Review Questions

1
Review Questions
Speculate as to the advantages and disadvantages
of appointing project mangers from the ranks of
senior systems analyst.
The advantage of a senior analyst serving as
project manager is that the senior analyst is
ideally an extension of the customer and can
balance the users expectations of the project
against the impact on schedule and budget.
Unfortunately, different skills sets and
competencies are required for analysts versus
project managers. Balancing those skill sets can
be difficult. In smaller businesses, it is common
for a senior analyst to wear the additional hat
of the project manager
2
Review Questions
List four criteria for project success

• The resulting information system is acceptable to
  the customer.
• The system was delivered on time.
• The system was delivered within budget.
• The system development process had a minimal
  impact on ongoing business operations.

3
Review Questions
List five types of resources that can be assigned
to a project.
The five types of resources are (a) people (b)
services (c) facilities and equipment (d)
supplies and materials (e) money
4
Review Questions
Compare Gantt and Pert charts
A PERT chart is a graphical network model that
depicts a projects tasks and the relationships
between those tasks A Gantt chart is a simple
horizontal bar chart that depicts project tasks
against a calendar. Each bar represents a named
project task. The tasks are listed vertically in
the left-hand column. The horizontal axis is a
calendar timeline Gantt and PERT charts are not
mutually exclusive. Gantt charts are more
effective when you are seeking to communicate
schedule. PERT charts are more effective when you
want to study the relationships between tasks
5
Review Questions
What is a work breakdown structure? Why it is
important to project planning?
A work breakdown structure (WBS) is a
hierarchical decomposition of the project into
phases, activities, and tasks A WBS serves to
decompose the project goal into manageable tasks
that will be needed to complete the project goal.
It is these tasks that will be scheduled
6
Review Questions
What is scope Creep?
Scope creep usually occurs when system owners or
system users add additional business requirements
to a previously defined scope. Examples might
include asking for additional data to be
collected, transactions to be processed, reports
to be produced, or inquiries to be supported
7
Review Questions
What is feature creep?
Feature creep usually occurs when system
designers or system builders get carried away
with adding new technical features to a system
that do not add any business value. Examples
might include excessive animation in screens, and
generating reports that are too fancy
8
Review Questions
What role does a statement of work play in scope
definition? Why is it important to project
management?
A statement of work is a narrative description of
the work to be performed as part of a
project. The statement of work ensures that the
project manager, system owners, system users, and
rest of the project team agree on the scope,
deliverables, schedule, and budget for the
project.