Project Management and Scope Control Every experienced project manager can attest to the constant threat posed by a phenomenon known as scope creep, wherein the prudently planned objectives of a particular project are unwittingly permitted to swell in a seemingly independent fashion. When budgets slowly begin to balloon and an unending stream of employees are added superfluously to a project's staff, the scope of a project, or "all of the work involved in creating the products of the project and the processes used to create them" (Schwalbe, 2011), has experienced scope creep despite the project manager's best intentions. The five-pronged process of project scope management currently advocated by industry experts includes (1) the collection of specific requirements, (2) a precise definition of the project's scope, (3) the creation of a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) document, (4) verification of scope via inspection and acceptance...

Utilizing project scope management "includes the processes involved in defining and controlling what work is or is not included in a project," and this skill is especially important for business operations because "the project team and stakeholders have the same understanding of what products the project will produce and what processes the project team will use to produce them" (Schwalbe, 2011).
In order to maintain strict scope control throughout the duration of a project's life, it is important to utilize an important tool known as variance analysis. This technique involves the comparative measurement of planned performance and actual performance to formulate targeted improvements to the project's performance. Controlling the scope of any project is essential if the inevitable changes which tend to occur…