Deck 14: Managing Projects

Question 1

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 are very costly

Answer 1

D

Question 2

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

Answer 2

True

Question 3

On average,private sector projects are underestimated by half in terms of budget and time required to deliver the complete system promised in the system plan.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

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

A)30
B)40
C)50
D)70
E)80

Question 5

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 6

As described in the text,which of the following statements about runaway or failed IT 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)50% of businesses have experienced IT project failure in the last year.
D)IT projects often fail because they lack sufficient computing capacity.
E)One study found that private sector projects underestimate costs and time required by half.

Question 7

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

Question 8

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 9

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 10

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

Question 11

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 12

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 13

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 14

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 15

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 16

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

Question 17

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 18

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

Question 19

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 20

The ________ is composed of department heads from both end-user and information systems areas.

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

Question 21

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

Question 22

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)Management controls
E)Major training initiatives

Question 23

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 24

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 25

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

Question 26

Which of the following strategies represents the proper approach to a low 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 27

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

Question 28

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 29

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 30

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

Question 31

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

Question 32

The value 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 33

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 34

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

Question 35

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 36

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 37

The project team is supervised by information systems managers and end-user managers responsible for overseeing specific information systems projects.

Question 38

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 39

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 40

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 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

Intangible benefits may lead to quantifiable gains in the long run.

Question 44

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

Question 45

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

A)The more dollars spent on a 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 46

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 47

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 48

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 49

As described in the text,which of the following is not a risk factor in information systems projects?

A)Project size
B)Scope of the project
C)Project structure
D)Experience with technology
E)The link between information systems and corporate strategy

Question 50

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

Question 51

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

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

Question 52

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 53

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 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

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 57

More timely information is an intangible benefit of information systems.

Question 58

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

Question 59

________ 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 60

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 61

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 62

The differing background 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 63

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 64

Which of the following types of projects have a higher likelihood of failure?

A)Integration of a third-party automated payment system
B)Replacement of middleware with web services for legacy application integration
C)Very large-scale or complex systems projects
D)Redesigning a user interface to an online investment site
E)Building a web-based interface to an existing system

Question 65

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 66

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

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

Question 67

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 68

Which of the following is not important when designing a new system to fit the organization?

A)Job design
B)Government regulatory compliance
C)Health and safety
D)Return on investment
E)Ergonomics

Question 69

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 70

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 71

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 72

Which of the following is not a factor in the high failure rate of reengineering systems projects?

A)Employees' concerns about change
B)Resistance by key managers
C)Changes in career paths signaled by the new system
D)Changes in job descriptions signaled by the new system
E)Failures of the new technologies to perform according to plan

Question 73

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 74

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)Capital budgeting models
E)Gantt charts

Question 75

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 76

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.

Question 77

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 78

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 79

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 80

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.