Establishing a clear and common understanding of the purpose for a project is difficult under the most ideal conditions. In state-local information systems projects, it can be an even greater challenge. Establishing common purpose, defining scope, and managing expectations in a state- local project are considerations of the first order. Since there are so many players who see the world from different points of view, confusion about these critical factors can spell serious trouble down the road.

State-local projects are initiated for several reasons: in response to new laws, in response to customer demands, and in response to a changing environment, including new players and new tools. They operate in a broad programmatic or administrative context, but need to be focused on some particular goal. For example, there is great concern in our society about the effectiveness of public education. A project could address any of a hundred purposes within this broad concern: to connect elementary school libraries to the Internet, to help schools prepare students for jobs in today’s economy, to make higher education affordable for all who qualify, and so on. No single project can address all (or even many) purposes; we need to agree on a specific focus for each particular effort.

Once a purpose is selected, we move to questions of reasonable expectations given the current situation and the money, time, people, and commitment available to change it. How shall we define and prioritize these expectations? How will we define and measure achievement?

These expectations are sometimes called the "project scope." The scope is defined by balancing desired goals against available resources and a realistic timeline. The project team must also create an implementation plan and a project budget which will match good intentions against an actual commitment of people and funds and establish a mechanism for ongoing project management. This process also entails defining outcome measures, setting targets for performance, and building in ways to gather the information needed to conduct performance assessments.