Systems Analysis Chapter 3 Quiz

Chapter 3: Managing Systems Projects

• Systems Analysis and Design (12th Edition) is the book used for the chapter
• Key learning objectives include illustrating project priorities, explaining planning, scheduling, monitoring, and reporting, creating work breakdown structures, identifying task patterns, calculating critical paths, describing monitoring and control techniques, reporting on project status, creating risk management plans, and understanding why projects fail.

Learning Objectives (1 of 2)

• Students will be able to illustrate project priorities in the form of a project triangle.
• Students will understand project planning, scheduling, monitoring, and reporting.
• Students will create work breakdown structures.
• Students will identify task patterns.
• Students will calculate a project's critical path.
• Students will be able to describe project monitoring and control techniques.

Learning Objectives (2 of 2)

• Students will understand how project status is reported.
• Students will describe project management software and its uses.
• Students will create risk management plans
• Students will be able to describe why projects sometimes fail.

Overview of Project Management (1 of 3)

• Project management includes planning, scheduling, monitoring, controlling, and reporting on information system development.
• Successful projects are completed on time, within budget, meeting requirements, and satisfying users.

Overview of Project Management (2 of 3)

• A project triangle represents the optimal balance among cost, scope, and time.
• Changes in one factor (cost, scope, or time) will affect the other factors in the project triangle.

Overview of Project Management (3 of 3)

• Project managers identify tasks, estimate completion times and costs.
• Project scheduling involves creating timetables, outlining task dependencies, and identifying critical tasks.
• Project monitoring and control involves guiding, supervising, and coordinating the team's workload and creating progress reports.

Creating a Work Breakdown Structure (1 of 8)

• Breaking down a project into smaller tasks
• Gantt charts—horizontal bar charts representing a set of tasks, showing planned and actual progress on a project. Simplifying complex projects using a task group.

Creating a Work Breakdown Structure (2 of 8)

• PERT/CPM charts
• Program Evaluation Review Technique (PERT) developed by the US Navy
• Utilizes bottom-up techniques
• Useful for scheduling, monitoring, and controlling actual work
• Displays complex task patterns and relationships.
• Critical Path Method (CPM) developed by the private industry.

Creating a Work Breakdown Structure (3 of 8)

• FIGURE 3-4 shows a Gantt chart with 6 tasks and a PERT chart for the same project

Creating a Work Breakdown Structure (4 of 8)

• Identifying tasks in a WBS (Work Breakdown Structure)
• Tasks, or activities, need a beginning and end
• Utilize company resources. (people, time, money)
• Tasks should be small and manageable
• Projects involve milestones and/or events as recognizable reference points to track progress.

Creating a Work Breakdown Structure (5 of 8)

• Listing tasks
• Tasks may be embedded in documents
• Estimating task durations (hours, days, weeks)
• Best-case, probable-case, and worst-case estimates by project managers
• Assigning weights to estimates; Calculating task duration

Creating a Work Breakdown Structure (6 of 8)

• FIGURE 3-5 depicts how a questionnaire involves a series of tasks and milestones.

Creating a Work Breakdown Structure (7 of 8)

• Factors affecting duration: project size, identifying all project tasks, considering time for events affecting productivity
• Human resources: assembling and guiding the development team appropriately equipped with skills and experience and addressing schedule-affecting factors.

Creating a Work Breakdown Structure (8 of 8)

• Experience with similar projects (time and cost estimates).
• Constraints (defining realistic system requirements).

Task Patterns (1 of 6)

• Arranging tasks in logical sequences.
• Dependent tasks (one task starts after another completes.)
• Multiple successor tasks
• Multiple predecessor tasks

Task Patterns (2 of 6)

• Using task boxes to create models
• Each section includes important information about the task including Task Name, Task ID, Task Duration, Start Day/Date and Finish Day/Date.

Task Patterns (3 of 6)

• Dependent tasks
• One task can't start until a prior task is complete.

Task Patterns (4 of 6)

• Multiple successor tasks
• Tasks can be initiated simultaneously

Task Patterns (5 of 6)

• Multiple predecessor tasks
• Task initiation depends on completing two or more prior tasks

Task Patterns (6 of 6)

• Working with complex task patterns
• Task patterns that combine require careful attention to understand the logic and sequence.
• Incorrect task patterns will result in inaccurate schedules.

The Critical Path (1 of 3)

• Series of tasks whose delay affects overall project completion date
• If a task on the critical path is behind schedule, the entire project is delayed.

The Critical Path (2 of 3)

• Calculating the critical path involves reviewing patterns, determining start and finish dates

The Critical Path (3 of 3)

• FIGURE 3-18 and 3-19, demonstrate PERT/CPM charts
• A project has a duration of 95 days

Project Monitoring and Control (1 of 2)

• Monitoring and control techniques: include structured walk-throughs.
• Teams perform reviews of individual's work, known as design, code, or testing reviews depending on the phase in the SDLC.

Project Monitoring and Control (2 of 2)

• Maintaining Schedule: projects face delays
• Projects managers monitor and control work.
• Anticipate, avoid, and minimize impacts of problems
• Identifying potential solutions, choosing the best solution
• Managing activities along the critical path.

Reporting

• Project status meetings—regular meetings involving project managers who share project updates, discuss problems, and collect data.
• Project Status Reporting—managers provide reports regarding the status to supervisors, upper management, or users.
• Handling problems, deciding how to handle problems which could be challenging.

Project Management Software (1 of 2)

• Project managers use software applications to plan, schedule, monitor, and report.
• Programs offer features such as PERT/CPM charts, Gantt charts, resource scheduling, project calendars, and cost tracking.

Project Management Software (2 of 2)

• Referencing Microsoft Project documentation for task summary examples, work breakdown structure, Gantt charts, network diagrams, and calendar views.

Risk Management

• Steps in risk management: developing a plan, identifying risks, analyzing risks (qualitative and quantitative), creating a risk response plan, monitoring risks, anticipating those risks

Managing for Success

• Project management is challenging.
• Project managers must have technical competence and be resourceful.
• Projects can fail due to business/budget/scheduling issues.

Summary (1 of 3)

• Project management involves planning, scheduling, monitoring, and reporting on information system development.
• Project triangle includes cost, scope, and time.

Summary (2 of 3)

• Planning, scheduling, monitoring, and reporting occur within a larger development framework.
• Creating a work breakdown structure
• Identifying task patterns
• Calculating the critical path
• Task patterns establish the sequence of work in a project.

Summary (3 of 3)

• Gantt chart—horizontal bar chart
• Represents project schedules with time on the horizontal axis and tasks arranged vertically.
• PERT/CPM chart—network diagram
• Tasks connected by arrows
• Most project managers use software to plan, schedule, and monitor projects.
• Microsoft Project is a software option.

Test your understanding of project management concepts from Chapter 3 of 'Systems Analysis and Design'. This quiz covers essential learning objectives like project priorities, planning techniques, and work breakdown structures. Delve into critical path calculations and monitoring techniques essential for successful project execution.