Deck 14: Managing Projects

Question 1

Which of the following variables in project management is an indicator of how well the project satisfies management objectives?

A)Scope
B)Quality
C)Time
D)Cost
E)Risk

Answer 1

B

Question 2

An information system project's scope is directly related to its business requirements.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Which of the following statistics from studies on failed projects is not true?

A)Large software projects on average run 33 percent over schedule.
B)Large software projects on average run 66 percent over budget.
C)Between 30 and 40 percent of all software projects are "runaway" projects that far exceed the original schedule and budget projections and fail to perform as originally specified.
D)As many as 17 percent of projects turn out so badly that they can threaten the existence of the company.
E)The average cost overrun of IT projects is 20 percent.

Answer 3

E

Question 4

All of the following are indications of a failed information systems project except:

A)employees are refusing to switch to the new system.
B)employees have created a spreadsheet solution to manipulate the data generated by the system.
C)a redesigned website has fewer visits to the customer support pages.
D)employees require training to properly use the system.
E)the system is not being used by anyone.

Question 5

A road map indicating the direction of systems development,the rationale,the current systems,new developments to consider,the management strategy,the implementation plan,and the budget is called a(n):

A)project plan.
B)portfolio analysis.
C)information systems plan.
D)enterprise analysis.
E)strategic planning document.

Question 6

Which of the following best describes the central method used in a portfolio analysis?

A)Performing an inventory of all of the organization's information systems projects and assets
B)Performing a weighted comparison of the criteria used to evaluate a system
C)Surveying a large sample of managers on their objectives,decision-making process,and uses and needs for data and information
D)Interviewing a small number of top managers to identify their goals and criteria for achieving success
E)Scoring proposed systems on a number of dimensions,and selecting the one with the highest score

Question 7

The cost of a project is based on the time to complete a project multiplied by the cost of human resources required to complete the project.

Question 8

As discussed in the chapter,which of the following is not one of the immediate consequences of inadequate software project management?

A)Cost overruns
B)Customer loyalty
C)Time slippage
D)Technical shortfalls
E)Failure to obtain anticipated benefits

Question 9

The data entry screen is an example of a user interface.

Question 10

According to a 2015 report by 1E,over 50% of all software installed is not being used.

Question 11

Which method would you use to develop risk profiles for a firm's information system projects and assets?

A)Information systems plan
B)Scoring model
C)Portfolio analysis
D)TCO
E)Real options model

Question 12

Project management refers to the application of knowledge,skills,tools and techniques to achieve specific targets within specified budget and time constraints.

Question 13

Which of the following project management variables defines what work is or is not included in a project?

A)Goals
B)Risk
C)Quality
D)Scope
E)Cost

Question 14

On average,private sector IT projects underestimated budget and delivery time of systems by ________ percent.

A)30
B)40
C)50
D)60
E)70

Question 15

Which of the following is at the top of the management structure for information systems projects in a large company?

A)Project team
B)Project management group
C)Corporate strategic planning group and information systems steering committee
D)Information systems managers
E)End-user managers

Question 16

The ________ reviews and approves plans for systems in all divisions.

A)project management group
B)project team
C)information systems steering committee
D)corporate strategic planning committee
E)board of directors

Question 17

The ________ is directly responsible for the individual systems project.

A)project management group
B)project team
C)IS steering committee
D)corporate strategic planning committee
E)systems planning committee

Question 18

The ________ consists of systems analysts,specialists from the relevant end-user business areas,application programmers,and perhaps database specialists.

A)project management group
B)project team
C)IS steering committee
D)corporate strategic planning committee
E)system planning committee

Question 19

A firm in the finance industry should do which of the following to ensure that it stays current with technology?

A)Select only low-cost,low risk projects
B)Limit work to those projects with great rewards
C)Select only low-risk,high-reward projects
D)Have a few high-risk,high benefit projects
E)Avoid projects that were very costly

Question 20

Which of the following is not one of the five main variables affecting project success?

A)Risk
B)Vendors
C)Time
D)Quality
E)Cost

Question 21

Which of the following statements about scoring models is not true?

A)There are many qualitative judgments involved in using a scoring model.
B)A scoring model is useful for selecting projects where many criteria must be considered.
C)The most important outcome of a scoring model is the score.
D)A scoring model requires experts who understand the issues and the technology.
E)It is appropriate to cycle through a scoring model several times.

Question 22

The information systems steering committee is composed of information systems managers and end-user managers responsible for overseeing several specific information systems projects.

Question 23

You have been hired as a consultant to make recommendations for Smarty's,a healthy fast-food chain that is undergoing major expansion and is in need of a supply chain planning system.They are evaluating two commercially available software packages.What systems evaluation model will help them assess and compare the two packages? How does this model work?

Question 24

Which of the following would not be covered in the Strategic Business Plan Rationale section of an information systems plan?

A)Current situation
B)Current business organization
C)Firm's strategic plan
D)Changing environments
E)Current infrastructure capabilities

Question 25

Which of the following best describes the central method used in a scoring model?

A)Performing an inventory of all of the organization's information systems projects and assets
B)Performing a weighted comparison of the criteria used to evaluate a system
C)Surveying a large sample of managers on their objectives,decision-making process,and uses and needs for data and information
D)Interviewing a small number of top managers to identify their goals and criteria for achieving success
E)Calculating the return on investment for each system,and choosing the system with the best return

Question 26

Describe the elements of a management structure for information systems projects in a large corporation.

Question 27

Which of the following would not be covered in the Budget Requirements section of an information systems plan?

A)Requirements
B)Potential savings
C)Difficulties meeting business requirements
D)Financing
E)Acquisition cycle

Question 28

Describe the process of portfolio analysis.In what situations is this evaluation method useful?

Question 29

You have been hired as a consultant for a nationwide real estate firm,Cross & Deptford,who are interested in achieving better organization between branches by updating their information systems,but are not sure what will suit their needs.What will you recommend they do in order to determine the most effective IT projects?

Question 30

Which of the following would not be covered in the Management Strategy section of an information systems plan?

A)Acquisition plans
B)Progress reports
C)Organizational realignment
D)Internal reorganization
E)Major training initiatives

Question 31

You have been hired by a firm in a non-information-intensive industry to evaluate its inventory of systems and IT projects.Which types of projects should the firm focus on?

A)High-risk projects
B)Low cost,low-benefit projects
C)High-benefit,low-risk projects
D)Any project that might be beneficial
E)Low cost,high benefit projects

Question 32

The criteria used in a scoring model are usually the result of lengthy discussions among the decision-making group.

Question 33

If an intended benefit of an IT project is improved decision making,managers should develop a set of metrics to quantify the value of an improved decision.

Question 34

An information systems plan contains a statement of corporate goals and specifies how information technology will support the attainment of those goals.

Question 35

The worth of systems from a financial perspective essentially revolves around the issue of:

A)total cost of ownership.
B)adherence to information requirements.
C)asset utilization.
D)return on invested capital.
E)the cost of computing equipment.

Question 36

Which method is used to assign weights to various features of a system?

A)Information systems plan
B)Scoring model
C)Portfolio analysis
D)TCO
E)Real options model

Question 37

Scoring models are most commonly used to make the final decision when selecting different systems.

Question 38

You are using a capital budgeting method to assess the worth of your company's new information system.Which of the following costs would you include in measuring the cash outflow?

A)Increased sales of products
B)Hardware and software expenditures
C)Labor expenditures
D)Reduced costs in production and operation
E)Hardware,software,and labor expenditures

Question 39

You are working as a project manager for a small IT consulting firm and have been asked to create a plan for reviewing and auditing completed projects in order to gauge their success.What factors will you use to measure the success of a project? What questions would you ask in order to understand why a project succeeded or failed?

Question 40

List five types of information that should be included in an information systems plan.

Question 41

Which of the following statements best describes the effect that project structure has on overall project risk?

A)Highly structured projects are more complex,and run a higher risk of programmers and users misunderstanding the ultimate goals.
B)Projects with relatively undefined goals are more likely to be subjected to users changing requirements and to run a higher risk of not satisfying project goals.
C)Highly structured projects tend to be larger,affecting more organizational units,and run both the risk of out-of-control costs and becoming too difficult to control.
D)Less structured projects are more able to be quickly developed,tested,and implemented using cutting-edge RAD and JAD development techniques,and pose less risk of running up unforeseen costs.
E)The less structured a project,the greater the freedom of users to define the system.

Question 42

The principal capital budgeting models for evaluating information technology projects are the payback method,the accounting rate of return on investment (ROI),the net present value,and the:

A)future present value.
B)internal rate of return.
C)external rate of return.
D)ROPM (real options pricing model).
E)present value of future cash flows.

Question 43

Differentiate between intangible and tangible benefits and list three examples of each.In what types of systems are intangible benefits more predominant?

Question 44

Which of the following is a limitation of using a financial approach to evaluate information systems?

A)Inability to measure ROI
B)Inability to control vendor costs
C)Inability to assess risk
D)Inability to assess costs from organizational disruption
E)Inability to assess the cost of technology

Question 45

________ methods rely on measures of cash flows into and out of the firm.

A)Scoring model
B)Portfolio analysis
C)Real options pricing
D)Capital budgeting
E)Cost effectiveness

Question 46

The difference between cash outflows and cash inflows is used for calculating the financial worth of an investment.

Question 47

All of the following are intangible benefits of information systems except:

A)improved asset utilization.
B)increased organizational learning.
C)improved operations.
D)reduced workforce.
E)improved decision making.

Question 48

A benefit of using TCO analysis to evaluate an information technology investment is that it is able to incorporate intangible and "soft" factors such as benefits and complexity costs.

Question 49

You have been hired to implement an enterprise system that will automate much of the billing and accounting work for a statewide HVAC services company.Which of the following would you prepare to describe how the new system will affect a firm's structure and operations?

A)Information systems plan
B)Internal integration report
C)Sociotechnical design report
D)Organizational impact analysis
E)Strategic planning document

Question 50

All of the following are directly correlated with increased risk except:

A)a large amount of technical expertise from project team and information team staff.
B)a large amount of dollars spent.
C)a large amount of implementation staff.
D)a large amount of time allocated for implementation.
E)a large amount of organizational units affected.

Question 51

Which of the following strategies represents the proper approach to a high risk,high reward project?

A)Identify and develop
B)Avoid
C)Treat as a routine project
D)Pursue after all other projects are complete
E)Cautiously examine

Question 52

Enhanced employee goodwill falls under what category of costs and benefits of information systems?

A)Costs
B)Tangible benefits
C)Cost savings
D)Intangible costs
E)Intangible benefits

Question 53

Transaction and clerical systems that displace labor and save space typically produce more measurable,tangible benefits than management information systems.

Question 54

Which of the following is not a tangible benefit of information systems?

A)Reduced rate of growth in expenses
B)Lower computer expenses
C)Improved resource control
D)Increased productivity
E)Reduced facility costs

Question 55

Counterimplementation is best defined as:

A)multiple implementations that are run in parallel.
B)deliberate attempts to thwart the implementation of a system.
C)critiquing the implementation of a system constructively.
D)all of the organizational challenges involved in implementing a system.
E)strategies used to overcome user resistance to change.

Question 56

Intangible benefits generally do not lead to quantifiable gains in the long run.

Question 57

In one strategic approach to determining information requirements,managers select a small number of ________ that reflect firm success and profitability.

A)efficiency measures
B)output measures
C)strategic indicators
D)key performance indicators
E)financial indicators

Question 58

Which of the following statements about project risk is not true?

A)The more dollars spent on project,the greater the risk.
B)The higher the number of implementation staff on a project,the lower the risk.
C)The higher the number of organizational units affected by a project,the greater the risk.
D)Very large-scale systems project have a failure rate that is 50 to 75 percent higher than that for other projects.
E)The organizational complexity of a system contributes to the complexity of large-scale systems projects.

Question 59

You are a senior manager at a mid-sized regional retail chain.The company's IT manager approaches you with a project that would completely overhaul the company's information system infrastructure,generating significant risk;but if executed successfully,would dramatically improve the company's overall efficiency.How should you proceed?

Question 60

More timely information is an intangible benefit of information systems.

Question 61

Which of the following is the most widely used project management software today?

A)Vertabase
B)IBM Project Guide
C)Microsoft Project
D)Microsoft Excel
E)Zoho Projects

Question 62

Successful system building requires careful ________ management to minimize organizational resistance.

A)cost
B)technology
C)change
D)supply chain
E)system application

Question 63

Which of the following statements about the user-designer communications gap is not true?

A)It occurs because users and information systems specialists tend to have different backgrounds,interests,and priorities.
B)It is one of the major reasons why user requirements are not properly incorporated into information systems.
C)It is one of the major reasons why users are driven out of the implementation process.
D)When it is pronounced,it creates a very high risk of failure for a systems development project.
E)Information systems specialists prefer systems that are oriented toward solving business problems or facilitating organizational tasks.

Question 64

Which type of planning tool shows each task as a horizontal bar whose length is proportional to the time required to complete it?

A)PERT chart
B)Gantt chart
C)Both a PERT chart and a Gannt chart
D)Scoring model
E)Portfolio analysis

Question 65

Which of the following is not something you would use to control risk factors in an information systems project?

A)Internal integration tools
B)External integration tools
C)Formal planning tools and formal control tools
D)Real options pricing models
E)Gantt charts

Question 66

Which of the following is an example of using an external integration tool?

A)Creating a Gantt chart
B)Including user representatives as active members of the project team
C)Creating a PERT chart
D)Using portfolio analysis
E)Developing a scoring model

Question 67

Which of the following best describes the relationship between system implementation and user involvement and management support?

A)System implementation rarely benefits from user involvement.
B)System implementation benefits from user support,but does not require management support.
C)System implementation generally benefits from high levels of user involvement and management support.
D)System implementation benefits from management support,but does not require user support.
E)System implementation rarely benefits from management support.

Question 68

Which of the following helps project managers identify bottlenecks in project development?

A)Internal integration tools
B)External integration tools
C)Formal planning and control tools
D)Both internal and external integration tools
E)Portfolio analysis tools

Question 69

Formal planning and control tools:

A)are used to select projects where many criteria must be considered.
B)enable a project manager to properly document and monitor project plans.
C)are used to evaluate alternative systems projects.
D)link the work of the implementation team with users at all organization levels.
E)serve as a road map indicating the direction of systems development.

Question 70

Which of the following is not an organizational factor in systems planning and implementation?

A)Standards and performance monitoring
B)Government regulatory compliance
C)Health and safety
D)User interface
E)Ergonomics

Question 71

Which of the following is not one of the activities of the systems analyst?

A)Acting as a change agent
B)Communicating with users
C)Mediating between competing interest groups
D)Formulating of capital budgeting models
E)Deciding which systems to develop

Question 72

Which of the following types of projects is most likely to fail?

A)Integration of a third-party automated payment system
B)Replacement of middleware with web services for legacy application integration
C)Business process redesign project that restructures workflow and responsibilities
D)Redesigning a user interface to an online investment site
E)Building a web-based interface to an existing system

Question 73

The differing backgrounds between users and information systems specialists is referred to as the:

A)user expertise gap.
B)information system specialist inefficiency.
C)user-designer paradigm.
D)user-designer expertise gap.
E)user-designer communications gap.

Question 74

Which of the following is an example of using an internal integration tool?

A)Creating a Gantt chart
B)Including user representatives as active members of the project team
C)Creating PERT chart
D)Holding frequent project team meetings
E)Developing a scoring model

Question 75

External integration tools:

A)enable a project to have sufficient technical support for project management and development.
B)enable a project manager to properly document and monitor project plans.
C)portray a project as a network diagram with numbered nodes representing project tasks.
D)consist of ways to link the work of the implementation team with users at all organization levels.
E)enable project team members to keep track of external costs of a project.

Question 76

In sociotechnical design:

A)separate sets of technical and social design solutions are developed and compared.
B)ergonomic features of a system are considered to be the most important consideration.
C)systems analysts with proven backgrounds in sociological concerns rate and compare a system's social and technical aspects.
D)human needs are given more importance than technical needs.
E)technical needs are given more importance than organizational needs.

Question 77

Which of the following refers to all organizational activities working toward the adoption,management,and routinization of a new information system?

A)Production
B)Maintenance
C)Implementation
D)Acceptance
E)Final acceptance

Question 78

To review a project's tasks and their interrelationships,you would use which of the following?

A)PERT chart
B)Gantt chart
C)PERT chart or a Gantt chart
D)Scoring model
E)Portfolio analysis

Question 79

Which of the following is not a responsibility of effective change management?

A)Integrating legacy systems
B)Dealing with fear and anxiety about new systems
C)Training users of the new system
D)Enforcing user participation at all stages of system development
E)Ensuring users are properly trained

Question 80

Internal integration tools:

A)enable a project to have sufficient technical support for projects with challenging and complex technology.
B)enable a project manager to properly document and monitor project plans.
C)portray a project as a network diagram with numbered nodes representing project tasks.
D)consist of ways to link the work of the implementation team with users at all organization levels.
E)enable end users to communicate with system developers.