The scope of a project is the sum total of all project products and their requirements or features. Sometimes scope is used to refer to the totality of work needed to complete a project.
In traditional project management, the tools to describe a project's scope are the product breakdown structure and product descriptions. The primary tool to describe a project's scope is the work breakdown structure.
If requirements are not completely defined and described and if there is no effective change control in a project, scope or requirement creeps may occur.
Creep is a problem that occurs in project management where the initial objectives of the project are placed in jeopardy by a gradual increase in overall objectives as the project progresses.
The requirements of the new objectives can exceed the resources allocated to the project resulting in the project missing deadlines, overrunning budgets or failing completely.
Scope Creep refers to uncontrolled changes in a project's scope. It can happen when the scope of a project is not properly defined, documented and controlled and can result in time or budget overruns.
Scope creep can involve a scope increase, consisting of new products or new features of existing products. This can happen if the project team drifts away from its original purpose. Scope creep can also cause a project team to overrun its original budget and schedule. As the scope of a project grows, more tasks must be completed at the same cost and in the same time frame as the original series of project tasks.
Scope creep is often a result of weak project management, poor change control or incorrect identification of the products and features required to achieve project objectives.