Chapter 2 Flashcards
Planning the Project
Analysis Paralysis
The ongoing study of a problem to delay actually addressing the problem.
Business Objective
Defines the specific outcome the business wants to achieve.
Benchmarking
Compares one component to a similar component.
Brainstorming
Encourages participants to generate ideas about an opportunity or business problem.
Business Rules Analysis
Business rules define the internal processes to make decisions, provide definitions for operations, define organizational boundaries, and afford governance for projects, employees, and operations.
Focus Groups
A type of stakeholder analysis, usually 6-12 participants.
Functional Decomposition
Takes a large problem and breaks it down into smaller, manageable components.
Root Cause Analysis
Studying the effect that’s being experienced and then determining the causal factors of the effect.
Feasibility Study
A documented expression of what your research has told you. It helps you determine the validity or scope of a proposed project or a section of a project.
The feasibility study is divided into eight sections
-Executive Summary
-Defined business problem or opportunity
-Purpose of the study
-Options assessed
-Assumptions used in the study
-Audience impacted
-Financial obligations
-Recommended action
Executive Summary
The purpose is to draw the reader into your findings and to define the key points of your analysis.
Defined business problem or opportunity
This section describes the business problem and its effect on the organization or the opportunity the organization may seek.
Purpose of the feasibility study
To determine if an identified opportunity is valid or to determine if an identified problem can be resolved.
Options Assessed
Feasibility studies examine multiple options, often called alternative identification, for the business problem or opportunity to determine the best solution for the organization.
Assumptions used in the study
An assumption is something you believe to be true but you have not proven to be true.
Audience Impacted
The feasibility study should address issues concerning the users, capability resource gaps, and who will be affected by the implementation.
Financial Obligations
This section of the feasibility study provides an overview of the cost of the technology rather than a full blown budget.
Recommended Action
Within this section of the feasibility study, you’re ready to make your pitch for, or against, a technology to solve the problem.
Business Case
To help the organization determine whether it can justify the cost of the project in proportion to the return on investment. The business case links the value of the projects solution to the organization.
Life Cycling Costing
Describes the cost to maintain the solution; usually management wants to know the maintenance costs for the solution for each year the solution is to be used.
Benefits of the solution
This section is the primary purpose of the business case. It defines the quantified benefits of the solution, justifies the costs, and defines the ROI.
Cost of the solution
The business case should estimate the total costs of the solution.
Risk Assessment
The business case should include an initial risk assessment that defines the obvious risks in the project, the anticipated impacts and probabilities of the risks, and the risks of not doing the project.
Project Scope Statement
This document defines all of the deliverables the project will create, the boundaries of the project, and the work that the project team will need to complete in order to create the project deliverables.
