Project Scope Change And its Impacts

Project background: Developer xyz was in the middle of a project that went several scope changes while in UAT. The project is about implementing capability in the current Underwriting software to do pre-issue Medical Underwriting. The project was initiated by client request to modify the software to account for some new insurance product feature. The system was developed according the initial system design which was based on the BRD signed by user.

What caused scope change UAT testing was scheduled one month ago and is done by the Underwriting specialist who is very demanding and an excellent tester. While testing, she started coming up with new scenarios which was not supported by the processing and reporting modules of the system. eg: the system was designed for to underwrite an employee for a single coverage belonging to a specified group of carriers and product types. During testing, she pointed that sometimes, there would be requirement to underwrite a life coverage for the employee and supplemental dependent coverage for the spouse, at the same time to account to for some GI (guaranteed issue) calculations. The new system supported underwriting of one individual at a time, first employee and then spouse. This requirement was not recorded initially since she was not invited during the JAD. If she would have, then this point would have raised and would have included in scope and thus the BRD.

Effect on Project’s conduct and outcomeThe effect was that the situation called for a major design change, that ended in 2 week of extra coding. The project missed its deadline and was allowed extra 5 weeks to account for fixing and testing. The incurred extra cost for the company in terms of time and resources.

Lesson Learned: Involve the end user upfront in the JAD sessions and make sure that he/she signs off the scope.