Topic 3: Project selection

Question 1

What are the three criteria that show a project is the right project?

Answer 1

1. Aligns with strategy
2. Meets financial criteria
3. Meets non-financial criteria

Question 2

What is an issue regarding strategy and project selection that some small businesses run into?

Answer 2

Small businesses might not yet have a strategy. In this case pick projects that support core competencies.

Question 3

What are the two things a project should include in its business case development?

Answer 3

1. Strategic need

2. Financial return

Question 4

What is a business case?

Answer 4

The one place where all relevant facts are documented and linked together into a cohesive story. This story tells people about the what, when, where, how and why.

Question 5

What are the popular methods of proving financial value of business cases?

Answer 5

1. Net Present Value
2. Payback Period
3. Return on Investment
4. Cost Benefit Ratio

Question 6

What is Net Present Value?

Answer 6

Net present value (NPV) is the difference between the present value of cash inflows and the present value of cash outflows over a period of time.

Question 7

What is Payback Period?

Answer 7

The term payback period refers to the amount of time it takes to recover the cost of an investment.

Question 8

What is Return on Investment

Answer 8

Return on investment (ROI) is calculated by dividing the profit earned on an investment by the cost of that investment.

Question 9

What is the cost benefit ratio?

Answer 9

This is the ratio of project benefits versus project costs. It involves summing the total discounted benefits for a project over its entire duration/life span and dividing it over the total discounted costs of the project.

Question 10

What is a multi-weighted scoring model?

Answer 10

This is a table where criteria are defined and weighted in respect to their overall importance to the decision. Weights are based on the criteria importance to the strategic plan of the organization.

Question 11

Why is a multi-weighted scoring model important?

Answer 11

It allows for the quick visualization of projects, their benefits, and in what order they should be prioritized.

Question 12

What are the three high level steps in selecting IS projects (according to the textbook)?

Answer 12

1. Identifying IS projects
2. Assessing project feasibility
3. Comparing alternative projects

Question 13

What are the common things that can trigger project selection?

Answer 13

1. Stakeholder request
2. Strategic opportunity
3. Need for change/improved business process
4. Changing regulatory, legal, social req

Question 14

What is corporate strategic planning?

Answer 14

An ongoing process of determining goals and defining a strategy to achieve these goals.

Question 15

Why is corporate strategic planning important to the project selection process?

Answer 15

Strategies are the direct result of corporate strategic planning, therefore projects need to align with the output of this.

Question 16

What is value chain analysis?

Answer 16

The process of analyzing an organization’s activities to determine where value is added to products and/or services and the costs incurred for doing so.

Question 17

Why is value chain analysis important to the project selection process?

Answer 17

Understanding where in the value chain information systems can be used to support the strategy, will help an organization determine which activities are essential when trying to reach their objectives, effectively deploy resources, and build the information systems that add most value to their org.

Question 18

What is information systems planning?

Answer 18

A structured process of assessing the information needs of an organization and defining the systems, databases, and technologies that will best satisfy those
needs.

Question 19

Why is information systems planning important to picking a project?

Answer 19

It runs parallel to corporate strategic planning in that it identifies the businesses current IT needs, future IT needs, and the plan to get there - which runs parallel to its overall strategy. This is therefore important to projects as you need to pick what fits with these priorities.

Question 20

What is a key approach difference between IS planning and project planning.

Answer 20

IS system planning is top down, project planning is bottom up.

Question 21

What is a system service request?

Answer 21

A formal request for correcting problems with an existing system, adding features to a system, or developing a new system.

Question 22

What are criteria that project feasibility can be assessed across?

Answer 22

• Economic feasibility
• Technical feasibility
• Operational feasibility
• Schedule feasibility
• Legal and contractual feasibility
• Political feasibility

Question 23

What is is business case?

Answer 23

The justification that presents the economic, technical,

operational, schedule, legal and contractual, and political factors influencing a proposed project.

Question 24

What is a tangible benefit?

Answer 24

A benefit that can be quantified with relative certainty.

Question 25

What is an intangible benefit?

Answer 25

A benefit that cannot be easily quantified with relative certainty.

Question 26

What are some dimensions of cost

Answer 26

1. Tangible vs intangible

2. One time vs recurring

Question 27

What is technical feasibility?

Answer 27

The degree to which the development organization is able to construct a proposed system.