Components of SOW
SOW stands for statement of work and it is a formal document that captures and defines work activities done by vendor as the execution of performance of specified work for a client. A statement under SOW should be written in clear, complete, logical and concise manner enough to understand by the contractor and construction manager (Schwalbe, 2010). Following are the components of SOW that should be considered by one person at the time of development:
Project Overview: In this part, a brief statement is included that describes the business needs and a short summery of the project description.
Project Deliverables: It consists of all the expected goals and targets that must be achieved during the project. This part also includes all the information through which contractor can understand all the requirement of project.
Project Shop: As the scope refers to the area of project, the SOW should include budget and technical data. Mainly the scope divided into two parts first is technical consideration and second is tasks that are needed to satisfy project objectives.
Project Schedule: It includes the timing of every task that a contractor will give on that time. Due to this section of SOW, contactor can assign time to complete a task properly.
Project Management: This section of SOW must contain a description of payment that will be issued for change control and legal requirements.
In the field of project management, this statement of work can be used most effectively because it is the need of contractor and client (Sanghera, 2007).
Types of SOW
There are mainly three types of statement of work, performance, design and functional. These three types of SOW can be used by organization to develop better understanding among contractor and client for the implementation of planned tasks. In performance SOW, one expresses the product that is required to be achieved rather than the working process and deign. Functional SOW describes the end purpose or result of the work. This type of SOW is used in performance of the work and it includes some characteristics of the product. Lastly, design SOW includes description of work that will be undertaken by the contractor (Schnapper & Rollins, 2006).
In the condition of acquiring 100 Ford trucks for the U.S. Border Patrol is functional SOW, which describes the whole of propose of the acquisition. In this situation U.S. Border Patrol needs something, which can describe that the decision will generate values and profits. With the help of function statement of work, organization can describe the purpose or the forecasted result of acquisition decision. The description of result in high terms with the comparison of present condition can be an example of this statement of work (Halibozek, 2005).
References
Halibozek, E.P. (2005). Mergers and Acquisitions Security: Corporate Reorganizations and Security Management. Butterworth-Heinemann.
Sanghera, P. (2007). Program Management Professional Exam Study Guide . USA: John Wiley & Sons.
Schnapper, M. & Rollins, S.C. (2006). Value-Based Metrics for Improving Results: An Enterprise Project
Management Toolkit. J. Ross Publishing.
Schwalbe, K. (2010). Information Technology Project Management: With Microsoft Project 2007. USA; Cengage Learning.