Project Management Primer #7 - Using Project Goals to Filter Requirements

One of the primary purposes of goals is to act as a filter for subsequent requirements.

If a particular requirement cannot be traced back through higher-level goals to the overall project vision then it should be dropped since it will be outside the scope of the project.

For example, if the overall vision for the project was to “Deliver the best sales and marketing system on the market” an appropriate sub-goal might be “to deliver a sales-order processing system for use throughout all international offices”. An inappropriate sub-goal would be “to deliver an invoicing system” since the invoicing system would be part of the financial system and not the sales system.

This process of filtering should be used throughout the project to assess requests for extra functionality and to consider them for inclusion within the project. The use of such filtering techniques gives you a method with which to avoid the perils of “scope creep”.

The link between low and high level goals can be fundamentally important. By linking them together you can track your progress through the objectives of your product. By delivering low level goals you build up to the delivery of high level goals and ultimately the delivery of the completed project. This is known as traceability.

More Tutorials:

• 10 Truths for Successful Project Management

• Scope Triangle

• Critical Path

• The Mythical Man Month

• Defining the Project Scope

• Scope, Visions and Goals

• Using Project Goals to Filter Requirements

• Difference between a Business Case and Project Proposal?

• Return on Investment

• Requirements Specifications

Project Management Templates

Here are some Project Management templates you can get on our partner's site.

	The Change Management Kit provides the documentation required to control changes to the scope, deliverables and resources within the project. The Change Request template allows staff to raise a change request within the project.
	The Project Planning Kit provides you with all of the project management templates, documents and forms required to plan a project by helping you to schedule time, cost and resources.
	The Quality Management Kit includes a suite of templates used to assure and control the quality of deliverables within a project.
	Project Initiation Kit Start a new project by documenting a business case, undertaking a feasibility study, defining the project scope, recruiting key staff and locating them within a project office.
	Project Execution Kit Manage time, cost, quality, change, risks and issues during the execution of your project, as well as supplier procurement and customer acceptance.
	Project Closure Kit Helps close your project by handing over deliverables and documentation to the customer, terminating supplier contracts and releasing resources back to the business.