Scope baseline

The approved, documented version of a project's scope — statement of work, work breakdown structure, and acceptance criteria together — used as the fixed reference point against which all later changes are measured.

Example

A project's scope baseline, locked at kickoff, becomes the reference an agency compares every later client request against: anything matching the baseline is included; anything not in it requires a change order.

Why it matters for agencies

Without an explicitly "locked" baseline, scope has no fixed reference point to measure change against — everyone is comparing new requests to their own memory of what was originally agreed, which is exactly where disputes and unbilled creep come from.