TOPIC: Help with Prepcast Validate Scope Sample Question

My question is about L05.05.2 Validate Scope - Part 2. The question is "Jean is managing a web design project. During the validate Scope process, the client's manager rejects all the deliverables. Jean thinks these deliverables conform to what was agreed upon and she feels the customer is being unfair.What is Jean's best option?"

The correct answer was D) "Refer to the rqmts. documentation approved by the customer. But how can you rule out option C "Refer to the scope statement prepared by the project team"? Couldn't the requirements documentation include requirements + acceptance criteria which were never ended up becoming part of the approved scope? Likewise, doesn't the scope statement ALSO include acceptance criteria?

I'm just very confused by this answer, as rqmts documentation was said to be correct because it includes acceptance critieria. However, the elements of a project scope statement are:
1) Product scope description
2) ACCEPTANCE CRITERIA
3) Deliverables
4) Project exclusions
5) Constraints
6) Assumptions

Please help! Thanks in advance

Amanda, reply back with the exam and webpage from where you saw this question.

The scope baseline includes all the elements you rightly indicate because those are meant to keep the project team on a glidepath towards accomplishing the deliverable. As the project manager, don't waste money on paving a street with gold when the customer asked for asphalt. So your product scope is defined through the requirements (ex. black asphalt) and the project scope is confined to the work needed to assemble the resources to make that product.

Now, think of your school days when you took pass/fail quizzes. Either your teacher accepted your answer or not. Well, your customer is sort of like that teacher. They are paying money for you deliver a set a requirements. If they reject them, then don't argue with them, first refer to the source document outlining those requirements, which presumably were written in your meetings with your customer.

Hi Amanda,

That's a good question cause differentiating between requirements and scope is tricky! Requirements are generally more granular than scope. example: a few years ago, the Smithsonian museum was taken to court because the scope of work of the contract was to maintain museum artifacts and executives were using the facility and staff to repair personal vehicles. The latter work is clearly out of scope.

Therefore, If the scope of work is to maintain museum artifacts then the requirements might address things like:

• All artifacts will be cleaned monthly using best professional standards
• Environmentally sensitive artifacts will be stored in a safe environment and weekly environmental monitoring will provide assurance that the environment has the right temperature/humdity/etc.
• Any artifact removed from display will be tracked in asset management in accordance with procedure X.

To craft a somewhat strained analogy, the scope of work is like the constitution. A good constitution is broad principles, strongly endorsed and rarely changing. Requirements are more like laws; they are more flexible and can change as society changes or technology Changes.

Thanks! The question actually came from the end of one of the PM Prepcast videos.

Hi Amanda,
If I may put my two cents in, Requirements document is usually developed in later stages of the project while the scope document is developed earlier. and as you know the further we progress in a project, the more we understand about the project scope and goals. so if both the scope and requirements documents contains acceptance criteria, the requirements document would contain more details with better accuracy, hope this helps.