Deck 2: Project Management

Question 1

Most system requests include all of the following except _____.

A) business need
B) business requirements
C) project sponsor
D) project manager
E) business value

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Examples of development costs include all EXCEPT _____.

A) consultant fees
B) hardware expenses
C) salaries for the project team
D) software licensing fees
E) none of the above

Answer 2

D

Question 3

The project champion is a(n)_____.

A) high-level IS executive who is usually but not always the project sponsor who initiated the system request
B) mid-level IS manager who has the responsibility of controlling and directing the development process
C) high-level non-IS executive who is usually but not always the project sponsor who initiated the system request
D) senior member of the user group who participated in the RAD sessions
E) none of the above

Answer 3

C

Question 4

_____ feasibility is determined by identifying costs and benefits associated with the system.

A) Economic
B) Functional
C) Organizational
D) Intangible
E) Technical

Question 5

Which of the following factors could be included in a technical risk assessment?

A) Cost of a new Web server
B) Cost of hiring a Webmaster
C) No previous experience with Java within the IS department
D) Some fear of job loss among order entry department personnel
E) All of the above

Question 6

_____ value can be quantified during the project initiation phase.

A) Expected
B) Tangible
C) Intangible
D) Real
E) Salvage

Question 7

The level of acceptance by the users of a system and the extent to which the new system will be incorporated into the operations of the organization are expressed in the _____ feasibility.

A) economic
B) familiarity
C) functional
D) organizational
E) technical

Question 8

The calculation that measures the amount of money an organization receives in return for the money it spends is called the _____.

A) cash flow
B) net present value
C) total investment
D) tangible costs
E) return on investment

Question 9

The four elements commonly found on a system request are _____.

A) economic, organizational, technical, and operational feasibility
B) project sponsor, business need, business requirements, and business value
C) risk analysis, familiarity, project size, and cost-benefit analysis
D) training, software, installation, and equipment
E) upgrades, licensing fees, repairs, and charges

Question 10

If end users feel fearful or threatened by a proposed new system, this factor should be included as a part of the _____.

A) economic feasibility assessment
B) organizational feasibility assessment
C) system proposal
D) system request
E) technical feasibility assessment

Question 11

Feasibility analysis may be defined as a(n)_____.

A) assessment of ability of the ultimate users of the system to accept the system and incorporate it into the ongoing operations of the organization
B) determination of the extent to which the system can be technically designed, developed, and installed
C) guide to determining whether to proceed with a project
D) identification of only the costs and benefits associated with the project
E) none of the above

Question 12

_____ is the process of examining the technical, economic, and organizational pros and cons of developing a new system.

A) Committee approval
B) Feasibility analysis
C) Functionality determination
D) Risk analysis
E) System request

Question 13

_____ is the process of planning and controlling the development of a system within a specified time frame at a minimum cost with the right functionality.

A) Project management
B) Semantic timeline
C) Task identification
D) Time estimation
E) Work plan

Question 14

Peter is the vice president of accounting and finance. For the past year he has solely provided the resources necessary to get the just-in-time accounting system through the planning and analysis phases of the SDLC. Other managers have openly stated that the JIT system is not worth the investment. The SEC has just placed Peter under investigation for insider trading and the board has asked him to resign. This project is failing _____ feasibility analysis.

A) organizational
B) champion
C) functional
D) economic
E) technical

Question 15

The person who identifies the business value that can be gained from using information technology is called the _____.

A) manager
B) project sponsor
C) staff member
D) system analyst
E) system request

Question 16

In order to approve a system request, the approval committee must know

A) all of the details of the ultimate system to be developed.
B) the high level functionality of the system.
C) what the screens and reports will look like in the final system.
D) who the end users of the system will be and exactly how they will use it in their jobs.
E) all of the above.

Question 17

Suppose a proposed new financial reporting system for the AMF Biotech Corporation must be completed by the start of the next fiscal year in order to comply with new government regulations. This information should be included as part of the ____________ section of the system request.

A) business need
B) business value
C) business requirements
D) special issues or constraints
E) none of the above

Question 18

Explaining "the business capabilities of the information system" is written in the _____ section of the system request.

A) business need
B) business value
C) business requirements
D) project need
E) special issues

Question 19

Which of the following factors would tend to increase the technical risk of a project?

A) familiarity with the technology
B) large project size
C) creating an application that is familiar to the users and analysts
D) small project size
E) the number of other applications under development in the firm

Question 20

Operational costs that are examined during feasibility analysis include _____.

A) data conversion cost
B) development training
C) user training
D) equipment upgrades
E) initial consultant fees

Question 21

The process of assigning values for the time and effort needed to perform a system project is called _____.

A) analysis
B) estimation
C) identifying
D) planning
E) preparation

Question 22

Project managers can develop task lists for a project with the help of _____.

A) established methodologies
B) system proposals
C) system requests
D) user application hardware
E) user requirements

Question 23

A(n) ____________ is a measure of program size based on the number and complexity of inputs, outputs, queries, files, and program interfaces.

A) function point
B) line of code
C) project plan
D) standard module
E) workplan

Question 24

Assume a systems development project effort calculation determines that the system will require 240 function points. If the developers choose to implement this system in the C programming language, approximately 31,200 lines of code will have to be written. If the developers choose Visual Basic to implement the system, the number of lines of code will be _____.

A) about the same
B) can't tell without more information
C) exactly the same
D) much greater
E) much less

Question 25

Kathryn has little experience estimating the time it will take to complete a systems project. She has just completed the planning phase of the project. What method should she use to estimate the time required to build the system?

A) adjusted project complexity
B) function points
C) industry standards
D) Microsoft Project
E) more complex approach

Question 26

The three steps of project management are _____.

A) controlling the project, directing the project, and creating the work plan
B) creating the work plan, staffing the project, and controlling and directing the project
C) directing the project, creating the work plan, and naming the tasks
D) naming the tasks, creating the work plan, and completing the deliverables
E) setting the start date, estimating the time, and reading the actual time

Question 27

Michelle has decided to use a shortcut to determine the complexity of the project she is currently managing. She has assigned the adjusted project complexity (PCA) a value of .65. She has determined that her project is _____.

A) bi-lateral
B) complex
C) microconvergent
D) normal
E) very simple

Question 28

Diane needs to create a work plan for an upcoming systems project. She must first _____.

A) estimate the hours and request deliverables
B) identify the tasks and estimate the time needed to complete them
C) initiate the project and create the project management assessment
D) make tradeoffs and set conservative numbers
E) timebox the completion date

Question 29

One method of estimating project time is to use industry standard factors for each project phase. With this method, if the planning phase typically takes 15% of total project time, and a particular project requires three months for planning, then the remainder of the project will require _____.

A) 15 months
B) 20 months
C) 3.5 months
D) 4.5 months
E) 3 months

Question 30

Ryan, a newly hired systems analyst / consultant, is about to begin a systems project. Where will Ryan look first to locate the identifiable tasks he will record in his work plan?

A) call a friend at a competing firm
B) his Systems Analysis text book from college
C) the company training materials for the company methodology
D) the project planning software available at the local bookstore
E) the website of his old college professor

Question 31

A critical success factor for project management is to _____.

A) create a work plan
B) follow the three steps of project management
C) identify most project tasks
D) manage the hundreds of tasks
E) start with a realistic assessment of the work

Question 32

When estimating project time schedules using industry standards, the estimated project completion time for a systems project would be _____ person-months if the actual planning phase were completed in 6 person-months.

A) 30
B) 40
C) 17.14
D) 9
E) 50

Question 33

Adding people to a project team in order to speed up total development time _____.
F) is a standard task in timeboxing
G) is a useful way to meet a tight deadline h. may actually increase total development time
I) simplifies communication within the team
J) none of the above

Question 34

Traditional Work Breakdown Structures tend to

A) focus on the design of the system as oppose to the needs of the current phase and iteration
B) force too many levels of detail early on for large project and they tend to allow too few level of detail for small projects
C) be too specific for the project and difficult to compare across projects
D) all of the above
E) none of the above

Question 35

The most significant challenge to project managers is _____.

A) lack of project management training
B) no one really understands how to manage a complex systems development project
C) the lack of tools that can assist in controlling project progress
D) unrealistic schedule demands by project sponsors
E) all of the above

Question 36

The _____ is a dynamic schedule that logs and monitors all of the tasks that need to be accomplished for the length of the project.

A) margin of error
B) project manager
C) project objective
D) timebox
E) work plan

Question 37

When using a function point estimation worksheet, there are 14 factors that impact the complexity of a project. These factors include _____.

A) data communications, time tradeoffs, and estimated effort
B) end-user efficiency, data communications, and reusability
C) performance and programming language
D) reports printed and PCA
E) x-rays, extensibility, and operational conversion

Question 38

To identify the tasks for a work plan the project manager can _____.

A) control and direct the project
B) estimate the size, staff the project, and remember technical skills
C) establish a possible reporting structure
D) list the four phases of the SDLC and the steps that occur in each
E) set conservative numbers for the project software

Question 39

Function points are used to measure the estimated _____ of a project.

A) complexity
B) effort required
C) program size
D) time required
E) TUFP

Question 40

A normal system with 400 unadjusted function points would have _____ adjusted function points when the shortcut method is use to determine the complexity of the project.

A) 200
B) 260
C) 400
D) 540
E) 600

Question 41

The return on investment (ROI) should be used as the sole indicator of a project's worth because it considers the end points of the investment, not the cash flow in between.

Question 42

The champion is a high-level IS executive who initiates the system request and supports the project by providing time, resources, and political support within the organization by communicating the importance of the system to other organizational decision makers.

Question 43

User participation should be promoted throughout the development process to make sure that the final system will be accepted and used.

Question 44

For use-case point estimation purposes, actors can be classified as simple, __________, or complex.

A) difficult
B) medium
C) average
D) common
E) feasible
Answer: c

Question 45

Staffing plan that lists the roles and the proposed reporting structure that are required for the project. Typically, a project will have one _____________, who oversees the overall progress of the development effort, with the core of the team comprising the various types of analysts.

A) team lead
B) functional lead
C) technical lead
D) project manager
E) business analyst

Question 46

To identify the costs and benefits related to the computer technology for a project the systems analyst should rely on the business users.

Question 47

Economic feasibility focuses on whether the system can be built by examining the risks associated with the users' and analysts' familiarity with the application, familiarity with the technology, and project size.

Question 48

Project size is an important consideration in technical feasibility. Larger projects create more risk, both because they are more complicated to manage and because there is a greater chance that some important system requirements will be overlooked or misunderstood.

Question 49

A 20% increase in sales volume is a tangible benefit that can be included in a cost-benefit analysis.

Question 50

Use-case points is a project effort estimation approach based on unique features of _______ and object orientation.

A) functions
B) classes
C) objects
D) projects
E) use cases

Question 51

A limitation of a formal cost-benefits analysis is that it contains the costs and benefits for just one year.

Question 52

Unlike traditional Work Breakdown Structures (WBS), evolutionary WBSs are 42.

A) organized in a standard manner across all projects
B) created in an iterative and incremental manner
C) designed so one can compare the current project to past projects
D) all of the above
E) none of the above

Question 53

Use-case point-based estimation also has a set of factors that are used to adjust the use-case point value. Which one list in the following is Not one of the technical factors:

A) Whether the system is going to be a distributed system
B) The importance of customer service
C) The efficiency level of the end user using the system
D) The complexity of the internal processing of the system
E) The importance of code reuse Answer: b
Reponse: see page 26
True / False

Question 54

Economic feasibility is determined by identifying costs and benefits associated with the system, assigning values to them, and then calculating the cash flow and return on investment for the project.

Question 55

Familiarity with the application and technology are major factors considered under economic feasibility.

Question 56

A high return on investment (ROI) results when benefits far outweigh the cost of a new project or information system.

Question 57

Cost benefit analysis identifies the financial costs and benefits associated with a systems project.

Question 58

Economic feasibility includes an assessment of financial impact in four categories: (1) development costs, (2) operational costs, (3) tangible benefits, and (4) intangible costs and benefits.

Question 59

Happy customers is a tangible cost that can be included in a cost-benefit analysis.

Question 60

How well a system is accepted by the users and incorporated into the ongoing operations of the business is defined in the technical feasibility.

Question 61

The organizational management of a business is involved in hands-on activities related to the project.

Question 62

Development costs that are examined during feasibility analysis include costs for software licenses and software upgrades.

Question 63

Project initiation begins when the project sponsor identifies business value that can be gained by using information technology.

Question 64

Nicole has identified development and operational costs for a soon-to-be built information system. Her findings will be listed under economic feasibility in the analysis report.

Question 65

ROI calculations do not consider the present value of future money.

Question 66

Lauren, a systems analyst, is concerned that she and the end-users at her company do not have experience with a new scanner technology that will soon be implemented. This identified risk falls under economic feasibility.

Question 67

Present value calculation takes inflation and time into account.

Question 68

It is not necessary to assign dollar values to intangible costs and benefits; it is almost impossible to come up with reasonable numbers for all of the costs and benefits that haven't happened yet.

Question 69

During organizational feasibility analysis the system users are the stakeholders that are responsible for providing enough budget and promoting the project.

Question 70

System requests often include the project team members including the project
manager and the analysts.

Question 71

Calculating the break-even point helps in understanding how long it will take before the system creates real value for the organization.

Question 72

Natalie has been asked by her project manager to list the possible intangible benefits for a new system. Her list will include reduced expenses for the company.

Question 73

Technical feasibility focuses on whether the system can be built by examining the risks associated with the application.

Question 74

The person or group that funds a project and enthusiastically promotes the project throughout the organization is the project champion.

Question 75

Kelly Smith, the vice president of marketing, has provided resources and political support for the new production management information system. She has acted as the project manager for the project.

Question 76

The feasibility analysis helps the approval committee determine whether or not to proceed with a project.

Question 77

The formula for net present value (NPV) is the ratio of (Total benefits - Total Costs) to Total Costs.

Question 78

A feasibility analysis includes whether the project has been permitted by the CIO
of the company.

Question 79

Organizational feasibility can be evaluated by conducting a(n) stakeholder analysis.

Question 80

System users are stakeholders who perform hands-on activities related to the project.