Maturity of project scope management in MTN South Africa: a gap analysis leading to a roadmap for excellence

• Main Author: Loh, Ned
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: MTN SA; Project management
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/3858

M.Tech. === In the volatile telecommunication industry, innovation is the key to success. Mobile Telephone Network South Africa (MTN SA) needs to launch new products and services consistently to stay on the competitive edge. Consequently, effective project management becomes the key to gaining the competitive advantage by turning new product or service concepts into reality. According to Nokes and Kelly (2007:153–156), there is a high correlation between project success and effective project scope management. The effectiveness of project scope management can drastically affect the success of projects, as changes to the project scope may severely affect the project value creation, timeline, quality and cost. Accordingly, high project scope management maturity would contribute tremendously to the effectiveness of project management. The purpose of this present research is to define a roadmap to guide MTN’s Business Optimisation (BO) department to project scope management excellence. To meet this aim, the researcher utilises the concept of a Project Management Maturity Model (PMMM), as a guideline for the creation of a project scope management maturity model. The created project scope management maturity model is then utilised to provide an effective means to measure MTN SA’s project scope management maturity and identify the gaps prohibiting MTN SA from project scope excellence (Kerzner, 2004:193). Based on the literature review on the elements of project scope excellence, this paper suggests that there is a general misunderstanding regarding the definition of maturity. Many believe that process rigorousness indicates maturity, and have forgotten the criticality of the organisational culture that fosters an environment for project scope excellence and the effective use of the project scope process. iii This research offers a comparative study on the most popular and effective maturity models in the market, to identify the models that truly contribute to project scope management success and excellence. Finally, the research tailors the models to a project scope management focused maturity model, to assess MTN SA’s project scope management maturity from all aspects, and proposes a roadmap toward project scope management excellence.