PRELIMINARY PROJECT SCOPE STATEMENT TEMPLATE

This Preliminary Project Scope Statement Template is free for you to copy and use on
your project and within your organization. We hope that you find this template useful and
welcome your comments. Public distribution of this document is only permitted from the
Project Management Docs official website at:
www.ProjectManagementDocs.com

PRELIMINARY PROJECT SCOPE STATEMENT

<PROJECT NAME>

COMPANY NAME
STREET ADDRESS
CITY, STATE ZIP CODE

DATE
 Preliminary Project Scope Statement Template
www.ProjectManagementDocs.com

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Project and Product Objectives........................................................................................................2
Product or Service Requirements and Characteristics.....................................................................3
Product Acceptance Criteria............................................................................................................3
Project Boundaries...........................................................................................................................3
Project Requirements and Deliverables...........................................................................................3
Project Assumptions........................................................................................................................3
Initial Project Organization..............................................................................................................3
Initial Defined Risks........................................................................................................................3
Schedule Milestones........................................................................................................................3
Initial WBS (high level)...................................................................................................................3
Order of Magnitude Cost Estimate..................................................................................................3
Project Configuration Management Requirements..........................................................................3

1
 Preliminary Project Scope Statement Template
www.ProjectManagementDocs.com

This Preliminary Project Scope Statement defines the scope of the <Project Name> project. –
need to write an introduction paragraph here.

PROJECT AND PRODUCT OBJECTIVES

The project and product objectives are statements describing the tangible deliverables of the
project and what they are expected to achieve. The objectives should be concisely written so
they can be evaluated after the completion of the project to see whether they were achieved and
to the extent they were achieved. The objectives should be specific, measurable, attainable,
realistic and time bound.

An example of an objective statement might be to "upgrade the helpdesk telephone system by

December 31 to achieve average client wait times of no more than two minutes".
 Note that the objective is much more concrete and specific than the goal statement.
 The objective is measurable in terms of the average client wait times the new phone
system is trying to achieve.
 We must assume that the objective is achievable and realistic.
 The objective is time-bound, and should be completed by December 31.

Objectives should refer to the deliverables of the project. In this case, it refers to the upgrade of
the telephone system. If you cannot determine what deliverables are being created to achieve the
objective, then the objective may be written at too high a level. On the other hand, if an objective
describes the characteristics of the deliverables, they are written at too low a level. If they
describe the features and functions, they are requirements, not objectives.

State the objectives of the project and resulting products.

The project objective consists of the business benefits that an organization expects to achieve as
a result of spending time and exerting effort to complete a project.
State the main objectives (the reasons for doing the project) along with additional objectives (the
benefits achieved almost as side-effects, not the reasons for doing the project).

Include excluded objectives (the benefits which someone might expect but will not be realized as
a result of the project). Be sure to only list excluded objectives that one can reasonably expect to
be included by project sponsors or other interested parties. For instance, a project sponsor might
expect that by deploying a new IT system that the productivity of people using that system will
increase, when in actuality their productivity will not increase.

The objectives of the <Project Name> project is to <write a descriptive of the objectives of the
project, include the objectives of any products which are deliverables of the project. Be specific
and make the objectives measurable. The objectives should be realistic and achievable.>.

2
 Preliminary Project Scope Statement Template
www.ProjectManagementDocs.com

PRODUCT OR SERVICE REQUIREMENTS AND CHARACTERISTICS

PRODUCT ACCEPTANCE CRITERIA

To ensure the quality of the products developed under the <Project Name> the following product
acceptance criteria have been established <bulleted list of acceptance criteria>:
• <product name> must conform to local building codes and be approved by all required
inspections.
•

PROJECT BOUNDARIES

PROJECT REQUIREMENTS AND DELIVERABLES

PROJECT ASSUMPTIONS

INITIAL PROJECT ORGANIZATION

INITIAL DEFINED RISKS

SCHEDULE MILESTONES

INITIAL WBS (HIGH LEVEL)

ORDER OF MAGNITUDE COST ESTIMATE

PROJECT CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT REQUIREMENTS

Scope Inclusions and Exclusions (defined as requirements or deliverables)

Boundaries

PROJECT MANAGEMENT APPROACH

<This section identifies the Project Manager>
As the MDOT Project Manager, <Project Manager Name> will have overall authority
and responsibility for the acceptance of the deliverables defined in this project. The
project team will consist of personnel from <Project Team Staffing Source>.

3
 Preliminary Project Scope Statement Template
www.ProjectManagementDocs.com

<authorize the project>This Charter authorizes a project to <describe the project here – is it to
develop and implement a new system, upgrade an existing, perform research, etc.>. A project
plan will be developed and submitted to the Project Sponsor for approval. Commencement of
project activities will begin upon approval of the project plan and the resources to execute it by
the Project Sponsor. Included in the project plan are to be a scope statement; schedule; cost
estimate; budget; and provisions for scope, resource, schedule, communications, quality, risk,
procurement, and stakeholder management as well as project control.

The purpose of the <Project Name> project is to <state the purpose of the project in more detail
than stated in the first sentence of the previous paragraph – but limit the description of the
purpose to a short paragraph>.

<give the Project Manager authority for the project>The Project Manager, <Project Manager
Name>, is hereby authorized to interface with management as required, negotiate for resources,
delegate responsibilities within the framework of the project, and to communicate with all
contractors and management, as required, to ensure successful and timely completion of the
project. The Project Manager is responsible for developing the project plan, monitoring the
schedule, cost, and scope of the project during implementation, and maintaining control over the
project by measuring performance and taking corrective action.

<identify which of the PMBOK triple constraints are flexible and which are not>The objective is
to complete the project within the time, cost and quality constraints to be set forth in the project
plan. Since this project is driven by specific time requirements, the constraints of cost and
quality may be flexible to meet the time constraint.

<state the budget for the project and funding source>The budget for the <Project Name> project
is $XXXXX. It is to be funded through <funding source/budget>.

<identify the project deliverables>The project deliverables shall include <provide a high level
description of the project deliverables in the form of a system description including functionality
or expected results>

Approved by the Project Sponsor:

___________________________________________ Date:____________________
<Project Sponsor>
<Project Sponsor Title>

Free Project Charter Template brought to you by www.ProjectManagementDocs.com