SA: Project Initiation Flashcards
What is a Predictive Approach?
Where you have all of the information and can plan all the details required to work through and complete the Project.
What is a Adaptive Approach?
Where you do not know all the details that will be involved within the project and will need to plan each stage of the process as an overview as you will need to come back and fill in further details as you work through the project.
What are the main activities involved in the Project Planning stage?
- Defining the Problem.
- Producing a Project Schedule.
- Considering the Project Feasibility.
- Staffing the Project.
- Launching the Project.
Describe Defining the Problem as the first formal phase within the Project Planning step.
It is effectively a statement of problems with proposed benefits of a new system while describing system scope and other aspects regarding the system.
How does the Defining of the problem come about?
Identified from Inefficiencies within the working environment, poor quality of work, or perhaps suggestions from customers/vendors.
What staff member could be involved in the production of the System Scope Document?
A Senior Business Analyst
How can we describe the User Request?
It is produced with the assistance of Systems Analyst and must compete with other proposals and suggestions within the company.
It provides a high level view of the suggestions lined out, defining what needs to be done to produce the new system, rather than how it is done (the technical details).
The purpose is to turn a vague request into some tangible product description.
What can you use a User Request for?
Measuring whether the problems brought up have been solved or alleviated.
What is typically included within a User Request?
.Problem description. .Origin of request .Likely study costs (feasibility) .Study Completion date (feasibility) . Urgency . Objectives. . Boundaries. . Time Scale. . Mandatory documents. . Success Criteria. . Identified problems. . Suggested solutions. . Anticipated Benefits
Describe the production of a formal request
For a formal request to be produced the Analyst must understand the motivation and need behind the request. Meaning there needs to be effective communication between the other parties. It can be difficult to come to an agreement if there are multiple opinions.
That is where the analyst needs to try and come up with a synergy between the opposing or different ideas.
What is the purpose of the production of a formal request?
Turn an unstructured, informal thought to a formal, structured and understandable document that can be used as leverage.
Not every request will go through as it may not be feasible by the decision makers. However, the more convincing the request, the more detail gone into the production, the more likely it will be that this request is carried out.
What happens with the request?
Depending on the size of the organisation it gets passed onto different types of the selection process.
Could go to the Steering Committee for a larger organisation.
Could go to a small panel of senior managers for a smaller organisation.
What is another way you can convince the request to be selected and dealt with?
Produce a prototype so there is a physical representation of what needs to be carried out.
What is the Steering Committee?
A body within a large organisation that approve projects and assign priorities for further work within a project proposal.
They have an overview of the organisation and base the decision on the company’s interest considering all the departments.
What other responsibilities do the Steering Committee have?
Maintaining a watch over the Systems team (the people developing the new proposed system). They also appoint staff to the development of the project. And act as an advisory body as the project is carried out.
