Ch03 - Managing Systems Projects

(T/F) A successful project must be completed on time,within budget, and deliver a quality product that satisfies users and meets requirements.
True False

(T/F) You must decide what is most important to you because the work is not going to be good and fast and cheap.
True False

A _______ shows three legs: project cost, scope, and time.

(T/F) Most successful project managers rely on personal experience, communication ability, and resourcefulness.
True False

In a systems project, the ________, or ________, usually is a senior systems analyst or an IT department manager if the project is large. They typically perform four activities, or functions: planning, scheduling, monitoring, and reporting.

An ___________ might manage smaller projects.

A __________ handles administrative responsibilities for the team and negotiates with users who might have conflicting requirements or want changes that would require additional time or expense.

_________ includes identifying all project tasks and estimating the completion time and cost of each.

__________ involves the creation of a specific timetable, usually in the form of charts that show tasks, task dependencies, and critical tasks that might delay the project. It also involves selecting and staffing the project team and assigning specific tasks to team members and uses Gantt charts and PERT/CPM charts.

________ requires guiding, supervising, and coordinating the project team's workload. The project manager must monitor the progress, evaluate the results, and take corrective action when necessary to control the project and stay on target.

________ includes regular progress reports to management, users, and the project team itself. Effective reporting requires strong communication skills and a sense of what others want and need to know about the project.

A __________ involves breaking a project down into a series of smaller tasks.

Before creating work breakdown structures, you should understand two primary chart types:

A _______ is a horizontal bar chart that represents a set of tasks.

Gantt charts were developed almost 100 yea rs ago by ________, a mechanical engineer and management consultant. His goal was to design a chart that could show planned and actual progress on a project.

A Gantt chart also can simplify a complex project by combining several activities into a _______ that contains subsidiary tasks. This allows a complex project to be viewed as a set of __________.

(T/F) Gantt charts can present an overview of the project's status, but they do not provide enough detailed information, which is necessary when managing a complex project. Most project managers find that PERT/CPM charts are better tools for managing large projects.
True False

The ___________ was developed by the U.S.Navy to manage very complex projects, such as the construction of nuclear submarines.

The ____________ was developed by private industry to meet similar project management needs.

PERT is a _______ because it analyzes a large, complex project as a series of individual tasks.

(T/F) Although a Gantt chart offers a valuable snapshot view of the project, PERT charts are more useful for scheduling, monitoring, and controlling the actual work. With a PERT chart, a project manager can convert task start and finish times to actual dates by laying out the entire project on a calendar.
True False

(T/F) A PERT chart displays complex task patterns and relationships. This information is valuable to a manager who is trying to address high priority issues.
True False

A ______, or ________, is any work that has a beginning and an end and requires the use of company resources such as people, time, or money.

An ______, or ________,is a recognizable reference point that you can use to monitor progress.

__________ must be completed before another task can start.

A ________ represents the work that one person can complete in one day.

The project manager first makes three time estimates for each task:

When developing duration estimates, project managers consider four factors:

(Factor) A project manager must identify all project tasks, from initial fact-finding to system implementation and must determine how much time will be needed to perform each task.

(Factor) A project manager must assemble and guide a development team that has the skill and experience to handle the project. If necessary, additional systems analysts or programmers must be hired or trained, and this must beaccomplished within a specific time frame.

(Factor) A project manager can develop time and cost estimates based on the resources used for similar, previously developed information systems. The experience method works best for small- or medium-sized projects where the two systems are similar in size, basic content, and operating environment.In large systems with more variables, the estimates are less reliable.

A __________ is a condition, restriction, or requirement that the system must satisfy.

(Factor)A project manager must define system requirements that can be achieved realistically within the required constraints. In the absence of constraints, the project manager simply calculates the resources needed. However, if constraints are present, the project manager must adjust other resources or change the scope of the project.

Tasks in a work breakdown structure must be arranged in a logical sequence called a _________.

(T/F) Task patterns can involve dependent tasks, multiple successor tasks, and multiple predecessor tasks. In larger projects, these patterns can be very complex, and an analyst must study the logical flow carefully.
True False

Project tasks are shown as rectangular box, called a _______, and each have five sections.

Each section of the task box contains important information about the task, including the:

The ________ should be brief and descriptive, but it does not have to be unique in the project.

The _________ can be a number or code that provides unique identification.

The _______ is the amount of time it will take to complete a task. All tasks must use the same time units, which can be hours, days, weeks, or months, depending on the project.

The ________ is the time that a task is scheduled to begin.

The __________ is the time that a task is scheduled to be completed.

A project is based on a pattern of tasks. In a large project the overall pattern would be quite complex, but it can be broken down into three basic patterns:

When tasks must be completed one after another, they are called _________ because one depends on the other.

When several tasks can start at the same time,each is called a ___________.

Often, two or more concurrent tasks depend on a single prior task, which is called a predecessor task. In this situation, each concurrent task is called a _________.

A ___________ is a series of tasks which, if delayed, would affect the completion date of the overall project.

A _____________ is a review of a project team member's work by other members of the team.

Structured walk-throughs take place throughout the SDLC and are called ________, _________, or ___________ depending on the phase in which they occur.

A ___________ displays the same information as the Gantt chart,including task dependencies, but use task boxes to include much more detail.

A ______________ includes a review of the project's scope, stakeholders, budget, schedule, and any other internal or external factors that might affect the project.

___________ lists each risk and assesses the likelihood that it could affect the project.

__________ evaluates each risk by estimating the probability that it will occur and the degree of impact.

A _________ is a proactive effort to anticipate a risk and describe an action plan to deal with it.

Projects without clear scope definitions are risky because they tend to expand gradually, without specific authorization, in a process called ____________.

In some situations, adding more people to a project actually might increase the time necessary to complete the project because of a principle called _________.