SE3351 Midterm Flashcards
What is project management?
An application of skills and methods that makes the project delivered on time, on budget, and to specification
What is a project?
- Temporary
- Defined purpose
- Starts and end dates
- Human and other resource
What are the 3 components of the triple constraint?
Scope, Schedule, Budget
Whose duty is it to balance the competing goals of the triple constraint?
The project manager
What are the roles of ITPM?
- Project stakeholders
- project manager
- project sponsor
- subject matter experts
- technical experts
Who is included as a project stakeholder?
- project sponsor and project team
- support staff
- customers
- users
- suppliers
What is the project manager responsible for?
Ensuring that all PM and technical development process are in place and are being carried out within a set of:
- specific requirements
- defined processes
- quality standards
Who could be the project sponsor?
- end user
- customer
- client
- person who can provide direction, funding and other resources to the project
What are the types of experts in ITPM?
- Subject Matter
- Technical
What are the 2 types of risk in an IT project?
-internal
-external
(damn that’s MECE)
How neat is that?
That’s pretty neat!
What is a project portfolio?
a collection of diverse projects managed
collectively to align with the organization’s strategy and overall plan
to achieve competitive advantage.
What is a program?
a collection of projects within a project portfolio whose
activities are coordinated so that the benefits of the program are
greater than the sum of the benefits of the individual projects.
T/F: larger IT projects have a higher success rate
false
What was the Chaos study?
Published in 1995, exploring the success rates of IT projects
What is an impaired project?
Cancelled before completion
What is a challenged project?
Completed but over budget, over schedule, and includes fewer features
What was the number one factor for impaired projects?
Incomplete requirements
What are the 4 approaches to improving likelihood of success for an IT project?
- value driven
- socio-technical
- project management
- knowledge management
The number one contributing factor to project success according to the CHAOS study is:
User involvement
What is PMBOK?
Project Management Body of Knowledge: the sum of knowledge withing the profession of PM
What is PMI?
The project management institute
What are the 10 project management knowledge area?
Let’s face it, you’re not gonna remember all 10
- Project integration management
- Project scope management
- Project time management
- Project cost management
- Project quality management
- Project human resource management
- Project communications management
- Project risk management
- Project procurement management
- Project stakeholder management
Where we dropping?
Towers obvi
What does the IT project methodology recommend?
- phases and deliverables
- processes
- tools
- knowledge areas
What are common stages of the PLC?
- Define Project Goal
- Plan Project
- Execute Project Plan
- Close Project
- Evaluate Project
What is the deliverable of the define project goal phase?
Business case
What is the deliverable of the plan project phase?
Project charter and plan
What does the project charter define?
objectives in terms of:
- scope
- schedule
- budget
- quality objectives
a contract between the PM and sponsor organization
What does the project plan detail?
Tactical description of who will carry out the work and when. Defines How the resources will be used to develop a budget and schedule the team will follow
What are the deliverables of the execute project plan phase?
- SRS
- SDS
- Software testing document
- Software system
What is the deliverable of the close project phase?
Final report and presentation
What is a formal acceptance?
The transfer of control from the project team to the client or project sponsor
What are the deliverables of the evaluate project phase?
Project evaluations and lessons learned
What are the 4 areas of project evaluation?
- Review by PM and project team
- Between PM and individual team members
- By a 3rd party
- Project value evaluated
What is fast tracking?
Starting the next phase of a project before current phase is approved
What are the 8 activities of the SDLC?
- Requirements elicitation
- Analysis
- System design
- Object design
- Problem Implementation
- Testing
- Delivery
- Maintenance
What is the result of requirements elicitation?
UC diagram
What is the result of analysis activity?
System model
What is the result of system design activity?
Subsystem decomposition, deployment diagram
What is the result of object design activity?
Object model
What is the result of Implementation activity?
Source code
What is the result of testing activity?
Discover faults
Why is maintenance performed?
- remove errors
- enhance existing software
What is a process?
a set of interrelated actions and
activities performed to achieve a pre-specified product, result, or
service
What do project management processes support?
All the activities involved in the product oriented process
What is a product oriented process?
Produces the tangible results of the project
What are the 5 PMBOK PM Process groups?
- initiating
- planning
- executing
- controlling
- closing
What is PRINCE2 ?
PRojects IN Controlled Environments, version 2: A PM methodology
What are the 7 PRINCE2 processes?
- Start project
- Initiate project
- Direct project
- Control stage
- Manage product delivery
- Manage stage boundaries
- Close project
What is a project board?
- Used in PRINCE2
- Group of up to 8 people: customer, senior user, senior supplier
- provide direction, manage change requests, decide on project continuation
- accountable for project’s success/failure
What is the goal of the direct project process?
Define the project board’s overall activities
What is the goal of the initiate project process?
Develop the project brief into a more detailed business case
What is the goal of the
manage project delivery process?
Ensure the work packages are developed, delivered and approved as planned
What is the goal of the control stage process process?
Define PM’s day to day activities
What is the goal of the
close project process?
- Ensure project finished in controlled manner
- activities defined for acceptance of project, archiving documents and release project resources
What is the goal of the manage stage boundaries process?
Develop information or reporting mechanisms that PM will give to project board
What are the 7 PRINCE2 themes?
Guidelines to aid project goal achievement:
- Business case
- Organization
- Risk
- Quality
- Planning
- Change
- Describe the Progress
What are the 7 PRINCE@ principles?
Universal guidance for all projects:
- Business case driven
- Product focus
- Lessons learned
- Manage the stage
- Adapt to project
- Manage by exception
- Accountability
What are the 4 phases of a learning cycle?
- Understand/frame the problem
- Plan
- Act
- Reflect and learn
What are the components of a team learning record?
- What we know (facts)
- What we think we know (assumptions)
- What we don’t know (questions)
What are the dimensions for assessing team learning?
- speed (number of cycle)
- depth (degree of reframing their understanding)
- Beadth (impact)
What does MOV stand for?
Measurable Organizational Value
What aspects of the organization must be supported by the MOV?
Vision
Mission
Strategy
What are 4 areas of project objectives to support eh MOV?
- Scope
- Schedule
- Budget
- Quality
What are the 6 steps in the process to develop the MOV?
- Identify area of impact
- Identify value of project
- Develop metric
- Set time frame
- Get agreement from stakeholders
- Summarize MOV
What are the potential areas of impact for the MOV?
- Strategic
- Customer
- Financial
- Operational
- Social
How can a project add value?
Make things:
- Better
- Faster
- Cheaper
- Do more
T/F: A business case includes a budget
false
Are you a banker?
No? Then get out
What are the main areas of alternative feasibility?
- Economic
- Technical
- Organizational
- Other
Wow so MECE!
What are the main areas of total benefit of ownership?
- Increasing high-value work
- Improving accuracy and efficiency
- improving decision making
- improving customer service
What is the formula for payback period?
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/paybackperiod.asp
What is the formula for ROI?
(benefit-cost)/cost
What are the reasons for recruiting a core team to develop the business case?
- enhanced credibility
- alignment with organizational goals
- access to real costs
- shared sense of ownership
What is the triple constraint for projects?
Scope Goals, Time Goals & Cost Goals
Who is often responsible for balancing project goals?
Project Manager
What are the IT PM roles?
Project Stakeholder, PM, Project Sponsor, Subject Matter Experts SME’s, Technical Experts TE’s
Project Sponsor, Project team, support staff, customers, users and suppliers are examples of what?
Project Stakeholders
Is the Project manager the team leader?
Yes
Who is responsible for ensuring that the project management and technical dev processes are in place?
Project manager
End user, Customer, Client are examples of
Project Sponsors
Project Sponsors have the ability and desire to:
provide direction, funding and other resources to the project
What were mid-size companies average cost and schedule overruns according to the CHAOS study?
~200%
According to the CHAOS study, how many projects were canceled? Completed but over budget/schedule or without key specifications?
31% canceled, 53& completed but over budget/schedule without features
What are some key factors in successful projects?
User Involvement, Exec Support, Clarity of business objective/requirements
What are factors that lead to failed and challenged projects
Lack of user input, incomplete requirements, lack of resources, lack of exec support
What are the four approaches to improve the likely-hood of success of a project?
Value driven
Socio-technical: involve end users early and often
PM: pre-defined process and infrastructure with estimates and control resources
Knowledge management Approach: lessons learned, best practices
What are the ten project management knowledge areas
integration management scope management time management cost management quality management HR management communications management risk management procurement management stakeholder management
Phases and deliverables are part of:
PM Lifecycle
What are two process frameworks?
PMBOK & PRINCE2
What is the process for developing the business case?
- Select core team
- define MOV
- Identify Alternatives
- Define feasibility
- Define total cost of ownership
- Define total benefits of ownership
- Analyze alternatives
- Propose and support recommendation
Total cost of ownership TCO includes
Direct Costs
Up-front costs
Ongoing costs
Indirect costs
Total benefits of ownership include:
Increasing high-value work
Improving accuracy and efficiency
Improving decision making
Improving customer service
NPV
-Initial investment + Sum(CF/(1+r)^t)
What is the deliverable of the Plan project phase?
Project charter & plan
What document outlines the project infrastructure and resources and summarizes the project schedule and budget?
The project charter
What document serves as the contract between the project sponsor and project team?
project charter
When should a kick-off meeting be held?
After the planning phase, to initiate the execute project plan phase
What are the steps in the project planning framework?
- Finalize MOV
- Define scope
- Organize work into phases
- Identify tasks for each phase
What is the result of the project planning framework?
The baseline plan (schedule and budget)
What are the steps in the scope management process?
- Initiation
- Planning
- Definition
- Verification
- Change control
What is the output of the scope planning step?
Scope statement
What is the output of scope verification?
Scope verification check list
What are the outputs of scope definition?
- Deliverable definition table
- Deliverable structure chart
- Context DFD
- Use case diagram
What are the outputs of scope change control?
- Scope change request form
- scope change request log
During scope definition, deliverables can be divided into:
- project-oriented (support project management)
- product oriented (support the IT solution)
What type of deliverable is the business case?
project-oriented
Name the project-oriented scope definition tools
- deliverable definition table (DDT)
- deliverable structure chart (DSC)
What are the components (columns) of a DDT?
- Deliverable name
- Structure
- Standards
- Who needs to approve
- Resources required
What should be created first, the DDT or DSC?
The DDT
What is a context flow diagram useful for?
Refining the scope boundary and defining what the system must do
What are the major components of a scope verification check list?
- MOV
- Deliverables
- Quality standards
- milestones
- review and acceptance
What is scope creep?
Adding features/functionality without addressing time/costs or without customer approval
What is scope grope?
When scope is poorly defined
What is scope leap?
Huge sudden change in scope
What is WBS?
Work breakdown structure
WBS divides the project into components called what?
Work packages
T/F: Each deliverable should have its own work package
True
What are the 6 criteria for a complete activity in the WBS?
- Measurable status
- Bounded (start/end events are defined)
- Has a deliverable
- Time/cost easily estimated
- Acceptable duration
- Work assignments are independent
What are the 2 components of a scope statement?
- Work inside scope boundary
- Work outside scope boundary
How do you derive a project schedule
identify sequence of activities and interdependence and relationships
Projecting budget is determined by
Schedule, costs of resources and other direct and indirect costs
Kick-off off meetings are good for?
to bring closure to the planning phase of the project. Also for communicating to everyone what the project is about
Scope Initiation Process:
Process whereby the project sponsor gives the PM authority and resources to define the scope of the project
Scope Planning Process:
Defining the work and activities that achieve the MOV
What are the two deliverable categories for scope devision
Project Oriented & Product Oriented deliverable
What are two tools to communicate project deliverables?
Deliverable Definition Table DDT & Deliverable Structure Chart DSC
