Chapter 5

1.What is involved in project scope management, and why is good project scope managem
ent so important on information technology projects?

Scope refers to all the work involved in creating the products of the project and the processe
d used to create them. Project scope management includes scope planning, scope definition
, WBS creation, scope verification, and scope control. Scope management is very important
on information technology projects because many projects suffer from unclear
requirements and scope creep.

2. Discuss the process of further defining project scope, going from information in a projec
t charter to a preliminary scope statement, project scope statement, and WBS.

As time progresses, the scope of a project should become more clear and specific. Detail an
d clarity are added in each document.

3. Describe different ways to develop a WBS and why it is often so difficult to do.

You can develop a WBS by using guidelines, the analogy approach, the top-
down approach, the bottom-up approach, and the mind-
mapping approach. It is difficult to create a good WBS because each WBS is unique based on
the project and the team.
4. What is the main technique used for verifying scope? Give an example of scope verificati
on on a project.

Inspection is the main technique for verifying scope. Examples on IT projects would include
reviewing design documents, testing prototypes or other software, physically examining
hard ware or software, etc.

6. Using examples in this book or online, describe a project that suffered from scope creep.
Could it have been avoided? How? Can scope creep be a good thing? When?

The FoxMeyer Drug project described in the What Went Wrong provides a good example of
a project that suffered from scope creep. This problem could have been avoided if the
managers had focused on business needs first and not the technology. Scope creep can
sometime s be a good thing. For example, if you are working for a consulting firm getting
paid by the h our and a project continues to grow in scope, your firm will have more work
and can therefore make more money. Another example would be when scope creep results
in a much-needed feature or product that wasn’t originally planned for.

7. Why do you need a good WBS to use project management software? What other types
of software can you use to assist in project scope management?

The tasks in a Gantt chart should be based on a WBS. Other types of software that assist in
project scope management include word processing software, spreadsheet software,
database software, and various types of communications software. There are also special
products to help use balanced scorecards or create mind maps.
Assignment Name: Schwalbe, Information Technology Project Management 6e, Chapter 5

One of the most important and most difficult aspects of project management is defining the ________ of the project.
a. business objectives

b. scope
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c. budget

d. outputs

________ can be product-related, such as a piece of hardware or software, or process-related, such as a planning document or meeting minutes.
a. Deliverables

b. Scope statements
2

c. Prototypes

d. Project scope management

Which of the following processes of project scope management involves defining and documenting the features and functions of the products produced during the
project as well as the processes used for creating them?
a. collecting requirements

b. creating the WBS

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c. scope definition

d. scope verification

Which of the following processes of project scope management involves subdividing the major project deliverables into smaller, more manageable components?
a. scope control

b. scope verification
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c. scope definition

d. creating the WBS

Key project stakeholders, such as the customer and sponsor for the project, inspect and then formally accept the deliverables of the project during the ________
process of project scope management.
a. scope control

b. scope verification
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c. scope definition

d. creating the WBS

6 Which of the following processes of project scope management involves reviewing the project charter and preliminary scope statement created during the initiation
process and adding more information during the planning process as requirements are developed and change requests are approved?
a. scope verification
 b. scope definition

c. creating the WBS

d. scope control

________ is the first step in project scope management and is often the most difficult.
a. Scheduling milestones

b. Collecting requirements
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c. Estimating costs

d. Defining scope

The project scope statement, stakeholder requirements documentation, and organizational process assets are the primary inputs for creating a ________.
a. scope baseline

b. prototype
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c. work breakdown structure

d. work package

A ________ represents the lowest level of work that the project manager is using to monitor and control the project.
a. work breakdown structure

b. work package
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c. scope baseline

d. milestone

One approach for constructing a WBS is the ________, in which you use a similar project's WBS as a starting point.
a. top-down approach

b. mind-mapping approach
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c. analogy approach

d. bottom-up approach

In which approach to creating a WBS do team members first identify as many specific tasks related to the project as possible?
a. bottom-up approach

b. mind-mapping approach
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c. analogy approach

d. top-down approach

12 Most project managers consider the ________ of WBS construction to be conventional; you start with the largest items of the project and break them into their
 subordinate items.
a. analogy approach

b. bottom-up approach

c. mind-mapping approach

d. top-down approach

Instead of writing tasks down in a list or immediately trying to create a structure for tasks, the ________ allows people to write and even draw pictures of ideas in a
nonlinear format.
a. analogy approach

b. mind-mapping approach
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c. top-down approach

d. bottom-up approach

Which of the following is a basic principle that applies to creating any good WBS and its WBS dictionary?
a. A unit of work should appear at several places in the WBS.

b. Project team members should rarely be involved in developing the WBS.

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c. A WBS item is the responsibility of only one individual, even though many people may be working on it.

d. The work content of a WBS item is the sum of the WBS items above it.

The approved project scope statement and its associated WBS and WBS dictionary form the ________.
a. project management plan

b. work package
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c. scope verification

d. scope baseline

Even when the project scope is fairly well defined, many information technology projects suffer from ________, which is the tendency for project scope to keep getting
bigger and bigger.
a. scope creep

b. scope verification
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c. kill points

d. scope control

17 The project management plan, requirements documentation, the requirements traceability matrix, and validated deliverables are the main inputs for ________.

a. the work breakdown structure

b. scope control

c. scope verification
 d. scope creep

________ is the difference between planned and actual performance.

a. Scope creep

b. Scope baseline
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c. Decomposition

d. Variance

________ uses highly organized and intensive workshops to bring together project stakeholders - the sponsor, users, business analysts, programmers, and so on - to
jointly define and design information systems.
a. The bottom-up approach

b. Mind mapping
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c. Prototyping

d. Joint Application Design (JAD)

________ is a process for identifying and modeling business events, who initiated them, and how the system should respond to them.
a. Prototyping

b. Joint Application Design (JAD)

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c. Use case modeling

d. Mind mapping