exam 02 Flashcards
What is the focus of project initiation?
Activities designed to assist in organizing a team to conduct project planning.
List the elements of project initiation.
- Establishing the project initiation
- Relationship with the customer
- Project initiation plan
- Management procedures
What are the elements of project planning?
- Describe the project scope
- Alternatives
- Feasibility
- Dividing the project into manageable tasks
- Estimating resources
- Creating a resource plan
Define a business case.
Justification for an information system, presented in terms of tangible and intangible economic benefits and costs, and the technical and organizational feasibility.
What is the Baseline Project Plan (BPP)?
Major outcome and deliverable from the project initiation and planning phase that contains the best estimate of a project’s scope, benefits, costs, risks, and resource requirements.
What does the Project Scope Statement (PSS) outline?
What the project will deliver and high-level work required to complete the project.
What categories represent project feasibility?
- Economic
- Technical
- Operational
- Scheduling
- Legal and contractual
- Political
What is assessing economic feasibility?
The process of identifying the financial benefits and costs associated with a development project.
Define tangible benefits.
Benefits from the creation of an information system that can be measured in dollars or with certainty.
Define intangible benefits.
Benefits that cannot be easily measured in dollars or units.
What are the guidelines for cost estimating?
- Have clear guidelines for creating estimates
- Use experienced developers
- Develop a culture of responsibility for accurate estimates
- Use historical data
- Update estimates as the project progresses
- Monitor progress and record discrepancies
What is Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)?
Cost of owning and operating a system, including total acquisition costs and ongoing use and maintenance costs.
What are one-time costs?
Costs associated with project start-up and development or system start-up.
What are recurring costs?
Costs resulting from the ongoing evolution and use of a system.
What does NPV stand for?
Net Present Value.
What is the formula for ROI?
The ratio of the net cash receipts of the project divided by the cash outlays of the project.
What does BEA stand for?
Break-even analysis.
What is technical feasibility?
The process of assessing the development organization’s ability to construct a proposed system.
Name a consequence of not assessing project risks.
Failure to attain expected benefits from the project.
What factors are used in project risk assessment?
- Project Size
- Project Structure
- Development Group
- User Group
Define operational feasibility.
The process of assessing the degree to which a proposed system solves business problems or takes advantage of business opportunities.
What does schedule feasibility assess?
The degree to which the potential time frame and completion dates meet organizational deadlines.
What is the purpose of the Baseline Project Plan (BPP)?
To contain the best estimate of a project’s scope, benefits, costs, risks, and resource requirements.
What are the four major sections of the BPP?
- Introduction
- System Definition
- Feasibility Assessment
- Management Issues
What is the purpose of Joint Application Design (JAD)?
To collect system requirements simultaneously from key people involved in it.
What is prototyping in systems development?
An iterative process where requirements are converted to a working system that is continually revised.
What are the two types of prototyping methodologies?
- Evolutionary Prototyping
- Throwaway Prototyping
What is the main advantage of using direct observation for gathering requirements?
Captures real user behaviors.
What is a primary disadvantage of group interviews?
Difficulty in scheduling with multiple people involved.
What is the primary purpose of the requirements determination phase?
To collect information from users and stakeholders regarding system needs.
What is the primary purpose of interviewing individuals during system requirement collection?
To gather information about the operation and issues of the current system and future system needs
Interviews can help identify user needs but may lead to contradictions in information.
What are the advantages of interviewing groups for system requirements?
More effective use of time and allows synergy when groups can hear each other
However, scheduling can be a challenge with multiple participants.
What is the function of Joint Application Design (JAD) sessions?
To bring together users, sponsors, analysts, and others to discuss and review system requirements
JAD sessions help in resolving conflicts among stakeholders.
What is prototyping in the context of system requirements determination?
An iterative process of systems development where requirements are converted to a working system that is continually revised through collaboration
Prototypes allow users to visualize and test system features.
When is prototyping most useful?
When user requirements are not clear, few users are involved, designs are complex, or tools and data are readily available
Prototyping also addresses past communication problems.
What is a drawback of prototyping?
A tendency to avoid creating formal documentation
This can lead to difficulties in adapting the system for other users.
Define Net Present Value (NPV).
Uses a discount rate to establish the present value of a project by determining the present value of cash receipts and outlays.
What does Return on Investment (ROI) measure?
The ratio of net cash receipts of the project divided by the cash outlays of the project.
What does Break-Even Analysis (BEA) determine?
The amount of time required for cumulative cash flow from a project to equal its initial and ongoing investment.
What is Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)?
The cost of owning and operating a system, including acquisition and ongoing use and maintenance costs.
What are one-time costs in system projects?
Costs associated with project start-up and development or system start-up.
List examples of recurring costs in system projects.
- Application software maintenance
- Incremental data storage expenses
- Incremental communications
- New software and hardware leases
- Supplies and other expenses.
What is economic feasibility?
The process of identifying the financial benefits and costs associated with a development project.
What is a tangible benefit?
A measurable benefit from the creation of an information system that can be quantified in dollars.
What is an intangible benefit?
A benefit derived from the creation of an information system that cannot be easily measured in dollars.
What are the categories of feasibility factors?
- Economic
- Technical
- Operational
- Scheduling
- Legal and contractual
- Political.
What is a Business Case?
Justification for an information system presented in terms of economic benefits and costs, and technical and organizational feasibility.
What is a Baseline Project Plan (BPP)?
Major outcome from the project initiation and planning phase containing estimates of scope, benefits, costs, risks, and resource requirements.
What is the Nominal Group Technique (NGT)?
A facilitated process that supports idea generation by groups, where members first generate ideas alone before pooling them under guidance.
What information can be obtained from analyzing existing documents?
- Problems with existing systems
- Opportunities for new needs
- Key people in current systems
- Organizational values that determine priorities.
What is the difference between a formal system and an informal system?
A formal system is the official way a system works as documented, while an informal system is how the system actually works in practice.
What is evolutionary prototyping?
A method where part of the target system is modeled and, if successful, evolves the rest of the system from those parts.
What is throwaway prototyping?
A prototype that is quickly developed as a mockup and is not preserved once the system is built.
