Scope of Work: Helps Define Budgets; Saves Money

A Scope of Work (SOW) deep dives into the details of a project.

The objective of a Scope of Work is to make the details of what parties can expect as clear as possible. A Scope of Work also involves setting specific?limits and boundaries to your project.

Commonly, project managers and their teams write the Scope of Work document, which should succinctly describe goals, deadlines, tasks, deliverables and expectations.

A Scope of Work also defines what is not included in a particular project.

Analysts believe that organizations that truly understand the importance of the Scope of Work section of a Statement of Work can get their budget estimate off to a strong start, setting up projects for success even before kick-off.

Each Scope of Work serves a unique purpose but leads to a common outcome: They give context to the project for the teams involved and expand on details that will affect the execution of the contract.

Scope of Work details usually follow the introduction and project goals section of?the larger Statement of Work, and include elements such as:

• Explanations of the particular scope’s purpose
• Divisions of responsibilities between contractor and owner
• Expected project quality and methods of execution
• Project, reporting and payment schedules
• Contract-specific additional duties and evaluations

Besides defining budgets, an effective Scope of Work has many other benefits such as saving an organization money.

Sending more people or having to return to a project because the scope was inaccurate or not detailed exponentially increases the service costs. Not only service costs, but there are times that revenue-driving businesses and equipment need to be shut down while work is completed. The more information shared with all parties involved, the faster business can be up and running again.

Related to that, a well written Scope of Work saves time.

A professional, effective Scope of Work also serves as an excellent reference for an organization in terms of future projects. A poorly written Scope of Work can leave people and their organizations appearing unprofessional even when the fault is not theirs.

Want to learn more? Tonex offers Scope of Work Training Workshop, a 2-day course that provides participants with key concepts, approaches, tools and configuration of the Scope of Work.

You will learn best practices, analyze case studies, and recognize the impact your work has on cost, schedule, and quality. You will leave equipped with the ability to write a Scope of work that reflects actual requirements, elicits competitive proposals, and guides contractor performance.

Additionally, participants practice writing each part of the SOW through a hands-on workshop, as well as examine a Scope of work from a contractor’s perspective.

Also, Tonex offers a?Scope of Work Writing?page and several SOW courses, such as:

Scope Training Workshop (2 days)

SOW Writing Workshop (1 day)

SOW Writing Training (2 days)

For more information, questions, comments,?contact us.