Managing Scope Creep

Every project is vulnerable to scope creep. It is the desire to use the latest and greatest of the new technology and the need to improve on every aspect of a project as it unfolds that drive clients and instructional designers to begin requesting changes as the project unfolds. Unfortunately, scope creep can become the cause of missed deadlines and over budget outcomes, and can result in a project becoming out of control or failing all together (Doll, 2001).

Scope creep will begin when the project begins. It is important that any project have a project plan, and that the clients be kept informed in the additional costs and time delays related to requests to make changes as the project proceeds (Portny, Mantel, Meredith, Shafer, & Sutton, 2008).

An experience I had that leads me to reflect on scope creep is the design of an introductory science class for the school where I was teaching. Initially, it was to be a freshman level class, introducing the basics of chemistry and physics. There was no written plan or course outline, nor was there a timeline for the hours to be worked creating the class. As I began planning the year long course, the director began adding duties to the project, such as correlating the class to an online version to be used for credit recovery or as an alternative to being present in the classroom, integrating all of the exams into an online benchmark tracking software, and adapting the class for individual students who had already taken the class and were assigned to me for independent study, and for those who had accommodations that required me to personalize the course to meet their needs.

What began as a plan to layout one course quickly resulted in the equivalent of three courses being developed- low, mid, and highly challenging, each allowing the student to be present in the classroom during that class period, but to have individual educational services delivered. The time I was given for planning was based on 10 minutes for every hour of instruction. Unfortunately every hour of instruction included 3 separate course levels being taught.

Had I been the director (project manager) I would have started the project off with a brain storming session with several staff members of the school. As the development team, we could have shared the needs of the various students, and better identified the needs that would be addressed in the course being developed. Having established the project needs, I would ask the instructional designer to put together a project plan that would estimate the time and cost requirements for putting the course together. This would need to be done some months to a year in advance of the expected delivery of the course, allowing for planning and purchasing of materials and supplies. When new products such as the benchmark tracking software became available, I would consider incorporating that change in phase two of the project, after the course was created and successfully initiated.

The need to establish the course at three levels required an extension of the time allowed for the staff to design the course (courses) and to prepare the materials. Establishing the change after the assignment had begun placed pressure on the staff to move forward quickly, and resulted in a sacrifice of quality. It is important that as project manager I have a well developed understanding of the school administrations priorities when requesting a change in the project. It would be with the understanding that extending the time to delivery was not an option, that the decision to sacrifice quality would be made. As project manager I would keep thorough notes and documentation of the changes and suggested upgrades, so that after we completed phase one we could look to a follow up project to make additional improvements.

Doll, S. (2001, March 1). Seven steps for avoiding scope creep. In TechRepublic. Retrieved October 10, 2011, from http://www.techrepublic.com/article/seven-steps-for-avoiding-scope-creep/1045555

Portny, S. E., Mantel, S. J., Meredith, J. R., Shafer, S. M., Sutton, M. M., & Kramer, B. E. (2008). Project management: Planning, scheduling, and controlling projects. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Estimating Project Costs in e-Learning

Project managers preparing for an instructional design project must develop a budget to reflect the many resources used in the project. During the course of the project, any variations in the estimated budget should be addressed in a timely manner in order to assure that the project is able to be completed on time and within the funding resources assigned to the project.

In order to develop the best budget estimates, project managers can utilize a number of resources, including insights from peers in the profession who have completed similar work. Here are a few resources I have found helpful in creating a budget estimate for my project of converting an instructor based course to an e-Learning opportunity.

Convert ILT to eLearning - Estimating    

Dr. Tony Karrer provides insight into the related costs of converting an Instructor Lead Course (LIC) to an e-Learning course. Dr. Kerrer is the CEO/CTO of TechEmpower and is respected as one of the top technologists in eLearning. After teaching computer science for several years, Dr. Kerrer has led many start up projects, including eHarmony.

http://elearningtech.blogspot.com/2009/10/convert-ilt-to-elearning-estimating.html

Dr. Karrer uses this blog to answer questions and to guide instructional designers and project managers towards accurate estimations of the costs of establishing an e-Learning course.

Case Study: Converting an Existing Course to E-Learning

By Bill Qualls

http://www.astd.org/LC/2009/0409_qualls.htm

Bill Qualls is the vice president of curriculum and instruction at Caliber Data Training. In this case study, Mr. Qualls provides a summary of questions to consider when estimating the costs and benefits of converting a course to the e-Learning format.

Once it is determined that e-Learning is the best option for delivery of a course, the project manager should consider many factors in establishing a budget and schedule. Some of the factors that will affect the project budget and schedule include:

• Does the course already exist in ILT format?

• If there is an existing ILT course, does the courseware exist in electronic form? Is it useable?

• If there is an existing ILT course, how complete is it?

• Are there any hands-on labs in the ILT course? Will these need to be converted? Is it feasible to do so?

• Is the person doing the conversion already familiar with the ILT course?

• Is the person doing the conversion already familiar with the product or service being taught?

• Will subject matter experts (SMEs) be available for consultation as needed?

• Will the person doing the conversion be dedicated to this project exclusively?

• How many people will be working on the conversion team?

• How much animation is required?

• Is the scope of the conversion effort clearly defined?

• What is the approval process? Who will sign off on the project?

• How will the finished product be implemented within the organization?

• Does the organization use a learning management system (LMS)? If so, will this product be required to interface with that LMS?

• How will learning be measured?

• Is the person doing the conversion familiar with the e-learning software? Does the person doing the conversion have prior experience with similar projects?

Please read the Case Study for details on how these factors affect the conversion plan.

What Training Costs     

Beth Chmielowski posts some thoughts about estimating the costs of a conversion form an ILC to an e-Learning course and the best practices she believes will provide the most accurate budgeting for such a conversion.

In her post What Training Costs Part I: Converting Content from ILT to WBT Beth explains why she believes that the real correct answer to “What will it cost” actually is “It depends”. Beth highlights her analysis of several factors:

1. The compression ratio of a project is typically 50%.

2. The development costs can be based on content and interactivity.

3. There are “reusability savings” for materials that exist in the ILC that are available in electronic format and can be easily converted for use in the new format.

In her second article, What Training Costs Part 2: Building ILT and V-ILT Courses, Beth establishes the cost of a project using the formula

Length of course in hours x development ratio x (blended) cost of resources

Her formula takes into consideration several additional conditions:

4. The “Level of Effort” required to perform each task will impact the overall cost.

5. There is a cost for resources to be used in the project.

6. There is a “blended” rate that can be used for the various resources working on the project.

In addition, Beth provides several “caveats” that can lead to additional costs and should be given special consideration when budgeting. Those include:

7. If multi-media is to be used, include a special Level of Effort analysis for the production of the course material.

8. If this is the first use of e-Learning there must be consideration to the cost if integrating your current technology with the learning management system.

9. If the course is to be completely online, consider the cost of providing facilities for those who will be participating.

10. If you have to train the person who will be facilitating the course, allow extra time for allowing them to become familiar with the technology.

11. Build in the cost for a person to provide assistance with the course being delivered.

An additional resource for understanding the justification to make such a conversion is

Effectiveness and costs of distance education using computer‐mediated communication

Article from the September 1999 issues of T.H.E.Journal

http://www.itma.vt.edu/modules/spring03/telecomold/r4-2_virtual_classroom_design.pdf

This easy to read summary provides a step-by-step guide for conceiving, planning, designing, implementing, and maintaining a virtual classroom. The article includes the following graphic to provide a visual summary of the content of the article.

 References
Chmielowski, B. (2009, July 30). What Training Costs Part I: Converting Content from ILT to WBT. In VMG. Retrieved October 3, 2011, from http://velocitymg.com/explorations/leveraging-learning/what-training-costs-part-i-converting-content-from-ilt-to-wbt/


Hsu, S., Marcus, O., Hamza, M. K., & Alhalabi, B. (1999, September). How to design a virtual classroom: 10 easy steps to follow. In T.H.E. Journal. Retrieved October 4, 2011, from http://www.itma.vt.edu/modules/spring03/telecomold/r4-2_virtual_classroom_design.pdf

Karrer, T. (2009, October 14). Convert ILT to eLearning - Estimating . In e-Learning Technology. Retrieved October 3, 2011, from http://elearningtech.blogspot.com/2009/10/convert-ilt-to-elearning-estimating.html

Qualls, B. (2009). Case Study: Converting an Existing Course to E-Learning. In ASTD Learning Circuits. Retrieved October 4, 2011, from http://www.astd.org/LC/2009/0409_qualls.htm