Deck 10: Building an Organization Capable of Good Strategy Execution

Question 1

What is the analysis phase in the SDLC?

A) Involves establishing a high-level plan of the intended project and determining project goals
B) Involves analyzing end-user business requirements and refining project goals into defined functions and operations of the intended system
C) Involves describing the desired features and operations of the system
D) Involves placing the system into production so users can begin to perform actual business operations with the system

Answer 1

B
Explanation: This is the definition of the analysis phase.

Question 2

What is the overall process for developing information systems from planning and analysis through implementation and maintenance?

A) SDLC
B) Software life cycle
C) Application life cycle
D) All of the above

Answer 2

D
Explanation: All of the above are known as the SDLC.

Question 3

What is the implementation phase in the SDLC?

A) Involves establishing a high-level plan of the intended project and determining project goals
B) Involves analyzing end-user business requirements and refining project goals into defined functions and operations of the intended system
C) Involves describing the desired features and operations of the system
D) Involves placing the system into production so users can begin to perform actual business operations with the system

Answer 3

D
Explanation: This is the definition of the implementation phase.

Question 4

What is the first step in the SDLC?

A) Analysis
B) Design
C) Testing
D) Planning

Question 5

Which of the following is a business-related consequence of failing software?

A) Decrease productivity
B) Damage to brand reputation
C) Incur liabilities
D) All of the above

Question 6

The many benefits associated with outsourcing include which of the following

A) Increased quality and efficiency of a process, service, or function.
B) Reduced operating expenses.
C) Avoiding costly outlay of capital funds.
D) All are benefits associated with outsourcing.

Question 7

Which of the following is not a phase in the SDLC?

A) Planning
B) Development
C) RFP
D) Testing

Question 8

____________________________________, like other agile methods, breaks a project into tiny phases, and developers cannot continue on to the next phase until the first phase is complete.

A) Rapid application development (RAD)
B) Extreme programming (XP)
C) Rational Unified Process (RUP)
D) Scrum

Question 9

Which of the following is not a phase in the SDLC?

A) Maintenance
B) Change
C) Design
D) None of the above

Question 10

____________________________________ provides a framework for breaking down the development of software into four gates.

A) Rapid application development (RAD)
B) Extreme programming (XP)
C) Rational Unified Process (RUP)
D) Scrum

Question 11

Which of the following is a business-related consequence of successful software?

A) Increase revenues
B) Damage to brand reputation
C) Incur liabilities
D) Decrease productivity

Question 12

Which of the following is a phase in the SDLC?

A) Analysis
B) Design
C) Testing
D) All of the above

Question 13

____________________________________ uses small teams to produce small pieces of deliverable software using sprints, or 30-day intervals, to achieve an appointed goal.

A) Rapid application development (RAD)
B) Extreme programming (XP)
C) Rational Unified Process (RUP)
D) Scrum

Question 14

What is the design phase in the SDLC?

A) Involves establishing a high-level plan of the intended project and determining project goals
B) Involves analyzing end-user business requirements and refining project goals into defined functions and operations of the intended system
C) Involves describing the desired features and operations of the system
D) Involves placing the system into production so users can begin to perform actual business operations with the system

Question 15

What is one of the most common reasons why systems development projects fail?

A) Unclear or missing business requirements
B) Lack of JAD sessions
C) Purchasing COTS
D) All of the above

Question 16

What is the second step in the SDLC?

A) Analysis
B) Design
C) Testing
D) Planning

Question 17

What is the systems development life cycle?

A) Involves establishing a high-level plan of the intended project and determining project goals
B) Involves analyzing end-user business requirements and refining project goals into defined functions and operations of the intended system
C) Involves describing the desired features and operations of the system
D) The overall process for developing information systems from planning and analysis through implementation and maintenance

Question 18

____________________________________ methodology emphasizes extensive user involvement in the rapid and evolutionary construction of working prototypes of a system to accelerate the systems development process.

A) Rapid application development (RAD)
B) Extreme programming (XP)
C) Rational Unified Process (RUP)
D) Scrum

Question 19

Which activity is performed during the planning phase?

A) Identify and select the system for development
B) Assess project feasibility
C) Develop the project plan
D) All of the above

Question 20

Which differences does not make global data standardization quite difficult.

A) Language
B) Culture
C) Technology
D) Skin colour

Question 21

What is a common approach using the professional expertise within an organization to develop and maintain the organization's information technology systems?

A) Insourcing
B) Outsourcing
C) Business process outsourcing
D) Offshore outsourcing

Question 22

Which of the following is a benefit an organization can receive from outsourcing?

A) Financial savings
B) Increase technical abilities
C) Market agility
D) All of the above

Question 23

What are the three primary variables in any project?

A) Time, cost, expense
B) Time, expense, requirements
C) Time, cost, scope
D) Time, cost, quality

Question 24

Which of the following is the most common function outsourced?

A) IT
B) HR
C) Finance
D) Marketing/sales

Question 25

Which of the following is not one of the tenets in the Agile Alliance's manifesto?

A) Satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software
B) Do not allow changing requirements, especially late in development
C) Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project
D) All of the above

Question 26

Which of the following are the influential drivers affecting the growth of outsourcing markets?

A) Core competencies
B) Rapid growth
C) Industry changes
D) All of the above

Question 27

Which of the following is not one of the primary principles an organization should follow for successful agile software development?

A) Slash the budget
B) Keep requirements to a minimum
C) Test and deliver infrequently
D) Assign non-IT executives to software projects

Question 28

What is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities in order to meet or exceed stakeholder needs and expectations from a project?

A) Project management
B) Project management software
C) Scope
D) None of the above

Question 29

What is it called when a company uses organizations from developing countries to write code and develop systems?

A) Insourcing
B) Outsourcing
C) Business process outsourcing
D) Offshore outsourcing

Question 30

What emphasizes extensive user involvement in the rapid and evolutionary construction of working prototypes of a system to accelerate the systems development process?

A) RAD methodology
B) Agile methodology
C) Waterfall methodology
D) Extreme programming

Question 31

What specifically supports the long-term and day-to-day management and execution of the steps in a project?

A) Project management
B) Project management software
C) Scope
D) None of the above

Question 32

Which of the following is a fundamental of the RAD methodology?

A) Focus initially on creating a prototype that looks and acts like the desired system
B) Actively involve system users in the analysis, design, and development phases
C) Accelerate collecting the business requirements through an interactive and iterative construction approach
D) All of the above

Question 33

Which of the following is the least likely reason why companies outsource?

A) Tap outside sources of expertise
B) Concentrate resources on core business
C) Reduce headcount and related expenses
D) Better manage the costs of internal processes

Question 34

Which of the following is the most likely why companies outsource?

A) Tap outside sources of expertise
B) Concentrate resources on core business
C) Reduce headcount and related expenses
D) Better manage the costs of internal processes

Question 35

What is the success rate for a project using the waterfall methodology?

A) 1 in 10
B) 2 in 10
C) 4 in 10
D) 8 in 10

Question 36

What is a sequential, activity-based process in which each phase in the SDLC is performed sequentially from planning through implementation and maintenance?

A) RAD methodology
B) Agile methodology
C) Waterfall methodology
D) Extreme programming

Question 37

Which of the following is the primary reason why companies outsource?

A) Tap outside sources of expertise
B) Concentrate resources on core business
C) Reduce headcount and related expenses
D) All of the above

Question 38

What is an arrangement by which one organization provides a service or services for another organization that chooses not to perform them in-house?

A) Insourcing
B) Outsourcing
C) Business process outsourcing
D) Offshore outsourcing

Question 39

What breaks a project into tiny phases, and developers cannot continue on to the next phase until the first phase is complete?

A) RAD methodology
B) Agile methodology
C) Waterfall methodology
D) Extreme programming

Question 40

What is the number one reason that IT projects fall behind schedule or fail?

A) Change in business goals during the project
B) Lack of support from business management
C) Poor planning or poor project management
D) Change in technology during the project

Question 41

What is the logical relationship that exists between the project tasks, or between a project task and a milestone?

A) Resource
B) Task
C) Dependency
D) Activity

Question 42

What are project objectives?

A) Quantifiable criteria that must be met for the project to be considered a success
B) Products, services, or processes that are not specifically a part of the project
C) Any measurable, tangible, verifiable outcome, result or item that is produced to complete a project or part of a project
D) Defines the work that must be completed to deliver a product with the specified features and functions

Question 43

Which of the following is not a characteristic of a well-defined project plan?

A) Prepared by the project manager
B) Easy to read
C) Appropriate to the project's size
D) Communicated to all key participants

Question 44

What is the critical path?

A) The path from resource to task that passes through all critical components of a project plan
B) The path between tasks to the projects finish that passes through all critical components of a project plan
C) The path from start to finish that passes through all the tasks that are critical to completing the project in the shortest amount of time
D) The path from start to finish that passes through all the tasks that are critical to completing the project in the longest amount of time

Question 45

Which of the following is a characteristic of a successful project?

A) Delivered on time
B) Delivered within budget
C) Meets the business's requirements
D) All of the above

Question 46

What are the primary activities performed by a project manager?

A) Choosing strategic projects
B) Setting the project scope
C) Managing resources and maintaining the project plan
D) All of the above

Question 47

What is the most important part of the project plan?

A) Gantt chart
B) Specification
C) Communication
D) None of the above

Question 48

What is a simple bar chart that depicts project tasks against a calendar?

A) Gantt chart
B) PERT chart
C) Dependency
D) All of the above

Question 49

What is a graphical network model that depicts a project's tasks and the relationships between those tasks?

A) Gantt chart
B) PERT chart
C) Dependency
D) All of the above

Question 50

Who is a project manager?

A) The application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities in order to meet or exceed stakeholder needs and expectations from a project
B) Any measurable, tangible, verifiable outcome, result, or item that is produced to complete a project or part of a project
C) Represent key dates when a certain group of activities must be performed
D) An individual who is an expert in project planning and management

Question 51

Which of the following does a project manager perform?

A) Defines and develops the project plan
B) Tracks the plan to ensure all key project milestones are completed on time
C) Expert in project planning and management
D) All of the above

Question 52

What is project scope?

A) Quantifiable criteria that must be met for the project to be considered a success
B) Products, services, or processes that are not specifically a part of the project
C) Any measurable, tangible, verifiable outcome, result or item that is produced to complete a project or part of a project
D) Defines the work that must be completed to deliver a product with the specified features and functions

Question 53

What is a project?

A) A temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product or service
B) The application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities in order to meet or exceed stakeholder needs and expectations from a project
C) Any measurable, tangible, verifiable outcome, result, or item that is produced to complete a project or part of a project
D) Represent key dates when a certain group of activities must be performed

Question 54

Which of the following is not a technique for choosing strategic projects?

A) Categorize projects
B) Perform a financial analysis
C) Focus on organizational goals
D) Develop a project plan

Question 55

An organization must identify what it wants to do and how it is going to do it.What does the "what" part of this question focus on?

A) Justification of the project
B) Definition of the project
C) Expected results of the project
D) All of the above

Question 56

An organization must identify what it wants to do and how it is going to do it.What does the "how" part of this question focus on?

A) Justification of the project
B) Definition of the project
C) Analysis of project risks
D) Expected results of the project

Question 57

What do SMART criteria for successful objective creation include?

A) Specific, metrics, agreed upon, real, time valued
B) Specific, measurable, agreed upon, realistic, time framed
C) Specific, measurable, accurate, real, time valued
D) Specific, metrics, agreed upon, realistic, time framed

Question 58

Which of the following is an outsourcing challenge caused by contract length?

A) Difficulties in getting out of a contract
B) Problems in foreseeing future issues
C) Problems in reforming an internal IT department
D) All of the above

Question 59

What are project deliverables?

A) A temporary endeavour undertaken to create a unique product or service
B) The application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities in order to meet or exceed stakeholder needs and expectations from a project
C) Any measurable, tangible, verifiable outcome, result, or item that is produced to complete a project or part of a project
D) Represent key dates when a certain group of activities must be performed

Question 60

What type of chart typically displays the critical path?

A) Gantt chart
B) PERT chart
C) All of the above
D) None of the above

Question 61

What is the outsourcing option that includes the closest location and direct customer control?

A) Onshore outsourcing
B) Nearshore outsourcing
C) Offshore outsourcing
D) None of the above

Question 62

Scrum methodology, like other agile methods, breaks a project into tiny phases, and developers cannot continue on to the next phase until the first phase is complete.

Question 63

What is the responsibility of a change control board?

A) Controlling the change requests
B) Approving the change requests
C) Rejecting the change requests
D) All of the above

Question 64

Domestic information systems must support a diverse base of customers, users, products, languages, currencies, laws, and so on.

Question 65

Provide training for the system users typically occurs during the testing phase.

Question 66

Managing people is one of the hardest and most critical efforts a project manager undertakes.

Question 67

In a Gantt chart tasks are listed __________ and the project's timeframe is listed ____________.

A) Vertically; horizontally
B) Horizontally; vertically
C) Vertically; Vertically
D) Horizontally; horizontally

Question 68

Iterative development consists of a series of tiny projects.

Question 69

A topology is a set of policies, procedures, standards, processes, practices, tools, techniques, and tasks that people apply to technical and management challenges.

Question 70

What is the outsourcing option that includes the most remote location and indirect customer control?

A) Onshore outsourcing
B) Nearshore outsourcing
C) Offshore outsourcing
D) None of the above

Question 71

Difference in language, culture, and technology platforms can make global data standardization quite difficult.

Question 72

All of the following are challenges of outsourcing, except:

A) Contract length
B) Competitive edge
C) Confidentiality
D) Multisourcing

Question 73

The assess project feasibility activity typically occurs during the analysis phase.

Question 74

An unimportant aspect of a project management communications plan is to provide a method for continually obtaining and monitoring feedback from and for all stakeholders.

Question 75

Designing the IT infrastructure typically occurs during the design phase.

Question 76

In the past, outsourcing was often used tactically, as a quick-fix, short-term solution to a particular need or problem which did not form part of an overall business strategy.

Question 77

The SDLC is different than the waterfall and agile methodologies not in terms of the type of work that is done, but rather who is control and does most of the design work.

Question 78

A project charter is a document issued by the project initiator or sponsor that formally authorizes the existence of a project and provides the project manager with the authority to apply organizational resources to project activities.

Question 79

Testing is the fourth phase in the SDLC.

Question 80

Which of the following is not the responsibility of a change control board?

A) Controlling the change requests
B) Approving the change requests
C) Rejecting the change requests
D) Managing the projects