Problem Domain and Scope

The problem domain is the setting of people, activities, information, rules, and relationships relevant to a problem. Scope states what an investigation, delivery, or trial will include and exclude. The domain is not necessarily identical to the system being built.

An invoice-search project may deliver only a lookup screen. Receiving staff, suppliers, approval rules, and receipt-record quality still affect whether that screen helps. Their work belongs in the problem analysis even when changing their software is outside the delivery scope.

Define eligible cases and the boundary of the claimed benefit. Record dependencies outside the team’s control and who owns them. An eligible invoice that the tool fails to handle should remain in the evaluation; moving it out of scope after failure changes the result being measured.

Related reference: AHRQ problem investigation guidance. Examples and calculations here are illustrative.