Every capital project must answer a fundamental question: How does this investment advance the business? Hansen-Rice, Inc. has proven that successful facility initiatives begin by aligning project scope with the company’s business priorities from the outset. Doing so improves ROI predictability, shortens approval cycles, and builds confidence in delivery. With scope defined by business goals, organizations move forward with greater clarity and coordination across teams.
When Scope and Strategy Don't Align
When project scope is developed without clear ties to business priorities, problems show up quickly and multiply as the project moves forward:
- Delays in funding approvals due to unclear ROI
- Scope creep introduced by competing priorities
- Rework during the design and execution phases
- Uncertainty around outcomes and rising project costs
These risks often arise from early planning stage assumptions. When business goals and financial criteria aren't fully documented or considered, the scope can become short-sighted.
Hansen-Rice addresses this with structured tools like the Owner’s Program (advanced project charter), which fundamentally integrates business goals and project objectives into all project planning and development aspects.
Structured Alignment Builds Project Confidence
Best practices in capital project planning emphasize early integration of business goals into scope definition. According to the Construction Industry Institute (CII), projects with front-end planning that link scope to strategic objectives show up to 20 percent better cost and schedule performance compared to those without such alignment (CII, “Front End Planning: Best Practices”).
Effective alignment includes:
- Defining success criteria that reflect business needs and operational goals
- Documenting these criteria early and validating them through structured stakeholder input
- Using progressive reviews to refine scope while maintaining connection to business intent
Hansen-Rice applies these principles through tools like our Project Development Plan (with related tasks and deliverables throughout the project lifecycle) and Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) assessment tool for mitigating risks and leveraging emerging opportunities. A complete set of quality management tools ensures that every scope element supports clear project objectives such as throughput, compliance, workforce engagement, or growth strategy.
A prescriptive and structured methodology should also allow for responsive decision-making as new threats or opportunities arise. Avoid working with providers who cannot adapt or do not have a consistent framework to evaluate changes and preserve alignment across phases.
The Payoff of Scope-Goals Alignment
Organizations that align capital project scope with defined business strategy see higher returns and fewer delays. Research reported in a Project Management Institute article (PMI, “Pulse of the Profession”) shows that strategic misalignment is among the top causes of project failure, and that projects linked to well-defined business goals are 57 percent more likely to succeed.
Strategic alignment drives value by:
- Accelerating funding approvals through a scope aligned with the business case
- Reducing scope creep and associated rework
- Strengthening confidence in scheduling and cost projections
- Enabling transparent decision-making throughout all project phases
Early alignment of the business goals is consistent with the principles illustrated by the renowned MacLeamy Curve, which demonstrates that the ability to influence project outcomes is greatest during project conception and discovery (the earliest stages of the project development). The further the project progresses, the cost of changes increases significantly. By investing effort early in the design process, organizations can make more impactful decisions and avoid costly modifications later (MacLeamy, “The MacLeamy Curve”).
At Hansen-Rice, we support this approach with our library of early Financial Investment Decision (FID) tools, such as Capital Project Studies, Project Delivery Workbooks, Contract Method Workbooks, Project Execution Plans, and HRI’s comprehensive Basis of Design. These tools are designed to formalize and progressively refine the business case behind each scope element, allowing teams to move confidently from planning, development, design and engineering to execution and commissioning.
Conclusion
When project scope is tied to defined business goals from the outset, capital projects move faster, avoid costly missteps, and deliver more reliable outcomes. Hansen-Rice supports this disciplined approach with tools and processes we have designed to preserve alignment from planning through execution.
Discuss your capital project priorities with Hansen-Rice.
