Deck 4: Project Management

Question 1

Project management is the process of scoping, planning, staffing, organizing, directing, and controlling the development of an acceptable system at a minimum cost within a specified time frame.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

The causes of failed projects include shortcuts taken during the project, expectations mismanagement, lack of or unreasonably precise targets, poor estimating techniques, budget overruns, missed schedules, and lack of management and leadership.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Feature creep is the uncontrolled addition of technical features to a system under development without regard to schedule and budget.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

A common and effective project management technique is to assign more people to the team if a project gets behind schedule.

Question 5

A project is considered successful if, (1) the resulting information system is acceptable to the customer;(2) the system was delivered on time; (3) the system was within budget; and (4) the system development process had a minimal impact on ongoing business operations.

Question 6

One key to successful project management is to commit to a fixed budge and schedule as early as possible and then stick to it.

Question 7

Over-optimism is the tendency for systems analysts and project managers to fail to recognize that project slips in one phase or activity can cause corresponding slips in many other phases and activities, and contribute to cost overruns.

Question 8

If the project's importance changes during the project, or if the management or the business reorganizes, projects should be reassessed for compatibility with those changes and their importance to the business.

Question 9

Cost overruns are not a reason for project failure.

Question 10

A Gantt chart is a simple horizontal bar chart that depicts project tasks against a calendar.

Question 11

Each bar on a Gantt chart represents a named project task.

Question 12

Scope defines the boundaries of a project.

Question 13

Planning identifies the required tasks to complete the project based on the project goal.

Question 14

The project schedule should be developed with an understanding of the required tasks, task duration, and task prerequisites.

Question 15

The project schedule should be developed based on the desired due date for project completion based on management decree.

Question 16

GANTT is an acronym that stands for Group Activity Network Time Table.

Question 17

A project manager must demonstrate people management skills to coordinate, delegate, motivate, advise, appraise, and reward team members.

Question 18

The project manager must monitor and report progress against goals, schedule, and costs, and make appropriate adjustments when necessary.

Question 19

PERT charts were developed to make clear the interdependence between project tasks.

Question 20

Gantt charts clearly show the overlapping tasks, that is, the tasks that can be performed at the same time.

Question 21

Some project management competencies cannot be taught in a class but must be learned through business experience.

Question 22

Rapid application development (RAD) is a strategy wherein all project stakeholders participate in a short duration project management workshop, which results in a consensus agreement on the project scope, schedule, resources, budget and quality.

Question 23

A statement of work is a narrative description of the work to be performed as part of a project.

Question 24

A PERT chart depicts the WBS or Work Breakdown Structure.

Question 25

The answers to five basic questions influence the negotiation of project scope: (1) product; (2) quality; (3) time; (4) cost; and (5) resources.

Question 26

Scope defines both the boundaries of what is included in the system, as well as what is considered outside of the project.

Question 27

Joint project planning (JPP) is a hierarchical decomposition of the project into phases, activities and tasks.

Question 28

Optimistic duration is the estimation of the maximum amount of time that it would take to perform a task.

Question 29

Optimistic duration is the estimation of the minimum amount of time that it would take to perform a task.

Question 30

Pessimistic duration is the estimation of the minimum amount of time that it would take to perform a task.

Question 31

Elapsed time measures the actual amount of time that it takes to complete a task, taking into account that workers cannot possibly perform at 100% efficiency, and that interruptions increases the amount of time it takes from start to finish to complete a task.

Question 32

The expected duration of a task is the estimation of how much time will be required to perform the task by taking into account potential interruptions or delays that are likely to occur.

Question 33

Milestones have no duration.

Question 34

Forward scheduling establishes a project start date and then schedule forward from that date. Based on the planned duration of required tasks, their interdependencies and the allocation of resources to complete those tasks, a projected project completion date is calculated.

Question 35

Forward scheduling establishes a project deadline forward into the future, and then schedules backwards from that date.

Question 36

The availability of resources, especially people and facilities, can significantly alter the project schedule.

Question 37

Resource leveling is a strategy used to correct resource over-allocations by some combination of delaying or splitting tasks.

Question 38

The critical path for a project is that sequence of dependent tasks that have the largest sum of most likely durations. The critical path determines the earliest possible completion date of a project.

Question 39

The critical path for a project is that sequence of dependent tasks that have the shortest sum of pessimistic durations. The critical path determines the latest possible completion date of a project.

Question 40

The slack time available for any non-critical task is the amount of delay that can be tolerated between the starting time and completion time of a task without causing a delay in the completion date of the entire project.

Question 41

The inefficiency of workers is known as slack time.

Question 42

It is uncommon for project scope to grow out of control even when a properly completed statement of work was agreed on early in the planning process.

Question 43

When a properly completed statement of work is agreed upon at the start of the planning process, it is unlikely that changes in project scope will occur.

Question 44

Change is frequently a point of contention between the customer and the information systems organization, because they disagree on whether a particular function is a change or a part of the initial agreement.

Question 45

An expectations management matrix shows that if project scope changes then cost and/or schedule must also change.

Question 46

Once management has committed to a project, it is not possible for them to change the funding allocated to the project, or to change the deadline of the project.

Question 47

An expectations management matrix is a tool for helping management understand the dynamics and impact of changing project parameters such as cost, schedule, scope and quality.

Question 48

"Identify Business Requirements" is an example of a milestone.

Question 49

Which of the following is NOT a basic function of a project manager?

A) controlling
B) programming
C) scheduling
D) directing
E) planning

Question 50

Which of the following functions of the project manager is the most difficult and important function?

A) planning
B) organizing
C) directing
D) controlling
E) staffing

Question 51

Which of the following is a simple horizontal bar chart that depicts project tasks against a calendar?

A) PERT chart
B) Bar chart
C) WBSt
D) Line chart
E) Gantt chart

Question 52

Which of the following establishes a project start date and then schedules forward from that date?

A) end scheduling
B) remote scheduling
C) forward scheduling
D) reverse scheduling
E) none of these

Question 53

Which of the following establishes a project deadline and then schedules backward from that date?

A) end scheduling
B) remote scheduling
C) reverse scheduling
D) forward scheduling
E) none of these

Question 54

The process of scoping, planning, staffing, organizing, and controlling the development of an acceptable system at a minimum cost within a specified time frame is:

A) Project Management
B) Process Management
C) Expectations Management Matrix
D) Statement of Work
E) None of these

Question 55

An ongoing activity that documents, manages the use of, and improves an organization's chosen methodology for systems development is:

A) Project Management
B) Process Management
C) Expectations Management Matrix
D) Statement of Work
E) None of these

Question 56

A narrative description of the work to be performed as part of a project is:

A) scope statement
B) statement of work
C) project definition
D) project overview
E) all of these

Question 57

A strategy wherein all project stakeholders participate in a multiple-day workshop to achieve consensus on project scope, schedule, resources and budget is:

A) Total Quality Management
B) Stakeholder's Meeting
C) Joint Project Planning
D) Capability Maturity Planning
E) none of these

Question 58

Which of the following is NOT one of the five basic questions that influence project scope?:

A) what product is wanted
B) the efficiency of each of the team members
C) when should the product be delivered
D) what resources are available for the project
E) none of these

Question 59

Elapsed time takes into account which of the following factors?

A) people cannot work at 100% efficiency
B) people experience interrupts such as phone calls, visitors or other activities
C) people need lunch breaks
D) people possibly participate in other non-project related work
E) all of these

Question 60

Which of the following is the estimate of the minimum amount of time it would take to perform a task?

A) minimal duration
B) optimistic duration
C) pessimistic duration
D) expected duration
E) earliest completion

Question 61

Which of the following is the estimate of the longest amount of time it would take to perform a task?

A) maximum duration
B) optimistic duration
C) pessimistic duration
D) expected duration
E) latest completion

Question 62

Which of the following is the estimate of the time that will be needed to perform the task?

A) estimated duration
B) optimistic duration
C) pessimistic duration
D) expected duration
E) none of these

Question 63

Which of the following is considered a project resource?

A) people
B) services
C) facilities
D) money
E) all of these

Question 64

Which of the following is NOT one of the guidelines for selecting and recruiting team members?

A) recruit talented and highly motivated people
B) select the best task for each person
C) keep the team size as small as is reasonable to minimized communication overhead and difficulties
D) promote harmony by selecting team members who will complement and work well with each other
E) Make the team as large as possible to assure that you have the resources to complete the project within the schedule.

Question 65

Which of the following is the sequence of dependent tasks that have the largest sum of most likely durations?

A) optimistic duration
B) pessimistic duration
C) critical path
D) slack time
E) none of these

Question 66

Which of the following is NOT shown on a PERT chart?

A) scheduled start date
B) actual start date
C) task name
D) estimated duration
E) intertask dependencies

Question 67

Which of the following is the amount of delay that can be tolerated by a non-critical task without causing a delay in the completion date of the entire project? :

A) optimistic duration
B) pessimistic duration
C) critical path
D) slack time
E) none of these

Question 68

Which of the following is NOT a likely reason for a change in project scope?:

A) availability of better technology
B) users or management want the system to do more than originally requested
C) the expectations management matrix is correct
D) the funding for the project has been reduced
E) none of these

Question 69

A tool for helping management understand the dynamics and impact of changing project parameters such as cost, schedule, scope and quality is:

A) total quality management
B) project management
C) joint project planning
D) expectations management matrix
E) none of these

Question 70

Which of the following questions should NOT be answered during a project review?:

A) Which of the project team members are the most compatible?
B) Did the project come in under budget?
C) Did the project come in on schedule?
D) Did the final product meet or exceed user expectations?
E) all of these are appropriate questions to be answered during a project review

Question 71

The common techniques for estimating include:

A) decomposition
B) COCOMO
C) function points
D) resource leveling
E) all of these

Question 72

Which of the following is NOT one of the 10 hints for project leadership?

A) praise in public, criticize in private
B) explain and show, rather than do
C) don't rely just on status reports
D) keep "fudge" time in the schedule by not communicating "real" deadlines to team members
E) be consistent

Question 73

________________ is the unexpected growth of user expectations and business requirements for an information system as the project progresses.

Question 74

List the basic functions of a project manager.___________________

Question 75

________________ is a graphical model that depicts a project as a series of events and milestones that are dependent on one another.

Question 76

________________ is the uncontrolled addition of technical features to a system under development without regard to schedule and budget.

Question 77

________________ is an ongoing activity that documents, manages the use of and improves an organization's chosen methodology for systems development. It is concerned with the activities, deliverables, and quality standards to be applied to all projects.

Question 78

A ________________ is a hierarchical decomposition of the project into phases, activities, and tasks.

Question 79

________________ are events that signify major accomplishments or events during a project.

Question 80

The ________________ available for any task is equal to the difference between the earliest and latest completion times.