Deck 11: IT Project Management

Question 1

A common pitfall in developing a master schedule for a project is a failure to:

A) understand the interdependencies among project tasks and subtasks.
B) identify all of the project tasks and subtasks.
C) correctly estimate the number of resources needed to complete the tasks.
D) correctly estimate the total time needed to complete all tasks.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Which of the following is a risk management task?

A) risk identification
B) risk assessment
C) risk monitoring
D) all of the above

Answer 2

D

Question 3

A project charter describes:

A) the project's broad objectives, but not its intended scope.
B) any unknown constraints.
C) the estimated project benefits.
D) all of the above

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Which of the following is NOT one of the nine project management competencies certified by the Project Management Institute?

A) conflict management
B) managing project communications
C) risk management
D) integration management

Question 5

The function of the project champion is usually held by:

A) the company's CIO.
B) an influential business manager in the company.
C) the company's CSO.
D) an outside consultant.

Question 6

Which of the following is a characteristic of the bottom-up method for estimating a project's cost?

A) Cost elements are estimated only at the lowest task level.
B) Cost elements are estimated using the last project after adjusting for inflation.
C) Cost elements are aggregated from subordinate tasks.
D) none of the above

Question 7

Using the scheme proposed by Denis et al (2004)for prioritizing systems projects,which statement is true?

A) Absolute Must and Highly Desired/Business-Critical projects are typically funded in the year submitted.
B) Wanted projects with an ROI greater than 12 months are never funded.
C) Nice to Have projects are typically outsourced.
D) all of the above

Question 8

The process of identifying the phases and sequence of tasks that need to be accomplished to meet a project's goals is known as:

A) timeboxing.
B) work breakdown analysis.
C) project scheduling.
D) milestone analysis.

Question 9

A key deliverable for the initiation phase of a project is the:

A) technical feasibility study.
B) project charter.
C) Gantt chart.
D) work breakdown analysis.

Question 10

According to Kappelman et al.(2006),which is one of the people-related early warning signs of IT project failure?

A) inadequate business stakeholder involvement or participation in the project
B) subject matter experts (SMEs) in the business are overscheduled
C) both A and B
D) none of the above

Question 11

The organizational unit responsible for ensuring that standard approaches to project management are utilized across projects is called the:

A) Program Management Office.
B) PMI.
C) Portfolio Management Team.
D) Project Oversight Committee.

Question 12

A project sponsor usually participates in which of the following activities associated with a new project?

A) development of the initial project proposal
B) an assessment of the detailed system design
C) ensuring resources are available for the project team
D) both A and C

Question 13

What major component belongs to project planning?

A) project scheduling
B) project budgeting
C) project staffing
D) all of the above

Question 14

Which of the following competencies certified by the Project Management Institute has been developed recently?

A) scope
B) time
C) procurement (including contract management)
D) cost

Question 15

When planning projects,what is a recommended practice?

A) conservative estimates
B) control mechanisms focused on greatest project uncertainties
C) control mechanisms focused on organizational vulnerabilities
D) all of the above

Question 16

According to Frame (1994),which of the following is not a trap that inexperienced cost estimators fall into?

A) They are too optimistic about what is needed to do the job.
B) They tend to leave components out that should be estimated.
C) They do not use a consistent estimation methodology.
D) They do not rely on historical project costs.

Question 17

Which of the following graphically depicts the estimated times (and later,the actual times)for each project task against a horizontal timescale?

A) Gantt chart
B) PERT chart
C) work breakdown
D) project charter

Question 18

The project management chart that graphically models the sequence of project tasks and their interrelationships using a flowchart diagrams is called a:

A) Gantt chart.
B) PERT chart.
C) work breakdown.
D) project charter.

Question 19

What would not typically be a part of a business case for a new systems project?

A) expected business benefits
B) initial development costs
C) ongoing costs for operations and maintenance
D) all of the above

Question 20

Applying knowledge,skills,tools,and techniques to a broad range of activities in order to meet the requirement of a particular project is called:

A) project management.
B) life-cycle management.
C) change management.
D) program management.

Question 21

Some organizations have found the use of red-yellow-green (traffic light)symbols effective in communicating problem areas to project oversight committees.

Question 22

A PERT (or CPM)chart graphically depicts the estimated times for each project task against a horizontal time line,for displaying a project schedule and for tracking the progress of a set of tasks against the project plan.

Question 23

What is a common question to ask as part of a post-project review?

A) Who did something wrong?
B) What went wrong on this project, not what went right?
C) What could the project leaders have done differently?
D) all of the above

Question 24

Which of the following is not one of the three stages of the Lewin/Schein change model?

A) unfreezing stage
B) moving stage
C) refreezing stage
D) transitioning stage

Question 25

The project champion is a business manager who has high credibility as an organizational spokesperson among the user community,and is successful at communicating the business vision and project benefits.

Question 26

According to Keil and Robey (1999),a common pitfall in monitoring the risks of a project already underway is:

A) relying too heavily on the use of consultants.
B) failing to increase the resources working on the project.
C) ignoring negative feedback.
D) all of the above

Question 27

Which of the following is a common risk avoidance and mitigation strategies?

A) assigning the best human resources available to reduce a specific type of project risk
B) choosing an alternative technical approach to avoid risk exposure
C) subcontracting a specific deliverable to a third-party
D) all of the above

Question 28

Additional project management skills are needed when using offsite and offshore resources for new application development.

Question 29

The highest level of project risk typically occurs at what stage of a project's life?

A) during the beginning of a project
B) after the planning stage
C) during the execution and control stage
D) none of the above

Question 30

Virtual teamwork introduces IT project risk due to which of the following factors?

A) differences in communication norms across working groups
B) unfamiliarity with a team member's culture
C) lack of trusting relationships across team members
D) all of the above

Question 31

Which of the following is a major change management activity associated with successful IT projects?

A) communications about the project to all affected employees
B) training on the system and process changes
C) the need for incentives to key team members
D) all of the above

Question 32

Greater changes in business processes are associated with "vanilla" implementations of software packages.

Question 33

According to Markus (1983),resistance to the implementation of a new information system is commonly due to:

A) the complexity of the new system.
B) the selected hardware.
C) changes in the managerial power structure due to the new system.
D) fear of computers.