Chapter 3 Flashcards
Critical Path
A series of events and activities with no slack time. If any activity along the critical path falls behind schedule, the entire project schedule is similarly delayed. As the name implies, a critical path includes all activities that are vital to the project schedule
Concurrent Task
A task that can be completed at the same time as (in parallel with) another task
Dependent Task
A task is said to be dependent when it has to be completed in a serial sequence.
Gantt Chart
A horizontal bar chart that illustrates a schedule. Developed many years ago by Henry L.Gantt as a production control technique. Still are in common use today
Milestone
A reference point that marks a major occurrence. Used to monitor progress and manage a project.
PERT
The Program Evaluation Review Technique (PERT) was developed by the U.S. Navy to manage very complex projects, such as the construction of nuclear submarines.
Predecessor Task
A single prior task upon which two or more concurrent tasks depend
Risk
An event that could affect the project negatively
Project Triangle
The three major components of a project: cost, scope, and time. A project manager tries to find the optimal balance among these factors
Risk Response Plan
A proactive effort to anticipate a risk and describe an action plan to deal with it. An effective risk response plan can reduce the overall impact by triggering a timely and appropriate action
Slack Time
The amount of time by which an event can be late without delaying the project. The dif-ference between latest completion time (LCT) and earliest completion time (ECT)
Task
Any work that has a beginning and an end, and requires the use of company resources including people, time, and/or money. Examples include conducting a series of interviews, designing a report, selecting software, waiting for the delivery of equipment, and training users.
Structured Walkthrough
A review of a project team member’s work by other members of the team.Generally, systems analysts review the work of other systems analysts, and programmers review the work of other programmers, as a form of peer review. Should take place throughout the SDLC and are called requirements reviews, design reviews, code reviews, or testing reviews, depending on the phase in which they occur.
Quality Assurance
A process or procedure for minimizing errors and ensuring quality in products. Poor quality can result from inaccurate requirements, design problems, coding errors, faulty documen-tation, and ineffective testing. A quality assurance (QA) team reviews and tests all applications and systems changes to verify specifications and software quality standards.
Risk Management
The process of identifying, evaluating, tracking, and controlling risks to minimize their impact
Task Duration
Task duration can be hours, days, or weeks—depending on the project. The project manager first makes three time estimates for each task: an optimistic, or best-case estimate (B), a probable-case estimate (P), and a pessimistic, or worst-case estimate (W). The manager then assigns a weight, which is an importance value, to each estimate. The weight can vary, but a common approach is to use a ratio of B = 1, P = 4, and W = 1. The expected task duration is calculated as follows: (B + 4P + W)/6
Metrics of a successful project
To be successful, an information system must satisfy business requirements, stay within budget, be completed on time, and—most important of all—be managed effec-tively. When a project develops problems, the reasons typically involve business, bud-get, or schedule issues, as explained in the following sections. In addition to planning and managing the project, a project manager must be able to recognize these prob-lems and deal with them effectively.
