CIS4375 Midterm

A research report showed that the U.S. spends ____ on projects every year.

$2.3 trillion

The term "systems approach" emerged in the ____. a. 1940s c. 1960s b. 1950s d. 1970s

1950s

A research report showed that the U.S. spends the equivalent of ____ percent of the nation's gross domestic product on projects every year.

25

____ involves working with stakeholders to create the document that formally authorizes a project. a. Developing the project charter b. Developing the preliminary project scope statement c. Developing the project management plan d. Directing and managing project execution

Developing the project charter

____ involves coordinating all planning efforts to create a consistent, coherent document. a. Developing the project charter b. Developing the preliminary project scope statement c. Developing the project management plan d. Directing and managing project execution

Developing the project management plan

A commonsense approach to improving the coordination between project plan development and execution is to follow this simple rule: Those who will do the work should not plan the work.

False

A project charter typically does not authorize the project manager to use organizational resources to complete the project.

False

A project should be developed using progressive elaboration, starting from specific details and broadening in scope as it progresses.

False

A research report showed that the U.S. spends $2.3 trillion on projects every year, an amount equal to 40 percent of the nation's gross domestic product.

False

A stakeholder analysis should be part of the overall project plan.

False

According to the symbolic frame, what is most important about any event in an organization is what actually happened.

False

An organization's information technology project selection process should guide the strategic plan.

False

An organizational culture with strong unit integration makes the project manager's job more difficult.

False

Assigning staff part-time to the project often creates underutilization and/or misallocation of staff resources.

False

Because of overlaps in their duties, hardware specialists usually understand the language of database analysts, and vice versa.

False

Because of the nature of information technology projects, the people involved come from very similar backgrounds and possess similar skill sets.

False

Determining the relationships among tasks is not essential in helping to improve project scheduling.

False

Every project is constrained in different ways by its scope and cost goals; these limitations are sometimes referred to in project management as the double constraint.

False

External project stakeholders generally include the project sponsor, project team, support staff, and internal customers for the project.

False

Few business and information technology students understand the concepts of systems and performing a systems analysis.

False

Follow-up studies done by the Standish Group showed that the number of failed projects has more than doubled in the past decade.

False

If project managers have functional management commitment, they will also have adequate resources and not be distracted by events that do not affect their specific projects.

False

In the example of building a new house, the support staff would provide the wood, windows, flooring materials, appliances, and so on.

False

It is much more expensive to make major changes to a project during earlier phases.

False

Many of the theories and concepts of project management are difficult to understand.

False

Many projects fail because of unclear requirements and expectations, so starting with a project charter makes a lot of sense.

False

Most IT projects involve a major amount of software development.

False

Net present value and cash flow mean the same thing.

False

Opportunities and directives are essentially the same thing.

False

Organizational issues are often the least difficult part of working on and managing projects.

False

Program managers are not responsible for coordinating the efforts of project teams, functional groups, suppliers, and operations staff.

False

Project integration management does not include interface management.

False

Project integration management must occur just within the context of a particular project.

False

Project management is the silver bullet that guarantees success on all projects.

False

Project managers for large information technology projects have to be experts in the field of information technology.

False

Project managers should never be involved in strategic planning and project selection.

False

Projects are often defined narrowly when they begin.

False

Projects rarely involve uncertainty.

False

Questions about how long a project's schedule should be are related to the issue of the project's scope.

False

Selecting projects is considered an exact science.

False

Some people refer to the "double constraint" of project management to include quality and customer satisfaction.

False

Stakeholders' needs and expectations are only important in the beginning of a project.

False

Technical and analytical skills guarantee success in project management.

False

The ROI is always positive.

False

The first step in creating a weighted scoring model is to assign a weight to each criterion.

False

The introduction or overview of a project must only include a list of definitions and acronyms.

False

The nature of hardware development projects is more diverse than software-oriented projects.

False

The organization should complete low-priority projects before high-priority ones, if the low-priority ones take less time.

False

There are six core knowledge areas of project management.

False

Today's project managers still draw Gantt charts by hand.

False

When you separate business and organizational issues from project management planning, you do a better job of ensuring project success.

False

Within the category of programmer, there are several job titles used to describe the specific technologies the programmer uses, such as project manager programmer, systems analyst programmer, macro developer, and so on.

False

You can use the NPV function in Microsoft Access to calculate the NPV quickly.

False

____ is a problem-solving approach that requires defining the scope of the system, dividing it into its components, and then identifying and evaluating its problems, opportunities, constraints, and needs. a. Systems philosophy c. Systems troubleshooting b. Systems management d. Systems analysis

Systems analysis

____ describes a holistic view of carrying out projects within the context of the organization. a. Systems philosophy c. Systems analysis b. Systems thinking d. Systems approach

Systems thinking

Strategic planning involves determining long-term objectives by analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of an organization, studying opportunities and threats in the business environment, predicting future trends, and projecting the need for new products and services.

T-134

A key finding of a 2004 study is that relationship management is viewed as a top success factor for information systems in China, while it is not mentioned in U.S. studies.

True

A program is "a group of related projects managed in a coordinated way to obtain benefits and control not available from managing them individually."

True

All projects can benefit from using some type of project management information system to coordinate and communicate project information.

True

Although it is easier to focus on the immediate and sometimes narrow concerns of a particular project, project managers and other staff must keep in mind the effects of any project on the interests and needs of the entire system or organization.

True

An annual discount factor is a multiplier for each year based on the discount rate and year.

True

An organization that uses a project organizational structure earns their revenue primarily from performing projects for other groups under contract.

True

As projects progress, the organization must reevaluate the need, funding, and will for each project to determine if the project should be continued, redefined, or terminated.

True

Because projects involve uncertainty and limited resources, projects rarely finish according to discrete scope, time, and cost goals as originally planned.

True

COBOL programmers cannot be of much help on a Java project.

True

Directing and managing project execution involves carrying out the project management plan by performing the activities included in it.

True

If a project manager does not submit a potential project in the proper format, it could be rejected.

True

If project managers lead projects in isolation, it is unlikely that those projects will ever truly serve the needs of the organization.

True

Information systems can help an organization support a strategy of being a low-cost producer.

True

It is rare for technical specialists or project managers to remain with the same company for a long time.

True

Managing the triple constraint involves making trade-offs between scope, time, and cost goals for a project.

True

Many organizations have found that large information technology projects require experienced general managers who understand the business and application area of the technology, not the technology itself.

True

Many people consider project integration management the key to overall project success.

True

Many people still use basic productivity software, such as Microsoft Word or Excel, to perform many project management functions.

True

Many problems and directives must be resolved quickly.

True

Most colleges and universities have very strong functional organizations.

True

New software makes basic tools, such as Gantt charts and network diagrams, inexpensive, easy to create, and available for anyone to update.

True

One attribute that helps define a project is that a project has a unique purpose.

True

Payback period is the amount of time it will take to recoup, in the form of net cash inflows, the total dollars invested in a project.

True

Project management plans document project planning assumptions and decisions regarding choices.

True

Project managers in matrix organizations have staff from various functional areas working on their projects.

True

Project managers must be able to make effective use of technology as it relates to the specific project.

True

Project managers often take on the role of both leader and manager.

True

Project managers should possess general management knowledge and skills.

True

Project organizations may miss economies of scale available through the pooling of requests for materials with other projects.

True

Since the organization usually commits more money as a project continues, a management review should occur after each phase to evaluate progress, potential success, and continued compatibility with organizational goals.

True

Some people might use a contract in place of a charter.

True

The 2006 Standish Group survey showed that IT project success rates had risen from 16 percent in 1994 to 35 percent in 2006.

True

The Adaptive Software Development (ASD) life cycle model assumes that software development follows an adaptive approach because the requirements cannot be clearly expressed early in the life cycle.

True

The best way to kill a project is to withhold the required money, human resources, and visibility for the project.

True

The job description for a project manager can vary by industry and by organization.

True

The key deliverables section of the project management plan should describe the quality expectations for the product deliverables.

True

The number of interfaces can increase EXPONENTIALLY as the number of people involved in a project increases.

True

The same organization can have different subcultures.

True

Until the 1980s, project management primarily focused on providing schedule and resource data to top management in the military, computer, and construction industries.

True

Using a systems approach is critical to successful project management.

True

Winners in project delivery know that strong program managers—referred to as project leaders—are crucial to project success.

True

Many organizations assert that using project management provides advantages, such as ____.

lower costs

There are ____ main processes involved in project integration management. a. three c. ten b. six d. fifteen

six

The ____ focuses on different groups' roles and responsibilities in order to meet the goals and policies set by top management. a. structural frame c. political frame b. human resources frame d. symbolic frame

structural frame