IT Project Management - IT Project Planning

What is the ultimate purpose of a Project Charter?

• To make sure the correct stakeholders are identified

• To get project sponsor's approval to start the project

• To lock down the effort committed

• Ensure that the project objectives are correct.

Project A requires Finance as system owner & Logistics to provide the requirements before IT AS can draft the functional specifications for the Development Team to develop the outlet application. Who should NOT be the stakeholders

• CFO

• GCEO

• SCOO

• SALES HEAD

Why we need Project Management Plan?

• To guide the project team in planning the project

• To ensure we have proper document in case of Internal audit

• Project manager can refer to it while executing the project

• Project members can refer to it while executing the project

Select the correct statement/s about WBS

• WBS node defines the deliverable, not the task itself

• We define WBS before the schedule to ensure completeness of tasks

• To determine the effort in WBS dictionary, we have to consider worse case, best case and likely case effort with more weightage given to likely case.

• The dependencies of tasks should only be defined after WBS

Jenny is being assigned as a PM for project A. To speed things up, she uses for existing project artifacts, include phase 1 project management plan template. Is Jenny doing the right thing?

• Yes, it helps her speed up the work but she needs to make changes where applicable

• Yes, it helps her speed up the work but she should NOT amend it as it was previously approved.

• No. A responsible PM should always draft their own documents based on their own style and project requirements.

• No. Template cannot be used as a reference it is just a sample.

Towards the end of phase 1 closure, PM discovers that she missed out involving SCOO in providing the requirements on outlet go-live dates. What is the earliest thing that should be done during PLANNING to avoid this?

• Have requirement workshop with SCOO during planning

• Involve SCOO in kick-off meeting

• Ensure SCOO is in the project charter

• Ensure all stakeholders are considered in Requirement Stakeholder Matrix

User is not able to sign-off the requirement specifications by the committed date even it was sent to her on the date mutually agreed on. All team members. including user, have a copy of schedule and have reserved time to do their respective tasks. What could be the most likely cause?

• The dates were not properly communicated to users

• User is on annual leave

• Requirement specification is written like Functional specifications

• PM is on leave and not available to remind the user.

Why WBS is important?

• Help to build a more comprehensive and accurate schedule baseline

• To avoid questioning by Project Sponsor

• To comply with Project Management Plan

• It is an important tool to gather a comprehensive set of requirements and target dates

WBS has been created and schedule baseline developed. During execution phase, certain tasks are defined to take a week or more and involved more than 1 person from different teams. When it comes to monitoring and control, PM has problems identifying the person accountable for delay of these tasks. What is wrong with the WBS?

• WBS is defined at too high level.

• The dependencies in WBS are not considered

• The WBS is not approved by the project sponsor

• There is nothing wrong with the WBS. The PM should investigate the delay and put in place better controls to prevent further delay.

Management feedback that some sensitive information discussed in the project are summarized in project summary from PM's email. What could be the problems?

• There is no communication plan in PMP

• Communication plan in PMP does not mention that sensitive info must not be communicated

• Project Manager did not follow the communication protocols in the PMP

• PM should include this information in her email since she thinks it is important for all to know even though the PMP forbids it. This is an example of exercising adaptability and flexibility.