| Course | PM 585 Project Scheduling and Value Management (PM/585) |
|---|---|
| Week | 1 |
| Paper type | Graduate requirements and scope paper |
| Length | about 1,198 words, 4 double-spaced pages plus title page and references |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | University of Phoenix |
| Program | MBA |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for PM 585 Week 1
Which Pipes, Whose Yard and What Counts as Done: Requirements and Scope for a City's First Lead Service Line Replacement Project
[Student Name]
University of Phoenix
PM/585: Project Scheduling and Value Management
Week 1 Assignment
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
Allegheny Ridge Water Authority, its city, figures and stakeholders are composites written for a model paper.
Allegheny Ridge Water Authority is a composite public water utility serving a city of about 140,000 people and two neighboring boroughs in western Pennsylvania. Its distribution system dates in parts to the 1890s, and its inventory, completed last year, identified about 9,800 lead service lines and 3,100 galvanized lines downstream of lead connections, which also must be replaced, plus about 4,000 lines of unknown material. Federal rules finalized in 2024 require most utilities to replace such lines within roughly ten years. The authority's board has approved a first two-year project to replace about 2,400 lines, funded mainly by a low-interest state revolving fund loan with a forgivable portion. Before anyone can schedule crews or estimate costs, the project needs clear requirements and scope. This paper sets them out.
Why Requirements Come First
Scheduling and cost estimates rest on knowing what will be built. Research on project failure has long pointed to requirements. In a study of software and information system projects, Verner et al. (2008) found that poor requirements, including unclear or changing requirements and poor understanding of customer needs, showed up again and again in the projects that failed. Infrastructure projects show the same pattern in another form: Love et al. (2002) studied construction projects and found that scope changes, often from incomplete design and client requests, were a significant cause of cost and time overruns. For a lead line project, the requirement questions are specific: which lines, on whose property, under what standards and with whose consent.
Stakeholders and Elicitation
Homeowners and landlords: their consent is needed to replace the private portion of each line. Elicitation: household interviews in two pilot neighborhoods and a mailed survey to all affected addresses.
Tenants: they live with the disruption and the water. Elicitation: focus groups through two community organizations.
State environmental agency: sets compliance requirements and reporting. Elicitation: document review and a meeting with the regional office.
State infrastructure funding authority: sets loan and procurement conditions. Elicitation: review of the funding agreement.
City streets department: controls road and sidewalk openings. Elicitation: interviews and review of permit rules.
Authority field crews and contractors: know installation methods and site conditions. Elicitation: workshops.
Schools and child care centers: priority sites for health reasons. Elicitation: records review and calls to administrators.
Requirements by Group
Regulatory: replace the full line from the main to the meter or building entry, not just the public portion, since partial replacement can temporarily raise lead levels; flush and provide filters to residents after each replacement; report replacements to the state agency in the required format.
Technical: use copper or approved plastic pipe meeting the authority's standards; restore pavement and sidewalks to city standards within 30 days; locate and record the material of each line excavated.
Customer: give at least 14 days' notice before work; complete work at each property within one day where possible; provide written instructions in English, Spanish and Nepali, the three most common languages in affected neighborhoods; offer free replacement of the private portion.
Funding: follow federal and state procurement rules, including the disadvantaged business participation goal; track costs by address; meet the loan's construction deadlines.
Each requirement was given a priority: must, should or could. All regulatory and funding requirements are musts; the 30-day restoration is a should, since winter weather may delay paving.
A requirement that cannot be checked is a promise, and promises are what homeowners remember when the street is torn up.
Acceptance Criteria
Examples: a replacement is complete when the new line runs from the main to inside the building's foundation, the old line is removed or disconnected, a photograph of both ends is stored in the asset system, the resident has received filters and flushing instructions and the curb box is set to grade. A street block is accepted when all scheduled replacements are complete, pavement is restored and the city streets inspector has signed off.
Scope Statement
In scope: replacement of about 2,400 lead and galvanized-requiring-replacement service lines, selected by the prioritization rule below, over two construction seasons; property access agreements; resident notification and filter distribution; pavement and sidewalk restoration; material verification and records updates; and compliance reporting.
Out of scope: indoor plumbing and fixtures; replacement of water mains, except where a main break forces it; lines of unknown material that are confirmed not to be lead; and properties whose owners decline access after three documented attempts, which are recorded for later outreach.
Assumptions: at least 85 percent of property owners will sign access agreements; contractors can field eight crews; the funding authority approves the procurement plan within 90 days.
Constraints: construction from April to November; the loan's deadline for spending its forgivable portion; prioritization of neighborhoods with child care centers and schools and with higher measured lead levels.
Requirements That Conflict
Some requirements pull against each other. Completing work at each property in one day conflicts with full replacement to the building entry in older homes with finished basements, where crews may need to open a wall. Prioritizing child care centers conflicts with working street by street, since the centers are spread across the city. The project resolves the first by allowing a second visit with 48 hours' notice when interior access requires it, and the second by assigning one crew to priority sites while the other seven work in street sequence. Recording these resolutions now prevents the same debate from recurring at every site.
Prioritization Rule
The 2,400 lines are selected by a rule the board approved: first, lines serving schools and child care centers; then census blocks with the highest share of confirmed lead lines and the most children under six; then blocks grouped for construction efficiency, so that crews work street by street rather than scattering across the city.
Traceability and Change Control
The current standard treats tracing requirements to deliverables as a way to keep what is built tied to what stakeholders need (Project Management Institute [PMI], 2021). A traceability matrix lists each requirement with its source, priority, the deliverable that satisfies it and the test or inspection that verifies it. For example, the notice requirement traces to the customer focus groups, is satisfied by the notification process and is verified by a dated record for each address. Changes to requirements go through the project's change process: the project manager may approve changes that do not affect cost, schedule or compliance; others go to the authority's engineering director, and anything affecting compliance or the loan goes to the board.
How This Scope Shapes the Schedule
The scope already reveals schedule drivers: the construction season, access agreements, street permits and restoration. Week 2 will break the scope into a work breakdown structure, and later weeks will estimate and schedule the work.
Conclusion
Allegheny Ridge's first lead line project needs requirements that come from residents, regulators, funders and crews, written so they can be checked, and a scope statement that says what is in, what is out and what is assumed. With a prioritization rule, a traceability matrix and change control, the project has a foundation that later schedules and estimates can rely on.
References
Love, P. E. D., Holt, G. D., Shen, L. Y., Li, H., & Irani, Z. (2002). Using systems dynamics to better understand change and rework in construction project management systems. International Journal of Project Management, 20(6), 425-436. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0263-7863(01)00039-4
Project Management Institute. (2021). A guide to the project management body of knowledge (PMBOK guide) (7th ed.). Project Management Institute.
Verner, J., Sampson, J., & Cerpa, N. (2008). What factors lead to software project failure? In 2008 Second International Conference on Research Challenges in Information Science (pp. 71-80). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/RCIS.2008.4632095
What the PM 585 Week 1 instructions ask
The first PM 585 assignment commonly asks graduate students to define requirements and scope for a project as the foundation for scheduling. Prompts may ask students to identify stakeholders, choose elicitation techniques, document and prioritize requirements, write a scope statement with deliverables, acceptance criteria, exclusions, assumptions and constraints and explain how requirements will be traced and controlled. Some versions ask how scope definition affects later scheduling and cost estimates. Use a realistic project with enough complexity to carry through the course, show examples of actual requirements and acceptance criteria and support your approach with journal research on requirements and scope management, cited in APA format.
How this PM 585 Week 1 example is built
Our model starts with a utility that knows it must replace lead pipes but has not yet decided exactly which ones, in what order or who pays for the private side. It names the stakeholders, from homeowners and landlords to the state environmental agency and the funding authority, and pairs each with an elicitation method, such as inventory records review for engineering data and household interviews in two neighborhoods. Requirements are grouped and prioritized, then written with testable acceptance criteria, such as a lead-free line from main to meter verified by inspection and photo record. The scope statement sets 2,400 lines over two construction seasons, excludes indoor plumbing and lists assumptions about access agreements. A traceability matrix and a change rule close the paper.
PM 585 Week 1 grading rubric: where the points go
Graders look for requirements that are specific, sourced and testable and a scope statement that would prevent arguments later. High-scoring papers identify stakeholders thoroughly, justify elicitation methods, prioritize requirements and write acceptance criteria someone could check. The scope statement should include deliverables, exclusions, assumptions and constraints, and the paper should explain how requirements will be traced to deliverables and controlled when they change. Connecting poor scope definition to later schedule and cost problems, with research support, shows graduate depth. Showing one requirement traced all the way from its source to the inspection that proves it was met is an easy way to demonstrate that the matrix works. A clear structure, well-formatted examples and accurate APA citations complete the strongest work.
PM 585 Week 1 help: mistakes to avoid
Requirements written as wishes, such as the project should be efficient, are the most common problem. Each requirement needs a source and a way to verify it. Another frequent gap is leaving out exclusions; in public projects, stakeholders will assume the project covers anything nearby unless the scope says otherwise. Students also collect requirements from the sponsor alone and miss regulators, funders and the people affected. Some papers mix requirements with design solutions, such as specifying a brand of pipe when the requirement is a material standard. Finally, explain how changes will be handled, since requirements always change. If your acceptance criteria are hard to test, a tutor can help you rewrite them.
Related PM 585 sample papers
Other PM 585 week samples
- PM 585 Week 2: Work Breakdown Structure
- PM 585 Week 3: Estimating Duration and Cost
- PM 585 Week 4: Building the Schedule
- PM 585 Week 5: Monitoring and Control
- PM 585 Week 6: Earned Value Analysis
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PM 585 Week 1 questions, answered
What does PM 585 Week 1 usually cover?
It usually covers gathering and documenting requirements and defining project scope, including stakeholders, elicitation techniques, acceptance criteria, exclusions, assumptions, traceability and change control, as the basis for scheduling.
Where can I find a free PM 585 Week 1 sample paper?
The Week 1 paper above defines requirements and scope for a city's lead service line replacement project and is offered free in full.
What is a requirements traceability matrix?
A table that links each requirement to its source, its priority, the deliverable that satisfies it and the test or inspection that verifies it, so nothing is lost or added without notice.
What should a project scope statement include?
A description of the project's deliverables, acceptance criteria, exclusions, assumptions and constraints, so that everyone shares the same understanding of what will and will not be delivered.
Why do requirements affect the schedule?
Because unclear or changing requirements cause rework, added activities and delays. A large share of schedule and cost growth on projects traces back to requirements that were not defined well at the start.
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