Project Scope Template

Define and manage project goals and objectives, on budget and on time.

About the Project Scope Template

A project scope helps you plan and confirm your project’s goals, deliverables, features, functions, tasks, costs, and deadlines. A project manager and team should develop a project scope as early as possible, as it will directly influence both the schedule and cost of a project as it progresses.

Keep reading to learn more about project scopes.

What is a project scope

Typically, a project scope will include the project’s:

Goals
Requirements
Major deliverables
Assumptions
Constraints

Ultimately, a project scope will empower your team to say no when new or unreasonable requests come up, and stick to set timelines and budgets for efficient project delivery.

When to use a project scope

Your team can benefit from a project scope to adopt a clear vision and mutual agreement for what a successful project outcome looks like. Most projects will have checkpoints, milestones or phases, and a project scope will help you stay on track each step of the way.

If you need to allocate resources and form a reasonable timeline, a project scope can help you stay on-budget within a reasonable timeline.

Create your own project scope

Making your own project scopes is easy. Miro’s whiteboard tool is the perfect canvas to create and share them. Get started by selecting the Project Scope Template, then take the following steps to make one of your own.

Invite your team to add notes to each project scope element. Project planning should ideally be a collaborative process, even if a project lead has been selected. If your team is involved from the start, everyone can accept and sign off on the document, prioritize tasks, and avoid scope creep – which can delay a project and prevent its successful completion.
Define your business case and goals. This includes the reason for the project’s funding, and how the project relates to business goals or intended outcomes.
Add the project description and deliverables. Clearly outline what will be delivered throughout the project, and what counts as a final deliverable. You can go into detail here: include elements like quantity, length, and anything else you’d use to measure the frequency and amount of a deliverable.
Fill in project acceptance criteria. Examples of metrics include finishing project requirements on time and on budget, user acceptance testing, or stakeholder review and approval.
Outline project limitations. Setting limits will help you plan whether you have the time or budget to explore alternatives if you encounter roadblocks. Cover yourself by specifying limitations as early as possible.
Add an overview of the project assumptions. Even if you think these are obvious, take the time to outline them so your team members are aware of what to expect.
List any project exclusions. Even if you’ve detailed what you will deliver, it’s also important to itemize what you will not.
Add costs if needed. If you’re an external consultant or agency, you may want to outline costs at every phase or milestone. The clearer you make a case for project scope, the easier it will be to manage and increase costs and timelines as needed.