Considerations for an accurate Scope of work (SOW)

 Developing a scope of work is a collaborative process requiring input from both customer and contractor.  The first step in this process is to determine why you are making this investment?

• Increase Production
• Improve Safety
• Reduce Scrap
• Improve Efficiency
• Improve Data In/Out

 Often, many potential problems are uncovered and solved during this process.  Think of how easy turn by turn directions on your GPS guide you to a destination. This is what a good scope document does for a project. The devil is in the details......

How will Progress be measured? a timeline with milestones and evaluation dates will keep your project on track. A good project plan template gives you a good and consistent place to start every time.

• Project Milestones such as:
  • Engineering review dates
  • Document delivery dates
  • Planned shutdown dates
  • Commissioning dates
  • Completion date
• Project timeline incorporating:
  • Milestones
  • Resources
  • Tasks 

Any scope of work without a list of specifications and tolerances has little chance of success. 

For Software, you might find tolerances like:

• Positioning accuracy
• measuring accuracy
• repeatability tolerance
• Speed control accuracy
• Min/max speed
• Production rate
• Safety Integrity level
• Visualization screen designs
• Operator controls

For other types of projects you will have different tolerances 

• How will progress be reported?
• How will conflicts be resolved?
• Who has Authority to change the agreement? 

What resources will be required to complete the projcet:

• Contractors & subcontractors
• Equipment / Plant availability
• Downtime

Q: Why do I have to pay for an SOW?

• A: You don't have to, you can provide a detailed scope of work yourself. If you want this portion done for you, it will require time both on and off site for research and meetings to determine an aggreeable SOW. 

Q: My project is simple, why do I need an SOW

• A1: Your project may seem simple to you, as you have intimate knowledge of your plant or process that an outside company may not have.
• A2: without an SOW, you are assuming that the deliverable will be exactly what you want. We all know what assumptions lead to, Right?
• A3: If you have AZAS develop your scope of work, you can then take that to other contractors to obtain bids. You can use AZAS for a single service like an SOW without further obligation.