CIS Exam

What are the key elements of project initiation?

• Establishing the project initiation team
• Establishing a relationship with the customer
• Establishing the project initiation plan
• Establishing management procedures
• Establishing the project management environment
• Developing the project charter

What are the main elements of project planning?

• Describing the project scope
• Dividing the project into tasks
• Estimating resources and creating a resource plan
• Developing a schedule
• Developing a communication plan
• Determining project standards and procedures
• Identifying and assessing risk
• Creating a budget
• Developing the project scope statement
• Setting a baseline project plan

What are the major factors that determine project feasibility?

– Economic
– Technical
– Operational
– Scheduling
– Legal and contractual
– Political

What are the intangible benefits derived from the development of an information system?

• Competitive necessity

• More confidence in decision quality
• More timely information

• Improved processing efficiency
• Improved organizational planning

• Improved asset utilization
• Increased organizational flexibility

• Improved resource control
• Promotion of organizational learning
• Increased accuracy
• Availability of new information

• Improved work process that can improve employee morale
• Ability to investigate more alternatives

• Positive impacts on society
• Faster decision making

• Improved social responsibility
• Better usage of resources Blank

Differentiate between tangible and intangible costs. (Please create a table then differentiate).

• Tangible costs – costs associated with an information system
that can be measured in dollars and with certainty
• Intangible costs – costs associated with an information
system that cannot be easily measured in terms of dollars or
with certainty

What are the guidelines for an effective cost estimation approach?

1. Have clear guidelines for creating estimates.
2. Use experienced developers and project managers to make estimates.
3. Develop a culture where all project participants are responsible for defining accurate estimates.
4. Use historical data to help in establishing better estimates of costs, risks, schedules, and resources.
5. Update estimates as the project progresses.
6. Monitor progress and record discrepancies to improve future estimates.

Discuss the concept of the time value of money.

The concept that money available today is worth more than the same amount tomorrow

What do you understand by cost–benefit analysis techniques?

Net Present Value: uses a discount rate determined from the company’s cost of capital to establish the present value of a project.
Return on Investment: is the ratio of the net cash receipts of the project divided by the cash outlays of the project.
Break-Even Analysis: finds the amount of time required for the cumulative cash flow from a project to equal its initial and ongoing investment

CFD

Contains only one process

Level 1 DFD

• Shows all the processes that comprise a single process
• Shows how information moves from and to each of these processes
• Shows in more detail the content of higher level process

Level 2 DFD

• Shows all processes that comprise a single process
• Shows how information moves from and to each of these processes
• Correctly numbering each process helps the user understand where the process fits into the overall system

Use Case

• Systems: This represents the boundary of the application or system under consideration.
• Actors: Actors are entities that interact with the system.
• Use Cases: These are the specific interactions between the actors and the system that lead to achieving a goal.
• Relationships: Relationships show how the elements are connected and how they interact with each other.

ERD

An ERD is a visual representation of the relationships between entities in a database

Entities

Represent objects or things in the database. Entities are usually depicted as rectangles

Attributes

Characteristics or properties of entities. Attributes are typically represented as ovals

Relationships

Represent how entities are related to each other. Relationships are
depicted lines

Deliverable is the creation of a design specification that
includes:

1. Narrative overview
2. Sample design
3. Testing and usability assessment
4. Dialogue sequence

Interface

method by which users interact with an information system

Five widely used styles of interacting include

Command language
– Menu
– Form
– Object
– Natural language

Command language interaction

computer interaction method where users enter explicit statements into a system to invoke operations

Menu Interaction

method in which a list of system options is provided, and a specific command is invoked by user selection of a menu option

Pop-up menu

positioning method that places a menu near the current cursor position

Drop down menu

positioning method that places the access point of the menu near the top line of the display; menus open by dropping down

Form interaction

method where data fields are formatted similar to paper-based forms

Object based interaction

method in which symbols are used to represent commands or functions

Icons

A graphical picture that represents specific functions within a system

Natural language interaction

human–computer interaction
method where inputs to and outputs from a computer application are in a spoken language, such as English