Scope Management has six processes: Plan Scope Management, Collect Requirements, Define Scope, Create WBS, Validate Scope, and Control Scope. The team must distinguish product scope, which describes the features of the product or service, from project scope, which describes the work needed to deliver that product scope. Both end up in the scope baseline. The Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is a hierarchical decomposition of total project scope into deliverables; the lowest level produces work packages that can be scheduled, cost-estimated, and monitored. Activities are the atomic actions inside the schedule that produce those work packages, while deliverables are the tangible results handed off to a customer. The 100% Rule states that every piece of work required to produce the deliverables must appear in the WBS, and the WBS must not contain work outside the project's scope.
The WBS dictionary describes each WBS element with its code, scope, owner, milestones, cost, and contract information. A control account is a WBS element placed at a management point where scope, schedule, and cost are integrated and tracked, which is the foundation for Earned Value Management. Validate Scope is the formal acceptance of completed deliverables with the sponsor or customer, typically through inspections and walkthroughs. Control Scope monitors scope and performance and manages scope creep — the uncontrolled expansion of project scope without adjustments to time, cost, and resources, usually caused by poorly managed change control. A requirements traceability matrix links each requirement to its WBS element, tests, and design to ensure full coverage.
Schedule Management also has six processes: Plan Schedule Management, Define Activities, Sequence Activities, Estimate Activity Durations, Develop Schedule, and Control Schedule. Activities can have three types of dependencies: mandatory (hard logic from physical limits), discretionary (soft logic chosen by the team), and external (outside the project's control). Network diagrams can be drawn using PDM (Precedence Diagramming with nodes and arrows), ADM (Arrow Diagramming with arrows as activities), or CCBM (Conditional/branching for iterative contexts). The four precedence relationships are Finish-to-Start, Finish-to-Finish, Start-to-Start, and the rarely used Start-to-Finish.
The Critical Path Method identifies the longest path through the schedule network and sets the project duration; activities on this path have zero total float. Total float is how long an activity can slip without delaying the project finish date, while free float is how long it can slip without delaying any successor's early start. A near-critical path has total float close to zero and needs close monitoring. Float can be modified through lead (overlapping a successor before its predecessor finishes) or lag (a forced delay between activities). To compress schedules, crashing adds resources to shorten an activity at higher cost, while fast-tracking runs activities in parallel that were originally planned sequentially, accepting more risk. Resource leveling adjusts start and finish dates to balance demand and may extend the schedule, whereas resource smoothing adjusts only within float without changing the end date. Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM) adds buffers — project, feeding, and resource — to protect the schedule from student syndrome and Parkinson's Law. Milestones mark significant events with zero duration, and hammock activities are summary activities that span several underlying activities for reporting purposes without altering network logic. What-if scenario analysis models questions such as the delay of a key resource to assess schedule impact.