Statement Of Work (SOW)

Definition

The statement of work (SOW) is the management work product that formally documents the work products to be delivered and the associated work units to be performed under the contract.

Objectives

The typical objectives of the statement of work are to:

• Enable the:
  • Development organization to clearly understand the requirements and needs of the customer organization.
  • Subcontractor or vendor organization to clearly understand the requirements and needs of the development organization.
• Enable the development organizations to more accurately estimate the effort, schedule, and cost of the endeavor.
• Enable the development organization and customer organization to measure the:
  • Progress of the endeavor.
  • Performance of the development organization.
• Protect the interests of both the development and customer organizations.

Benefits

The typical benefits of a statement of work include:

• It provides necessary detailed content that is missing from the higher-level contract.
• It more clearly specifies the legal obligations and responsibilities of the customer and development organizations.
• It provides a basis for:
  • The work breakdown structure.
  • Performing the management planning task.
• It minimizes endeavor risk due to inadequate customer relationship management.

Contents

A statement of work typically has the following contents:

• Deliverables
  • Work Products
  • Services
• Activities and Tasks
• Schedule, Cycle, Phases, and Milestones
• Success Criteria
• Costing and Payment
• Approvals (who, what, and when)
• Appendices:
  • Major Issues
  • TBDs
  • Assumptions

Stakeholders

A statement of work typically has the following stakeholders:

• Producer:
  • Management Team:
    • Contact Center Management Team
    • Data Center Management Team
    • Program Management Team
    • Program Management Team
    • Project Management Team
    • Reuse Center Management Team
• Evaluators:
  • Management Inspection Team
  • Customer Representative, Subcontractor Representative, or Vendor Representative
• Approvers:
  • Management Team:
    • Contact Center Management Team
    • Data Center Management Team
    • Program Management Team
    • Program Management Team
    • Project Management Team
    • Reuse Center Management Team
  • Technical Leader
  • Customer Representative, Subcontractor Representative, or Vendor Representative
• Maintainers:
  • Management Team:
    • Contact Center Management Team
    • Data Center Management Team
    • Program Management Team
    • Program Management Team
    • Project Management Team
    • Reuse Center Management Team
• Users:
  • Management Team:
    • Contact Center Management Team
    • Data Center Management Team
    • Program Management Team
    • Program Management Team
    • Project Management Team
    • Reuse Center Management Team
  • Organization:
    • Customer Organization
    • Subcontractor Organization
    • Vendor Organization

Phases

A statement of work is typically produced and maintained during the following phases:

• Business Strategy: Completed
• Business Optimization: Completed
• Initiation: Completed
• Construction: Completed
• Delivery: Completed
• Usage: Maintained
• Retirement: Archived

Preconditions

A statement of work can typically be started if the following preconditions hold:

• The management team is properly staffed and trained in the relationship management and scope management tasks.
• The contract is relatively stable and complete.

Inputs

A statement of work typically has the following inputs:

• Work Products:
  • Contract
  • Mission Statement
  • Initial Process Description Document
  • Initial Work Breakdown Structure
  • The results of market research.
• Stakeholders:
  • Customer Representative
  • Subcontractor Representative
  • Vendor Representative

Guidelines

• A statement of work is often included by reference within the contract. Thus, a contract and corresponding statement of work are often developed iteratively, incrementally, and in parallel with each other.
• A statement of work should be:
  • Adequately specific without unnecessarily tying the hands of the development organization.
  • Complete.
  • Consistent with the contract without redundantly duplicating material in the contract. An update to the contract implies a corresponding update to the statement of work.
  • Clear, unambiguous, understandable, and devoid of technical jargon.
  • Realistic and practical.
• Because the work breakdown structure expands on the work units summarized in the corresponding statement of work, the two documents must remain consistent without becoming too redundant.
• Use the procedure in the associated work flow to produce this work product.
• If you tailor this work product, then tailor its associated standard, template, and inspection checklist.

Conventions

A statement of work is typically constrained by the following conventions:

• Work Flow
• Content and Format Standard
• MS Word Template
• XML Template
• Inspection Checklist

Examples

• Example Statement of Work