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PKMC Module I study materials
PKMC Module I study resources

PKMC Module I: Scope Planning, Requirements, and Work Breakdown Structure

PKMC Module I · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.

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Scope Planning, Requirements, and Work Breakdown Structure

Scope questions test whether you can build a defensible baseline and hold it. The exam rewards precision about the 100% rule, work packages, acceptance criteria, and the difference between verifying scope and controlling quality.

Core rules

  • The scope management plan says how scope will be defined, validated, and controlled; the requirements management plan says how requirements are elicited, analyzed, and traced.
  • The requirements traceability matrix links each requirement to its source and forward to design, build, test, and acceptance; that is how you prove nothing was dropped.
  • The scope statement records product scope, project scope, deliverables, acceptance criteria, and exclusions; exclusions prevent later claims that the work was assumed.
  • The WBS is deliverable-oriented, not activity- or org-oriented, and obeys the 100% rule: child elements sum exactly to the parent, with no gaps and no overlap.
  • Work packages sit at the lowest WBS level; activities belong to the schedule, not the WBS. The WBS dictionary defines each package's scope, acceptance criteria, and responsible party.
  • Scope baseline = scope statement + WBS + WBS dictionary. Validate scope is formal customer acceptance of completed deliverables; control quality checks correctness first.

Worked example

A draft WBS has level-2 elements named 'Project management' and 'Stakeholder meetings'. Both are effort, not deliverables, and neither has acceptance criteria. Rebuild so level 2 holds deliverables: Trained staff, Migrated data, Deployed system, Accepted reports. Then check the 100% rule: if the four packages are estimated at 40, 60, 70, and 30 hours, the parent must equal exactly 200 hours. Discovering a fifth package later means the WBS was incomplete, not that the budget should stretch.

Traps

Putting activities in the WBS. Building the WBS by org chart. Allowing 'project management' as a deliverable without criteria. Confusing validate scope (customer acceptance) with control quality (correctness). Accepting a change without updating the baseline.