WGU C954 Section 4

Why would a project require an executive sponsor according to the Project Management Institute (PMI)?

To provide financial resources for a project

What is a program evaluation and review technique (PERT) chart?

A graphical network model that depicts a project's tasks and the relationships between those tasks

Which factor is a primary reason for project failure?

The balance of the triple constraints

What is agile methodology?

A methodology that aims for customer satisfaction through early and continual delivery of useful software components developed by an iterative process with a design point that uses the bare minimum requirements

What is waterfall methodology?

A sequence of phases in which the output of each phase becomes the input for the next

What is the systems development life cycle (SDLC)?

The overall process for developing information systems, from planning and analysis through implementation and maintenance

What is the definition of project scope?

The need, justification, requirements, and current boundaries for a project

What is a value chain analysis?

A business tool that views a firm as a series of business processes that add value to a product or service

What is the definition of Porter's three generic strategies?

A business strategy involving methods that are neither organization- nor industry-specific and can be applied to any business, product, or service

What is an assessment of the competitive forces within the environment in which a company operates to evaluate the potential for profitability in an industry?

Porter's five forces model

What is a SWOT analysis?

An evaluation of an organization's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to identify significant influences that work for or against business strategies

Which supply chain activity includes building relationships with suppliers to procure raw materials?

Source

supplier power

The supplier's ability to influence the price they charge for supplies, including material labor and service

threat of substitute products or services

This is high when there are many alternatives to a product or service and low when they are a few alternatives from which to choose.

workflow control systems

Monitors processes to ensure tasks, activities, and responsibilities are executed as specified

static process

Continuously uses a systematic approach in an attempt to improve business effectiveness and efficiency

dynamic

Continuously changing and providing business solutions to ever-changing business operations

business process reengineering (BPR)

The analysis and redesign of workflows within and between enterprises

customer-facing process

Results in a product or service that is received by an organization's external customer

business process modeling or mapping

The activity of creating a detailed flowchart or process map of a work process, showing its input task and activities in a structured sequence

business process model

A graphic description of a process, showing the sequence and process task, which is developed for a specific purpose and from a selected viewpoint

business process model and notation (BPMN)

A graphical notation that depicts the steps in a business process

as-is process model

Represents the current state of the operation that has been mapped without any specific improvements or changes to existing processes

to-be process model

Shows the results of applying change improvement opportunities to the current as-is process model

swim lane diagram

Documents the steps or activities of a workflow by grouping activities into swim lanes, which are horizontal or vertical columns containing all associated activities for that category department

process owner

The person responsible for the end-to-end functioning of a business process

supply chain management (SCM)

Involves the management of information flows between and among activities in a supply chain to maximize total supply chain effectiveness and corporate profitability

CRM analysis technologies

Help organizations segment their customers into categories, such as best and worst customers

commercial off-the-shelf application

Supports general business processes and does not require any specific software customization to meet the organization's needs

systems development life cycle (SDLC)

The overall process for developing information systems from planning and analysis through implementation and maintenance, with maintenance being the most expensive and labor-intensive step in the process

change agent

A person or event that is the catalyst for implementing major changes for a system to meet business changes

project management

The process of leading the work of a team to achieve all project goals within the given constraints, which can yield benefits such as increased productivity, new opportunities, new products, and increased sales

project scope

Describes the business needs, problem the project will solve, justification, requirements, and current boundaries for a project

project plan

A formal approved document that manages, schedules, and controls project execution; utilizes tools such as Gantt charts to represent a project's schedule

analysis phase

Activities include analyzing user business requirements, refining projects goals, and defining the functions and operations of the intended system

business requirements

These are specific business requests that the system must meet to be successful. The analysis phase is critical because business requirements drive the entire system development effort.

requirement management

The process of managing changes to the business requirements throughout the project

requirements definition document

Prioritizes all business requirements by order of importance to the company

data flow diagram (DFD)

Illustrates the movement of information between external entities and the process and data store within the system

computer-aided software engineering (CASE) tools

Tools designed to support business modeling techniques including analyzing, modeling, and documenting business processes

design phase

Involves describing the desired features and operations of the system, including screen layouts, business rules, process diagrams, pseudocode, and other documents

graphical user interface (GUI)

The interface to an information system

development

Involves taking the detailed design documents from the design phase and transferring them into the actual system

software engineering

A disciplined approach to constructing information systems through the use ofcommon methods, techniques, or tools

business strategy

A leadership plan that achieves a specific set of goals or objectives

competitive advantage

A feature of a product or service that an organization's customers place a greater value on than a similar offering from a competitor

first-mover advantage

Occurs when an organization can significantly impact its market share by being the first to market with a competitive advantage

competitive intelligence

The process of gathering information about the competitive environment, including competitors' plans, activities, and products, to improve a company's ability to succeed

SWOT analysis

Evaluates an organization's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to identify significant influences that work for or against business strategies

Porter's five forces model

The forces include (1) the number and power of a company's competitive rivals, (2) potential new market entrants, (3) suppliers, (4) customers, and (5) substitute products.

buyer power

The ability of buyers to affect the price they must pay for an item

scripting language

A programming language that is used to manipulate, customize, and automate the facilities of an existing system

object-oriented languages

Languages that group data and corresponding processes into objects

fourth-generation language (4GL)

Programming language that is written like human languages

workflow

Includes the tasks, activities, and responsibilities required to execute each step in a business process

supply chain

Consists of all parties involved, directly or indirectly, in the procurement of a product or raw material

customer-facing process

Results in a product or service that is received by an organization's external customer

planning phase

Involves establishing a high-level plan of the intended project and determining project goals

stakeholder

A person or organization with an interest in a particular place or issue

maintenance phase

In this phase, the organization performs changes, corrections, additions, and upgrades to ensure the system continues to meet business goals.

prototyping

An experimental process where design teams implement ideas into tangible forms from paper to digital; increases the chance for successful implementation as well as the chance of detecting errors early on

preventative maintenance

Makes a system change to reduce the chance of future system failures

methodology

A set of policies, procedures, standard processes, practices tools, and techniques that people apply to TECO management challenges

waterfall methodology

A sequence of phases in which the output of each phase becomes the input for the next

discovery prototyping

Building a small-scale representation or working model of the system to ensure it meets the user and business requirement

iterative development

Consist of a series of tiny projects

agile methodology

Achieves customer satisfaction through early and continual delivery of useful software components; developed by an Iterative process with design points that use the bare minimum requirement to produce working code or function

rapid application development (RAD)

Also called rapid prototyping methodology; emphasizes extensive user involvement in the rapid and evolutionary construction of a working prototype of a system to accelerate the system's development process

extreme program (XP) methodology

It breaks a project into tiny phases; developers cannot continue to the next phase until the first phase is completed.

Rational Unified Process (RUP) methodology

Provides a framework for breaking down the development of software into four or five phases

scrum methodology

Uses small teams to produce small pieces of deliverable software, using sprints or 30-day intervals to achieve an appointed goal

web service

An open-standard way of supporting the interoperability of technology systems

cascading style sheet (CSS)

A markup language for web documents containing structured information

loose coupling

The capability of services to be joined on demand

service-oriented architecture (SOA)

A business-driven enterprise architecture that supports integrating a business as linked repeatable activities task or service

service-oriented architecture(SOA) service

A business task, such as checking a potential customer's credit rating, when opening a new account

tangible benefit

Easy to quantify and typically measured to determine the success or failure of a project

intangible benefits

Benefits that are difficult to quantify or measure

kill switch

A trigger that enables a project's manager to close the project prior to completion

feasibility

The measure of the tangible and intangible benefit of an information system

program evaluation and review technique (PERT) chart

A graphical network model that depicts a project's tasks and the relationship between those tasks

dependency

A series of tasks that are interrelated, such as the logical relationship that exists between a project task and a milestone

critical path

The longest stretch of dependent activities, which are measured from start to finish

testing phase

Involves bringing all the project pieces together into a special testing environment to test for errors, bugs, and interoperability and to verify that the system meets the business requirements defined in the analysis phase

bug

Defects in the code of an information system

test condition

The detailed steps the system must perform along with the expected results of each step

implementation phase

Placing the system into production so users can begin to perform actual business operations with the system

user documentation

Documents that include how to use the system and troubleshoot issues or problems

online training

Training delivered via the internet in order toallow employees to complete the materials at their own pace

workshop training

Held in a classroom environment and led by an instructor

help desk

A group of people who respond to internal system user questions

Gantt chart

A simple bar chart that lists project tasks vertically against the projects time frame listed horizontally

in-sourcing, in-house development

A common approach using the professional expertise within an organization to develop and maintain the organization's information technology systems

outsourcing

It is an arrangement by which one organization provides services for another organization that chooses not to perform them in-house. Benefits include cost savings and extended work resources. Drawbacks include a loss of corporate knowledge and confidentiality.

onshore outsourcing

The process of engaging another company within the same country for services

nearshore outsourcing

Contracting an outsourcing agreement with a company in a nearby country

offshore outsourcing

Using organizations from developing countries to write code and develop systems

communication plan

It defines the how, what, when, and who in the flow of project information to stakeholders. It is key for managing expectations.

executive sponsor

The person or group who provides the financial resources for the project

project constraint

A specific factor that can limit options within a project