10 Lecture Contracting

Question 1

Why is contracting so important?

Answer 1

• A contract defines the basic parameters of a project
(Requirements, time, money)
• A contract defines the basic rules of collaboration
• However: How to deal with uncertainties: requirements, innovation, change…?

Question 2

Define Decision Gate

Answer 2

• Milestone and Quality Gate
• Requires completed work products to determine project progress
• A project plan (coarse grained) is a sequence of decision gates

Question 3

What is a Client Project about?

Answer 3

• Get a system

- Often: Waterfall-like

Question 4

What is a Contractor Project

Answer 4

• Build a system

- “Flexible” approach

Question 5

In the Contracting in the Project Life Cycle what does the

Client do?

Answer 5

• Define initial requirements
• Request proposal(s)
• Monitor (proposal) projects
• Acceptance testing

Question 6

In the Contracting in the Project Life Cycle what does the Contractor do?

Answer 6

• Submit offers (building)

- Ship results (software -> concrete deliverable, service)

Question 7

What are the main influence factors of contracts?

Answer 7

• Goals
• Business Case
• Initial estimation
• Legal restrictions

Question 8

What is in a contract?

Answer 8

• Services and responsibilities, incl.
• Functional requirements
• Deadlines (incl. procedures for delays)
• Quality requirements (non-functional requirements)
• Price and payment schedule
• Acceptance
• Warranty and liability
• Provisions
• Copyrights
• Regulations and standards, compliance

Question 9

Name 4 Acquisitions Strategies

Answer 9

• Pro-active
• Re-active
• Client request/request for an offer
• Call for bids/submission

Question 10

Plan the offer’s development as a project. Name the 3 Procedures

Answer 10

• Procedure 1: Prepare Offer
• Procedure 2: Develop / Submit Offer
• Procedure 3: acceptance of the system under development

Question 11

What are the steps of Contracting

Answer 11

1. Prepare Offer
2. Develop Offer
3. Develop….
4. Prepare Acceptance

Question 12

What are the three main criteria for acceptance testing?

Answer 12

• Check for completeness
• Verification of the project results
• Validation of the project results

Question 13

What are problems in the acceptance Phase?

Answer 13

• Errors and bugs
• Acceptance delays
• Acceptance refusal
• Acceptance with conditions

Question 14

Which two types of contract exist?

Answer 14

Fixed Price Contract (Risk Contractor)

Time & Material Contract (Risk Client)

Question 15

Which interaction strategies are there for negotiations

Answer 15

• competitive (my win is your loss),
• cooperative (win-win),
• indifferent (I don’t care-you lose) or
• dependent (heads-I-win-tails-you lose)

Question 16

What is the Maximum Price Approach?

Answer 16

work according to time & material approach, but set a limit

• Define and estimate the system
• Define the max. price for the system
• Define the cost (e.g., as a constant) per unit (e.g., story point)

Question 17

What is the Change for free approach?

Answer 17

client is participating in the project all the time (on-site customer)

• Allow the client to add features, but
• Identify other features that that be removed/stalled
• (opt.) Update the contract accordingly

Question 18

What is the Exit Point/ Money for Nothing Approach

Answer 18

define an approach in which a project can be stopped, but good performance is awarded

• Define exit points (when and under which conditions to stop a project)
• Define payments to “compensate” or award early termination

Question 19

What is the Agile Fixed Price Practice?

Answer 19

combine fixed price and time & material, and other practices into a defined, but flexible
contract