The most common one, and we'll look at it in a separate module is Earned Value Management, which takes raw data about time and cost and turns it into something useful.

05:18 Once we have the work performance information, we can then present this in an appropriate format in the form of work performance reports.

05:26 So that's just an important clarification about the relationship between work performance data, work performance information and work performance reports.

05:37 Now for the validate scope process, once we take a look at those relevant inputs and find out the ones we want to use, we can then apply appropriately the following tools and techniques.

05:49 First one is inspection.

05:51 We've been presented with a verified deliverable.

05:55 Hopefully, we want to turn it into an accepted deliverable.

05:59 The easiest way to do this is by inspecting it, so we take a look at the deliverable.

06:05 We present it to the client.

06:07 They inspect the deliverable.

06:09 And if all goes well, they'll accept the deliverable.

06:13 The other tool and technique, we may choose to use a group decision making techniques.

06:18 This is about making decisions before you need to make decisions about how those decisions are going to be made.

06:26 Simple things. Will you use consensus? Will you use a simple majority? Will you use an absolute majority? Will you use a dictatorship? How are you going to make decisions when you've got groups of people involved in the decision? So take some time at this point to think about which group decision making technique suits you best.

06:51 So once we've taken a look at those inputs and applied those tools and techniques to it, we will or may produce the following outputs of the validate scope process.

07:00 The first is, of course, the accepted deliverables.

07:03 So remember that verified deliverables came into the process.

07:07 We used a tool or technique of inspection to check it.

07:10 If everything's OK in the client's happy, they now become accepted deliverables.

07:15 The accepted deliverables as an output from this process go on to become an input into the closed project or phase process.

07:25 During the validate scope process, though, we may notice some things that need to be changed. Maybe we need to go back on a deliverable and change some things about it.

07:34 Maybe acceptance didn't happen because we hadn't met the required specifications and which case we would raise a change request.

07:42 These change requests as an output from this process go on to be an input into the perform integrated change control process where they will be considered and decisions made about them.

07:54 We may also take our work performance data and turn in some useful work performance information about how we're going in terms of the scope, what elements of it did we deliver, what elements didn't we deliver? What percentage of success did we encounter? We may also choose to update relevant project documents, parts of our project management methodology or other organizational processes that we may want to update as a result of doing the scope validation work.

08:22 Now the accepted deliverables.

08:25 Remember, they are an output from this process.

08:28 We have checked them first in our control quality process, and we now present them to the internal or external customer where if they agree, they become accepted.

08:39 And as I've already mentioned, these go on to become an input into the closed project or phase process, which is part of the Project Integration Management Knowledge Area.

08:48 Once again, I want to stress that one of the keys to the success of the exam is understanding this flow outputs from one process and how they become inputs into another process.

09:00 So in summary, the validate scope process takes the verified deliverables and presents them to the customer for the for acceptance. If accepted, they become accepted deliverables.

09:15 This has been an overview to the validate scope process from the PMBOK guide.