Deck 4: Identifying and Selecting Systems Development Projects

Question 1

When classifying and ranking projects,resource availability,potential benefits,and project size/duration are possible evaluation criteria.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

A major disadvantage to the planning-based approach is that an organization's informational needs are more likely to change than its business processes.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

"What information requirements will satisfy our business's decision-making needs today and well into the future?" is a question that might be asked by a planning-based approach to project identification and selection.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

During project identification and selection,all possible systems development projects that an organizational unit can undertake are identified and assessed.

Question 5

When identifying and selecting projects,the development group is very concerned with cost-benefit analysis.

Question 6

When comparing alternative methods for making information systems identification and selection decisions,top management has the smallest project size and a cross-functional focus.

Question 7

The criteria used to evaluate projects will vary by organization.

Question 8

To maintain consistency,top management or a steering committee should classify and rank projects,not the IS group or individual business units.

Question 9

The Baseline Project Plan is the primary deliverable from the project identification and selection phase.

Question 10

To benefit from a planning-based approach for identifying and selecting projects,an organization must analyze its information needs and plan its projects carefully.

Question 11

Due to the principle of incremental commitment,a selected project will result in a working system.

Question 12

Nonintegrated systems used in the past are being replaced with cooperative,integrated enterprise systems that can easily support information sharing.

Question 13

Project selection is a process of considering both short- and long-term projects and selecting those most likely to achieve business objectives.

Question 14

Projects identified by top management have a cross-functional focus.

Question 15

When determining how to allocate IS resources,organizations have traditionally used a systematic planning process.

Question 16

Systems analysis is the first phase of the systems development life cycle.

Question 17

An IS manager,a formal planning group,a user department,and a development group are possible sources for information systems development projects.

Question 18

A schedule of specific IS development projects is the primary deliverable from the project identification and selection phase.

Question 19

Requirements structuring is the first activity of the project identification and selection phase.

Question 20

Potential benefits are the process of analyzing an organization's activities to determine where value is added to products and/or services and the costs incurred for doing so; this process usually also includes a comparison with the activities,added value,and costs of other organizations for the purpose of making improvements in the organization's operations and performance.

Question 21

Mission statements are a series of statements that express an organization's qualitative and quantitative goals for reaching a desired future position.

Question 22

A company should define its competitive strategy and then define its mission and objectives.

Question 23

Data redundancy and users having little confidence in the quality of data are reasons why improved information systems project identification and selection is needed.

Question 24

A low-cost producer competitive strategy reflects competing in an industry on the basis of product or service cost to the consumer.

Question 25

Corporate analysis is an ongoing process that defines the mission,objectives,and strategies of an organization.

Question 26

A disciplined approach,driven by top management commitment,is a prerequisite to most effectively apply information systems in order to reach organizational objectives.

Question 27

Objective statements are a series of statements that express an organization's qualitative and quantitative goals for reaching a desired future position.

Question 28

Mission statements are often referred to as critical success factors.

Question 29

Systems requirements planning is an orderly means of assessing the information needs of an organization and defining the systems,databases,and technologies that will best satisfy those needs.

Question 30

A competitive strategy is the method by which an organization attempts to achieve its mission and objectives.

Question 31

"Baker's Fitness Center will increase market share and profitability" is an example of a mission statement.

Question 32

To build the most effective information systems,an organization must clearly understand its mission,objectives,and strategy.

Question 33

"We are in the business of selling high-quality men's shoes" is an example of a mission statement.

Question 34

The rising costs of information systems is one reason why improved information systems project identification and selection is needed.

Question 35

The South Korean-produced Hyundai uses a product focus competitive strategy.

Question 36

Promoting your product as having an ingredient that competing products do not,setting the product apart from the competition,best exemplifies the product differentiation competitive strategy.

Question 37

A business objective statement is a statement that makes it clear what business the company is in.

Question 38

The product focus or niche competitive strategy is similar to both the low-cost and differentiation strategies,but with a much narrower market focus.

Question 39

Requirements determination and requirements structuring are two processes that can significantly improve the quality of project identification and selection decisions.

Question 40

During corporate strategic planning,executives typically develop a mission statement,statements of future corporate objectives,and strategies designed to help the organization reach its objectives.

Question 41

The Internet is a large worldwide network of networks that use a common protocol to communicate with each other.

Question 42

The systems identification and selection process for an Internet-based electronic commerce application is no different than the process followed for other applications.

Question 43

EDI is the use of telecommunications technologies to transfer business documents directly between organizations.

Question 44

Top-down planning is an ISP methodology which attempts to gain a specific understanding of the information system needs of a part of the organization.

Question 45

Research has found that projects identified by top management more often:

A)have a narrow,tactical focus
B)reflect diversity and have a cross-functional focus
C)have a strategic,organizational focus
D)will integrate easily with existing hardware and systems

Question 46

Bottom-up planning is an ISP methodology that identifies and defines IS development projects based upon solving operational business problems.

Question 47

Organizations that have Intranets dictate what applications will run over the Intranet and the speed and quality of the hardware connected to the Intranet.

Question 48

An Intranet refers to the use of the Internet between firms.

Question 49

The bottom-up approach always views the informational needs of the entire organization and thus results in the creation of cohesive information systems.

Question 50

Research has found that projects identified by individual departments or business units most often:

A)have a narrow,tactical focus
B)reflect diversity and have a cross-functional focus
C)have a strategic,organizational focus
D)will integrate easily with existing hardware and systems

Question 51

Which of the following is one of the three primary activities associated with identifying and selecting IS development projects?

A)preliminary investigation of the system problem or opportunity
B)identification of potential development projects
C)requirements determination
D)generating alternative initial designs

Question 52

An extranet is Internet-based communication to support business-to-business activities.

Question 53

A location-to-function matrix identifies which organizational units are located in or interact with a specific business function.

Question 54

During ISP,the current and future organizational needs are modeled,and strategies and project plans to migrate the current information systems and technologies to their desired future state are developed.

Question 55

When developing either an intranet or an extranet,developers know who the users are,what applications will be used,the speed of the network connection,and the type of communication devices.

Question 56

A department head deciding which project requests to submit is an example of:

A)a preliminary investigation of the system problem or opportunity
B)identifying potential development projects
C)requirements determination
D)generating alternative initial designs

Question 57

Identification and assessment of all possible systems development projects that an organization unit can undertake is conducted during:

A)project identification and selection
B)project initiation and planning
C)design
D)analysis

Question 58

The target situation must be developed in light of technology and business trends,in addition to organizational constraints.

Question 59

A unit-to-function matrix identifies the relationship between organizational entities and each business function.

Question 60

When developing an Internet EC application,developers must deal with several unknown factors,including the user,connection speed,and access method.

Question 61

A series of statements that express an organization's qualitative and quantitative goals for reaching a desired future position best defines:

A)objective statements
B)information systems plan
C)competitive strategy
D)business policy

Question 62

Which of the following is a way projects can be identified?

A)bottom-up source
B)upper-echelon source
C)top-down source
D)both A and C

Question 63

The extent to which the project is viewed as improving profits,customer service,etc.,and the duration of these benefits best defines which of the following evaluation criteria?

A)potential benefits
B)resource availability
C)technical difficulty or risks
D)strategic alignment

Question 64

Potential development projects can be identified by:

A)a steering committee
B)top management
C)a senior IS manager
D)all of the above

Question 65

Once a company has defined its mission and objectives:

A)goals can be established
B)an information architecture can be developed
C)project analysis can begin
D)a competitive strategy can be formulated

Question 66

Which of the following possible project sources most often reflects the broader needs of the organization?

A)user department
B)development group
C)IS manager
D)top management

Question 67

"We are in the business of designing,fabricating,and selling to retail stores high-quality wood furniture" is what kind of statement?

A)business statement
B)mission statement
C)goal statement
D)corporate policy

Question 68

Which of the following is a need for improved information systems project identification and selection?

A)The costs of information systems are steadily decreasing.
B)Many systems can handle applications that cross organization boundaries.
C)Data redundancy is often out of control,and users may have little confidence in the quality of the data.
D)Systems maintenance costs are well under control.

Question 69

A statement that makes it clear what business a company is in is called a:

A)business statement
B)corporate policy statement
C)goal statement
D)mission statement

Question 70

An ongoing process that defines the mission,objectives,and strategies of an organization refers to:

A)corporate strategic planning
B)analysis
C)goal setting
D)information systems planning

Question 71

Analyzing an organization's activities to determine where value is added to products and/or services and the costs incurred best describes:

A)affinity clustering
B)business process reengineering
C)value chain analysis
D)technical difficulty or risks

Question 72

The method by which an organization attempts to achieve its mission and objectives best defines:

A)critical success factors
B)competitive strategy
C)business policy
D)information systems plan

Question 73

Which of the following is a true statement regarding a planning-based approach?

A)An emphasis is placed on identifying the procedure that is required to solve a particular problem as it exists today.
B)The difficulty with this approach is that the required organizational procedures are likely to change over time as the environment changes.
C)A major advantage of this approach is that an organization's informational needs are less likely to change (or will change more slowly)than its business processes.
D)One of the benefits of this plan is that an organization does not need to analyze its information needs and plan its projects carefully.

Question 74

Which of the following characteristics is associated with the steering committee selection method?

A)greater strategic focus
B)greater organizational change
C)fewer users,management layers,and business functions
D)less concern on cost-benefit analysis

Question 75

Which of the following is a strategy for a low-cost producer?

A)competing in an industry on the basis of product quality
B)capitalizing on a key product criteria requested by the market
C)competing in an industry on the basis of product or service cost to the consumer
D)competing in an industry on the basis of product quantity

Question 76

Gaining a clear idea of where an organization is,its vision of where it wants to be in the future,and a plan of how to make the transition to its desired state is:

A)the third activity in the analysis phase
B)a prerequisite to making effective project selection decisions
C)the first step in a bottom-up approach
D)not necessary if one is using a CASE product

Question 77

Which of the following describes the product differentiation strategy?

A)competing in an industry on the basis of product quality
B)competing in an industry on the basis of product quantity
C)competing in an industry on the basis of product or service cost to the consumer
D)capitalizing on a key product criteria requested by the market

Question 78

Which of the following is a competitive strategy?

A)low-cost producer
B)product differentiation
C)product focus
D)all of the above

Question 79

The extent to which the project is viewed as helping the organization achieve its strategic objectives and long-term goals describes:

A)potential benefits
B)resource availability
C)technical difficulty or risks
D)strategic alignment

Question 80

If the project team and organizational officials reassess the project after each subsequent SDLC phase to determine if the business conditions have changed or if a more detailed understanding of a system's costs,benefits,and risks suggest that the project is not as worthy as previously thought,they are:

A)adhering to the incremental commitment principle
B)overly cautious
C)using a CASE methodology
D)adhering to a bottom-up commitment principle