Chapter 3

Project Management
Key Points and Objectives
1. A systems analyst must be able to handle project initiation; evaluate hardware and software;
determine project feasibility; manage a project by preparing a budget, creating a work breakdown
structure, scheduling activities, and controlling the schedule and costs; manage systems analysis
team members; and write the systems proposal.

2. The analyst should define the problem.

3. Issues are major parts of the problem and are identified by:

A. An issue, topic, or theme that is repeated several times, sometimes by different people in
several interviews.
B. Users may communicate using the same metaphors.
C. Users speaking at length on a topic.
D. Users may say something like “This is a major problem.”
E. Users may show importance by body language or may speak emphatically on an issue.
F. The problem may be the first thing mentioned by the user.

4. Issues are matched by objectives, along with a weight that indicates the importance of each
objective.

5. Each requirement may be used to create a preliminary test plan.

6. Five important criteria for project selection are:

A. The requested project be backed by management.

B. It is timed appropriately for commitment of resources.
C. It moves the business toward attainment of its goals.
D. It is practicable.
E. It is important enough to be considered over other projects.

7. A feasibility study assesses the operational, technical, and economic merits of the proposed
project.

8. There are many possible objectives including:

A. Speeding up a process
B. Streamlining a process
C. Combining processes
D. Reducing errors in input
E. Reducing redundant storage
F. Reducing redundant output
G. Improving integration of systems and subsystems
9. Technical feasibility assesses whether the current technical resources are sufficient for the new
system and if not, can they be upgraded to provide the level of technology necessary for the new
system.

10. Economic feasibility determines whether the time and money are available to develop the system,
including the purchase of new equipment, hardware, and software.

11. Operational feasibility determines if the human resources are available to operate the system once
it has been installed.

12. The analyst needs to determine hardware and software needs using the following steps:

A. Inventory computer hardware currently available

B. Estimate current and future system workloads
C. Evaluate available hardware and software
D. Choose to use cloud services
E. Choose the vendor
F. Acquire the computer equipment
G. Choose to create software, use COTS software or use SaaS provider

13. The analyst should inventory computer hardware, including the:

A. Type of equipment
B. Operation status of the equipment
C. Estimated age of equipment
D. Projected life of equipment
E. Physical location of equipment
F. Department or person responsible for equipment
G. Financial arrangement for equipment

14. Evaluate the performance of different systems hardware including the following

A. Time required for average transactions

B. Total volume capacity of the system
C. Idle time of the CPU or network
D. Size of memory provided

15. Companies may purchase their own computer or rent space in the cloud using cloud services.

16. Some of the cloud services available are:

A. Web hosting
B. Email hosting
C. Application hosting
D. Backup
E. Storage and processing of databases
F. Archiving
G. Ecommerce
17. Three main categories of cloud computing are:

A. Software as a Service (SaaS)

B. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
C. Platform as a Service (PaaS)

18. Decisions on cloud computing can first be addressed on a strategic level. Business should focus
on:

A. Define a high-level business case that focuses on high-level benefits

B. Define core requirements
C. Define core technologies for the enterprise

19. BYOD is bring your own device and BYOT is bring your own technology. Employees use their
own device access corporate networks, data, and services remotely.

20. Analysts may need to weigh the options for building custom software, purchasing COTS
(commercial off-the-shelf) software, or using Software as a Service (SaaS).

21. Systems analysts may forecast costs and benefits of a prospective system through analysis of time
series data including linear trend, seasonal trend, and cyclical trend, and estimation of trends
using graphical judgment, the method of least squares, and the moving average method.

22. Systems analysts should take tangible costs, intangible costs, tangible benefits, and intangible
benefits into consideration to identify cost and benefits of a prospective system.

23. To select the best alternative, systems analysts should compare costs and benefits of the
prospective alternatives. Break-even analysis, payback, cash-flow analysis, and present value
method are the most popular techniques for this purpose.

24. To select the best method for comparing alternatives, systems analysts may refer to the following
guidelines:

A. Use break-even analysis if the project needs to be justified in terms of cost, not benefits.
B. Use payback when the improved tangible benefits form a convincing argument for the
proposed system.
C. Use cash-flow analysis when the project is expensive, relative to the size of the company.
D. Use present value when the payback period is long.

25. Often a project needs to be broken down into smaller tasks or activities which together make up a
work breakdown structure (WBS).

26. Work breakdown structure properties are:

A. Each task or activity contains one deliverable, or tangible outcome, from the activity
B. Each task can be assigned to a single individual or a single group
C. Each task has a responsible person monitoring and controlling performance

27. Developing a WBS, either

A. Decomposition, starting with large ideas, then breaking them down into manageable
 activities
B. Product oriented, building a website can be broken down into many parts
C. Process-oriented, emphasizes the importance of each phase

28. Time Estimation Techniques

A. Relying on experience
B. Using analogies
C. Using three-point estimation
D. Identifying function points
E. Using time estimation software

29. Function point analysis takes the five main components of a computer system and rates them in
terms of complexity:

A. External inputs
B. External outputs
C. External queries
D. Internal logical files
E. External interface files

30. Two tools for project planning and control are Gantt charts and PERT diagrams.

31. A Gantt chart is easy to construct and use, and shows activities over a period of time.

32. PERT diagrams show precedence, the activities that must be completed before the next activities
may be started. It is used to calculate the critical path, the longest path through the activities. This
is the shortest time to complete the project.

33. Using a work breakdown structure:

A. Estimate costs for each activity in the work breakdown structure

B. Prepare a budget for the project and have it approved by the organization or client
C. Manage and control the costs throughout the project

34. Approaches to cost estimation:

A. Basing estimates on similar projects, also called the top-down approach

B. Building bottom-up estimates
C. Using parametric modeling

35. Project risk may be prevented by training, experience, and by learning why other projects have
failed.

36. A fishbone diagram systematically lists all of the possible problems that can occur.

37. Speeding up a process is called expediting. Expediting can help reduce the time it takes to
complete an entire project but the expedited activities have to be on the critical path.

38. Earned value management (EVM) is a technique used to help determine progress (or setbacks) on
 a project. It involves:

A. The project cost

B. The project schedule
C. The performance of the project team

39. The four key measures in earned value management are:

A. Budget at completion (BAC) is the total budget for the project.

B. Planned value (PV) is the value of the work that is to be completed on the project.
C. Actual Cost (AC) is the total incurred in completing the work on the project.
D. Earned value (EV) is an estimate of the value of the work performed thus far.

40. A project manager needs to understand:

A. How to determine what is needed

B. How to initiate a project
C. How to develop a problem definition
D. How to examine feasibility of completing the project
E. How to reduce risk
F. How to identify and manage activities
G. How to hire, manage, and motivate other team members

41. Project managers need to break complex projects down into smaller projects to increase their
probability of success.

42. A project team should consist of high quality team members with a variety of skills necessary to
complete the project.

43. The systems analyst must manage team members, their activities, time, and resources.

44. Successful projects require that reasonable productivity goals for tangible outputs and process
activities be set. Goal setting helps to motivate team members.

45. Ecommerce project management has some significant differences compared to traditional
software projects:

A. The data used by ecommerce systems is scattered across the organization.

B. Ecommerce systems need a staff with a wide variety of skills.
C. Partnerships must be built externally and internally well ahead of implementation.
D. Security is of utmost importance.

46. The project charter is a written narrative that is a contract between the chief analyst or project
manager, and the analysis team, the users. It clarifies the following questions:

A. What does the user expect of the project, the objectives, and what will the system do to
achieve the objectives?
B. What is the scope or boundaries of the project?
 C. What analysis methods will the analyst use to interact with users in gathering data,
developing, and testing the system?
D. Who are the key participants and how much time are users willing and able to commit to
participating?
E. What are the project deliverables?
F. Who will evaluate the system and how will they evaluate it?
G. What is the estimated project timeline? How often are the project milestones reported?
H. Who will train the users?
I. Who will maintain the system?

47. When preparing a systems proposal, systems analysts should arrange the following items in order:

A. Cover letter
B. Title page of project
C. Table of contents
D. Executive summary (including recommendation)
E. Outline of systems study with appropriate documentation
F. Detailed results of the systems study
G. Systems alternatives (three or four possible solutions)
H. Systems analysts’ recommendations
I. Summary
J. Appendices (assorted documentation, summary of phases, correspondence, etc.)

48. Some guidelines to use tables effectively are:

A. Integrate the table into the body of the proposal.

B. Try to fit the entire table vertically on a single page if possible.
C. Number and title the table at the top of the page. Make the title descriptive and
meaningful.
D. Label each row and column.
E. Use a boxed table if room permits.
F. Use a footnote if necessary to explain detailed information contained in the table.

49. Some guidelines to use graphs effectively are:

A. Choose a style that communicates your intended meaning well.

B. Integrate the graph into the body of the proposal.
C. Give the graph a sequential figure number and a meaningful title.
D. Label each axis, and any lines, columns, bars, and pieces of the pie on the graph.
E. Include a key to indicate differently colored lines, shaded bars, or crosshatched areas.