Scope of work templates.
A scope of work (SOW) is used by companies, mainly project management teams, to agree on work for a client or professional or personal project. It details all the work scheduled for a particular project and serves as an agreement between your company and the party you're creating work for.
Your SOW should define what a project will and will not cover (i.e. its scope) and should outline set goals and timelines by which you aim to meet these targets.
It is a useful document to refer back to throughout the creation process for yourself, your client and any third party. It helps to keep a project on track and can be used as a touchstone by every party, to dispute any changes or raise issues with progress.
What you’ll learn.
A scope of work can be used in many different scenarios. For example:
- Within an agency - SOWS are commonly used by agencies to outline a project’s scope and structure, including the dates of any deliverables, hours spent and costs.
- In construction - building and architectural projects often use a scope of work, as it sets out the different stages of work to be completed. It also provides project and site managers with something they can work towards during the build.
- For a personal project - a SOW can keep you on track to reaching a personal objective — for example, submitting an assignment, pulling together a portfolio or completing a creative project.
- For an event - both non-profit and profit-based organisations may use a scope of work template to ensure every stage of the planning and execution of an event is tracked. It can help with delegating tasks and organising operations before and on the day.
Free scope of work templates for download.
Keen to get started on your own Scope of Work
Download our helpful Scope of Work template to know what's required.
Then use Adobe tools to edit in details specific to your job.
What to Write in a Scope of Work.
It’s simple to create a SOW for your next project. Simply follow these steps to use one of the downloadable project scopes of work templates and start your planning today.
Download a scope of work template.
We have a collection of customisable, professional SOW templates that you can download online. We’ve developed SOWS for a variety of different industries and project types, so you can choose the one that’s right for your company.
Once you’ve selected a suitable one for your project, you can then start to edit the template, according to what work you’re going to be carrying out.
Explore ways to enhance your PDF experience with Adobe Acrobat.
Pull together all relevant project information.
When you open one of our templates, you’ll find there are several fields that need to be filled with relevant information about your project. When you’ve liaised with relevant stakeholders and finalised all details, you can begin to populate these in your scope of work.
Add all details into the template.
Our free scope of work templates have fields for:
General Project Information - Such as project name, project location, project manager, company name, contact name, contact phone number, contact email address and contact address.
Scope of Work - This section explains what the project will involve. It can include specific details on: The nature of the task, service or work; Who is responsible; Required equipment and services, such as an industrial forklift or mini excavator.
Project Deliverables - List out what services, products, reports, software etc. you will be delivering to your client.
Estimated Cost - Put the expenses, descriptions and costs in a table. You will take labour costs into consideration here.
Weekly Tracker - This table will document costs and timings. One column should feature the jobs within the projects as a heading, followed by the tasks related to jobs underneath the header. Other columns could include the hourly rate, the weeks (with one column per week) and the budget.
Total Cost - If the user is updating this document over the course of the job, they will eventually note the total cost of the job here.
Pull together all the information you have about your project and edit our template to complete your scope of work. Once you have everything completed, you can share it with stakeholders you’ll be working with and you’re ready to kick off your project.
Scope of work: FAQs.
Who defines the scope of work?
Usually, the project manager and the client work together to define the scope of work. Both parties may meet to discuss the requirements of a project - such as what the deliverables are and when they will be delivered, which will then be compiled into a SOW document by the project manager.
Why is a scope of work important?
Completing a scope of work before a project begins is important as it outlines what is expected, when it is expected and by whom it shall be delivered. It also defines project goals and a timeline, helping to secure realistic budget estimates and deliverables.
What are the six elements in a typical scope of work statement?
The main areas you’ll need to cover in your scope of work template are:
- Project purpose - Introduce and outline what you’ll be delivering.
- Objectives - An overview of the project goals.
- Deliverables - What exactly you’ll deliver to the client.
- Tasks - The tasks that need to be completed before finishing the project.
- Timeline - What your project schedule looks like from start to finish.
- Milestones - The key touchstones throughout the project.