Chapter 04 Defining the Project Multiple Choice

Chapter 04 - Defining the Project Chapter 04 Defining the Project Answer Key Multiple Choice Questions 1. The method used to collect information to use through all phases of the project life cycle is called A. Responsibility matrix B. Organization breakdown structure C. Work breakdown structure D. Priority matrix E. Work package The method suggested is a selective outline of the project called the work breakdown structure. AACSB: Reflective Thinking Bloom's: Knowledge Learning Objective: Step 1: Defining the Project Scope Level: Easy 2. Jose is looking at a document that outlines the specific tasks and subtasks required to complete the writing of a technical support manual. The method that was probably used to develop the document is most likely A. Responsibility matrix B. Organization breakdown structure C. Work breakdown structure D. Priority matrix E. Work package The method suggested is a selective outline of the project called the work breakdown structure. The early stages of developing the outline serve to ensure that all tasks are identified and that participants of the project have an understanding of what is to be done. AACSB: Analytic Bloom's: Comprehension Learning Objective: Step 1: Defining the Project Scope Level: Medium 4-19 Chapter 04 - Defining the Project 3. The first step in creating the necessary information to manage a project is to A. Establish project priorities B. Define the project scope C. Verify the budget available D. Assign team members to work on the project E. Determine the required completion date Defining the project scope sets the stage for developing a project plan. Project scope is a definition of the end result or mission of your project—a product or service for your client/customer. AACSB: Reflective Thinking Bloom's: Knowledge Learning Objective: Step 1: Defining the Project Scope Level: Easy 4. Linda has just been assigned a project to develop a new advertising campaign for an established product. Her first step should be to A. Establish project priorities B. Define the project scope C. Verify the budget available D. Assign team members to work on the project E. Determine the required completion date Defining the project scope sets the stage for developing a project plan. Project scope is a definition of the end result or mission of your project—a product or service for your client/customer. AACSB: Reflective Thinking Bloom's: Comprehension Learning Objective: Step 1: Defining the Project Scope Level: Medium 4-20 Chapter 04 - Defining the Project 5. Research shows the most frequently mentioned barrier to project success is A. Not enough budget resources B. Poor performance by team members C. Weak project leadership D. Poorly defined scope or mission E. Political in-fighting Research clearly shows that a poorly defined scope or mission is the most frequently mentioned barrier to project success. AACSB: Reflective Thinking Bloom's: Knowledge Learning Objective: Step 1: Defining the Project Scope Level: Medium 6. An expected output over the life of a project would be classified as A. A deliverable B. A product C. An end object D. An objective E. A target Major deliverables—the expected outputs over the life of the project. AACSB: Reflective Thinking Bloom's: Knowledge Learning Objective: Step 1: Defining the Project Scope Level: Easy 4-21 Chapter 04 - Defining the Project 7. The first step of project scope definition is to A. Analyze the strategic plan B. Analyze the current budget plan C. Meet with team members D. Select team members E. Define the overall objective to meet the customer's needs The first step of project scope definition is to define the overall objective to meet your customer's need(s). AACSB: Reflective Thinking Bloom's: Knowledge Learning Objective: Step 1: Defining the Project Scope Level: Easy 8. In reviewing the project plan, Susan sees that the first prototype is due by October 12. This would be best classified as a A. Project target B. Limit item C. Milestone D. Project objective E. Critical goal A milestone is a significant event in a project that occurs at a point in time. The milestone schedule shows only major segments of work; it represents first, rough-cut estimates of time, cost, and resources for the project. AACSB: Analytic Bloom's: Comprehension Learning Objective: Step 1: Defining the Project Scope Level: Medium 4-22 Chapter 04 - Defining the Project 9. The ability of 911 emergency systems to identify the caller's phone number and location are considered to be a A. Technical requirement B. Milestone C. Project limit D. Project exclusion E. Project deliverable More frequently than not, a product or service will have technical requirements to ensure proper performance. AACSB: Reflective Thinking Bloom's: Knowledge Learning Objective: Step 1: Defining the Project Scope Level: Easy 10. Which of the following is not one of the items that would appear on a project scope checklist? A. Deliverables B. Technical requirements C. Objectives D. Work breakdown structure E. Reviews with customer See Project Scope Checklist on Page 102. AACSB: Reflective Thinking Bloom's: Knowledge Learning Objective: Step 1: Defining the Project Scope Level: Easy 4-23 Chapter 04 - Defining the Project 11. "To construct a high-quality, custom home within five months at costs not to exceed $150,000" is best classified as A. A deliverable B. A milestone C. An objective D. A limit E. An exclusion The first step of project scope definition is to define the overall objective to meet your customer's need(s). For example, as a result of extensive market research a computer software company decides to develop a program that automatically translates verbal sentences in English to Russian. The project should be completed within three years at a cost not to exceed $1.5 million. AACSB: Analytic Bloom's: Comprehension Learning Objective: Step 1: Defining the Project Scope Level: Medium 12. The second step in the defining of a project would be to A. Analyze the strategic plan B. Analyze the current budget plan C. Establish project priorities D. Select team members E. Define the major objectives to meet the customer's needs Quality and the ultimate success of a project are traditionally defined as meeting and/or exceeding the expectations of the customer and/or upper management in terms of cost (budget), time (schedule), and performance (scope) of the project (see Figure 4.1). AACSB: Reflective Thinking Bloom's: Knowledge Learning Objective: Step 2: Establishing Project Priorities Level: Easy 4-24 Chapter 04 - Defining the Project 13. Which of the following is not one of the basic classifications of project priorities? A. Profit B. Cost C. Time D. Performance E. All of these are basic classifications One of the primary jobs of a project manager is to manage the trade-offs among time, cost, and performance. To do so, project managers must define and understand the nature of the priorities of the project. AACSB: Reflective Thinking Bloom's: Knowledge Learning Objective: Step 2: Establishing Project Priorities Level: Easy 14. If a project criterion indicates that the project must meet a specific date, that criterion is classified as A. Constrained B. Enhanced C. Accepted D. Limited E. Fixed The original parameter is fixed. The project must meet the completion date, specifications and scope of the project, or budget. AACSB: Analytic Bloom's: Knowledge Learning Objective: Step 2: Establishing Project Priorities Level: Medium 4-25 Chapter 04 - Defining the Project 15. Scott has just been given a project that has a specific target date. After discussion with top management he finds that while the date is important the cost is more important and a slip in delivery would be acceptable if required to meet the cost targets. The target date is best classified as A. Constrain B. Enhance C. Accept D. Limit E. Optional For which criterion is it tolerable not to meet the original parameters? When trade-offs have to be made, is it permissible for the schedule to slip, to reduce the scope and performance of the project, or to go over budget? AACSB: Analytic Bloom's: Comprehension Learning Objective: Step 2: Establishing Project Priorities Level: Medium 16. The tool used to assist in making project trade-offs between schedule, budget, and performance objectives is called a A. Responsibility matrix B. Work breakdown structure C. Project priority matrix D. Work package E. Criterion matrix One technique found in practice that is useful for this purpose is completing a priority matrix for the project to identify which criterion is constrained, which should be enhanced, and which can be accepted. AACSB: Reflective Thinking Bloom's: Comprehension Learning Objective: Step 2: Establishing Project Priorities Level: Medium 4-26 Chapter 04 - Defining the Project 17. The lowest element in the hierarchical breakdown of the WBS is A. A deliverable B. A work package C. A cost account D. A lowest sub deliverable E. An object See Figure 4.3 on page 108. AACSB: Reflective Thinking Bloom's: Knowledge Learning Objective: Step 3: Creating the Work Breakdown Structure Level: Medium 18. The highest element in the hierarchical breakdown of the WBS is A. A work package B. Sub deliverables C. A cost account D. Major deliverables E. The project See Figure 4.3 on page 108. AACSB: Reflective Thinking Bloom's: Knowledge Learning Objective: Step 3: Creating the Work Breakdown Structure Level: Medium 4-27 Chapter 04 - Defining the Project 19. All of the following are true about work packages except A. Consume resources B. Assigned to only one manager C. Have medium to long duration D. Definitive starts and stops dates E. All of these are true Work packages are short duration tasks that have a definite start and stop point, consume resources, and represent cost. Each work package is a control point. A work package manager is responsible for seeing that the package is completed on time, within budget, and according to technical specifications. AACSB: Analytic Bloom's: Comprehension Learning Objective: Step 3: Creating the Work Breakdown Structure Level: Medium 20. All of the following are usually included in a work package except A. What will be done? B. The time needed to complete the work. C. A single person who is responsible for its completion. D. All the costs for the work package. E. All of these are included in a work package. Work packages are short duration tasks that have a definite start and stop point, consume resources, and represent cost. Each work package is a control point. A work package manager is responsible for seeing that the package is completed on time, within budget, and according to technical specifications. AACSB: Analytic Bloom's: Comprehension Learning Objective: Step 3: Creating the Work Breakdown Structure Level: Medium 4-28 Chapter 04 - Defining the Project 21. The integration of project work packages within the organization's management structure is known as A. Responsibility matrix B. Organization breakdown structure C. Work breakdown structure D. Priority matrix E. Process breakdown structure In practice, the outcome of this process is the organization breakdown structure (OBS). The OBS depicts how the firm has organized to discharge work responsibility. AACSB: Analytic Bloom's: Comprehension Learning Objective: Step 4: Integrating the WBS with the Organization Level: Medium 22. The final step in the creation of a Work Breakdown Structure is to A. Code the WBS for tracking B. Assign the cost account to a manager C. Assign the work package to a manager D. Develop the responsibility matrix E. All of these are included in the final step The codes are used to define levels and elements in the WBS, organization elements, work packages, and budget and cost information. AACSB: Reflective Thinking Bloom's: Knowledge Learning Objective: Step 5: Coding the WBS for the Information System Level: Easy 4-29 Chapter 04 - Defining the Project 23. The intersection of the WBS and the OBS is called the A. Responsibility matrix B. Priority matrix C. Work package D. Cost account E. Project overlap The "cost account" is the focal point because all budgets, work assignments, time, cost, and technical performance come together at this point. AACSB: Reflective Thinking Bloom's: Knowledge Learning Objective: Step 4: Integrating the WBS with the Organization Level: Medium 24. Creating an extranet website or an internal software database system would be most closely associated with the A. Responsibility matrix B. Organization breakdown structure C. Work breakdown structure D. Priority matrix E. Process breakdown structure The classic WBS is when the project is broken down to the lowest manageable deliverable and subsequent work packages. AACSB: Analytic Bloom's: Comprehension Learning Objective: Step 4: Integrating the WBS with the Organization Level: Medium 4-30 Chapter 04 - Defining the Project 25. If a project is small or of narrow scope and does not require an elaborate system, which of the following is a good choice? A. Responsibility matrix B. Organization breakdown structure C. Work breakdown structure D. Priority matrix E. Process breakdown structure The RM (sometimes called a linear responsibility chart) summarizes the tasks to be accomplished and who is responsible for what on a project. AACSB: Analytic Bloom's: Comprehension Learning Objective: Responsibility Matrices Level: Medium 26. The project scope statement indicates that the client is responsible for training the people who will be using the equipment and that the project team will train the client's trainers. This is an example of: A. Project objectives B. Deliverables C. Limits and exclusions D. Technical requirements E. Milestones The limits of scope should be defined. Failure to do so can lead to false expectations and to expending resources and time on the wrong problem. AACSB: Reflective Thinking Bloom's: Comprehension Learning Objective: Step 1: Defining the Project Scope Level: Easy 4-31 Chapter 04 - Defining the Project 27. The tendency for the project deliverables to expand over time—usually by changing requirements, specifications, and priorities—is called: A. Scope erosion B. Scope creep C. Project bloat D. Scope enhancement E. Project add-ons The tendency for the project scope to expand over time—usually by changing requirements, specifications, and priorities. Scope creep can be reduced by carefully writing your scope statement. AACSB: Reflective Thinking Bloom's: Comprehension Learning Objective: Step 1: Defining the Project Scope Level: Easy 28. Which of the following is a good example of a Process Breakdown Structure? A. New car prototype B. New software program C. New computer hardware D. New sports stadium E. New project management book See Figure 4.4 on Page 112. AACSB: Analytic Bloom's: Comprehension Learning Objective: Step 3: Creating the Work Breakdown Structure Level: Medium 4-32 Chapter 04 - Defining the Project 29. Which of the follow is least likely to be included in a Work Package? A. Materials B. Labor C. Overhead D. Duration E. Responsibilities Work packages are short duration tasks that have a definite start and stop point, consume resources, and represent cost. AACSB: Analytic Bloom's: Knowledge Learning Objective: Step 4: Integrating the WBS with the Organization Level: Medium 30. The Snapshot from Practice dealing with Big Bertha II illustrated how important a project's __________ is to the successful completion of a project. A. Objective B. Deliverables C. Technical requirements D. Milestones E. Limits and exclusions See Snapshot from Practice on Page 104. AACSB: Reflective Thinking Bloom's: Comprehension Learning Objective: Step 4: Integrating the WBS with the Organization Level: Medium 4-33