Accounting Information Systems, 11e (Bodnar/Hopwood)
Chapter 12 Systems Project Management, Implementation, Operation, Control
1) Delays are routine during implementation because it is impossible to anticipate all potential
problems during the systems design process.
2) Selecting and training personnel is one of the implementation activities that are carried out
based on the design plan.
3) The degree of success for a new system development project is affected by the adequacy of
training given to employees.
4) It is a good assumption that employees will learn to use a new system by themselves.
5) One training method that makes use of current technological advances is computer-assisted
training.
6) New computer equipment generally does not require special provisions for complex wiring
schemes.
7) One powerful means of testing computer programs involves processing test data.
8) The test data approach should not be designed to “break” the computer program.
9) The cutoff point is the point at which individual segments of the new system are phased in
according to a specific time schedule.
10) A project is a specific application that has been approved for development.
11) An important criterion used in selecting projects for development is the project’s expected
return on investment.
12) The basic resource in any systems project is time.
13) The project leader uses a project accounting system to fulfill his or her project control
responsibilities.
14) The task completion schedule, based on task time estimates, should be maintained without
revision if at all possible.
15) Time estimate standards developed in-house generally are less effective than standards or
estimates available in current project management literature.
16) Purposely or inadvertently submitting unreasonably low time or cost estimates is known as
lowballing.
17) Typically 30 to 40 percent of total project time is spent in the analysis phase of the systems
development life cycle.
18) Timely project cost data is useful, but not essential, to track the costs incurred to date on a
project.
19) Almost all project accounting systems are automated.
20) A weekly cost report that is available three weeks after the report date is still an effective tool
for overall project control purposes.
21) If data are input into the project accounting system that is both accurate and timely, it can
produce revised cost estimates that are both accurate and timely.
22) The level of detail produced in a project accounting system is proportionate to the overhead
cost of running the system.
23) The appropriate level of detail to be obtained from a project accounting system is generally
decided by the chief information officer.
24) From a control point of view, virtually all factors that relate to information systems are
measured in terms of dollars.
25) The ratio of actual CPU time used to CPU time available is one measure of system
utilization.
26) Audits of information systems often focus on internal control.
27) The amount of testing of a system by an auditor is directly proportional to the degree to
which adequate internal controls exist and are operating effectively.
28) All modifications to a system’s software and data schema should be formally reviewed and
approved.
29) Programmers making changes to system software should use the operational copy of the
software to test the changes in a “real world environment.”
30) ISO 15504 (SPICE) is a process-based development approach that focuses on the “maturity”
of the process being developed.
31) The SPICE approach categorizes processes into five broad areas and scores “capability level”
on a 10-point scale.
32) A project development environment refers to the tools and technologies used to implement a
given project.
33) Within the project development environment the project collaboration platform serves to
optimize management of the implementation of a systems development life cycle.
34) Within the project development environment the software application framework provides a
structured environment in which to develop software.
35) A Web application framework that has received considerable attention is Ruby on Rails.
36) In service-oriented architecture (SOA), an important part of the application development
framework is the business process execution language (BPEL) service engine.
37) The BPEL service engine needs a roadmap which is a set of visual diagrams based on the
Unified Modeling Language and/or Business Process Modeling Notation.
38) The integrated development environment is a software platform for diagrams and models.
39) A software versioning system keeps only the current version of software source code
available so version control issues are minimized.
40) Two major software versioning systems are Subversion (SVN) and Current Version System
(CVS).
41) To determine the activities that are critical to keeping a project on schedule, ________
________ must be obtained for each individual activity of the project.
42) An announcement by management regarding project execution will have the benefit of
minimizing ________.
43) Any successful systems implementation requires that considerable attention be given to
employee ________.
44) In the design and implementation of a system, it is almost always necessary to do additional
work during the ________ phase.
45) Good testing should do everything possible to ________ computer programs before they are
implemented.
46) The development of computer software without ________ is an almost worthless exercise.
47) A major drawback of the ________ ________ process is that it can involve a greatly
extended check-out period.
48) An expensive, time-consuming problem in systems implementation is ________ ________.
49) ________ is necessary to ensure that the new system operates as planned.
50) ________ ________ should be submitted to the steering committee in writing.
51) ________ is a successive refinement to the project plan.
52) A(n) ________ chart is an ideal way to factor a project into phases and tasks and to
document such a plan.
53) Regarding project costs, project resources tend to be spent at a(n) ________ rate as a project
proceeds toward completion.
54) A project accounting system operates much like a conventional ________ accounting
system.
55) A major problem with a system that is down too much is ________ ________ for the
company.
56) ________ ________ Environment refers to the tools and technologies used to implement a
given project.
57) The Project ________ Platform serves to optimize management of the communication chain.
58) The ________ ________ Framework provides a structured environment in which to develop
software.
59) Many experts believe that eventually, in the future, all end-user software will run in
________ browsers.
60) The BPEL service engine needs a roadmap which is a set of ________ diagrams based on
Unified Modeling Language and/or Business Process Modeling Notation.
61) ________ ________ Environment is a software platform for actually writing program code
which provides specialized tools for testing and debugging programs and deploying them to
servers for testing or release.
62) A list of activities that is strategic to the project to keep it on schedule is called
A) the critical path.
B) a PERT diagram.
C) a Gantt chart.
D) the manager’s priority matrix.
63) Good project management uses plans for implementing a system. The plans should provide
A) specific budget information.
B) a breakdown of the project into various phases.
C) specific timetables for completion.
D) All of these answers are correct.
64) The first major step in systems implementation is
A) review the systems design.
B) establish plans and controls.
C) evaluate the new system.
D) execute activities.
65) The second major step in systems implementation is
A) review the systems design.
B) establish plans and controls.
C) execute activities.
D) evaluate the new system.
66) The document that shows the order in which activities may be performed and may be
expanded to include estimated times for each individual activity is the
A) Gantt chart.
B) network diagram.
C) PERT diagram.
D) CPM diagram.
67) Which of the following groups of individuals should be on the special project team that
executes the implementation of the design plan?
A) Systems technical personnel
B) Accountants and auditors
C) Individuals who also participated in the design
D) Design team members and affected managers
68) The execution of the systems implementation should begin with
A) conversion.
B) a formal announcement to employees.
C) employee training.
D) programming.
69) Perhaps the most important step regarding the success of a systems development project is
A) employee training.
B) conversion.
C) detailed system design.
D) operational training.
70) When implementing a new system, management often has to decide whether to train existing
employees or hire new employees. Many times it is best to retain and retrain current employees
because
A) current employees are already familiar with the firm’s operations.
B) overall employee morale is enhanced.
C) current employees are already familiar with the firm’s operations and overall employee
morale is enhanced.
D) None of these answers is correct.
71) To provide the proper environment for computer equipment operations, the company must
control
A) security.
B) wiring.
C) access.
D) temperature and humidity.
72) Which of the following activities occurs during the detailed systems design phase?
A) Computer programming
B) File conversion
C) Documentation
D) Evaluation
73) The design specifications for a computer program are determined by
A) top management.
B) users.
C) the design team.
D) the computer programmer.
74) One of the most important parts of systems implementation that is often overlooked or
minimized is
A) testing.
B) documentation.
C) data conversion.
D) evaluation.
75) Which of the following can serve as both a training tool for new employees and a help for
future computer programming?
A) Testing
B) Evaluation
C) Systems analysis
D) Documentation
76) What standard should be used to evaluate the quality of documentation produced by a
programmer?
A) The number of pages produced
B) The number of logical flow diagrams and analytic flowcharts produced
C) The amount of time spent to produce the documentation
D) Whether a different programmer can use the documentation at a later date to modify the
program
77) The process of changing input data into a format readable by the new system hardware is
called
A) testing.
B) file conversion.
C) evaluation.
D) documentation.
78) The testing approach in which the old system is abandoned and the processing is switched to
the new system is called
A) parallel operation.
B) modular conversion.
C) the direct approach.
D) the file conversion approach.
79) The testing approach in which the new system is phased in a segment at a time is
A) parallel operation.
B) modular conversion.
C) the direct approach.
D) the file conversion approach.
80) The most expensive approach to final systems testing is
A) parallel operation.
B) modular conversion.
C) the direct approach.
D) the file conversion approach.
81) The Weapons Testing Laboratory is implementing a new computer system. It desires to use
the safest final system testing approach. It should choose
A) the direct approach.
B) parallel operation.
C) the cutoff approach.
D) modular conversion.
82) The Northwest Savings Bank is implementing a new computer system. It requires that the
final testing systems approach is both safe and cost-effective. The bank has planned to
implement the new system over the course of the next 18 months. The bank should choose
A) parallel operation.
B) the direct approach.
C) modular conversion.
D) the cutoff approach.
83) The selection of projects for development is usually the responsibility of
A) the chief information officer.
B) the board of directors of the organization.
C) the chief financial officer.
D) the steering committee or other organization-wide unit.
84) For an applications system project, the individual who should be included in the project team
because he or she has the best working knowledge of how the application should function in the
actual work environment is
A) an analyst.
B) the chief information officer.
C) a computer programmer.
D) a representative from the user department for which the application is being developed.
85) A system development project leader’s direct responsibility regarding a project is to
A) the user department.
B) the steering committee.
C) the information systems department.
D) the department of which the leader is a member.
86) The individual who formally approves a system design and implementation project at its
completion is the
A) the project team leader.
B) the chairperson of the steering committee.
C) the manager of the department for which the application has been developed.
D) the chief information officer.
87) In addition to project team organization, the project leader has several other primary
responsibilities. Which of the following would not be a primary responsibility of the project
leader?
A) Database administration
B) Allocation of resources
C) Task assignment
D) Status reporting
88) The major problem faced by any project team is
A) scheduling.
B) uncertainty.
C) resources.
D) managerial support.
89) The guiding philosophy behind factoring a project into detailed activities is
A) top-down design with successive refinement.
B) to schedule all activities according to CPM methodology.
C) to use analytic flowcharts to factor a project into modules.
D) to allow individual personnel to choose their own assignments.
90) The operational principle behind factoring a project into phases and tasks is
A) top-down design with successive refinement.
B) to schedule all activities according to CPM methodology.
C) that each specific task or phase should provide a deliverable at its completion.
D) to use analytic flowcharts to factor a project into modules.
91) One goal of factoring a project into detailed activities is to
A) decrease the total project cost.
B) decrease the total amount of time devoted to the project.
C) assist in organizing the project’s documentation.
D) assist in assigning individual employees to tasks.
92) The best standard to use in developing estimates for the completion time of systems
development projects in an organization is
A) a vendor-developed standard.
B) an industry-average standard.
C) a standard recommended by a consultant.
D) a standard developed by the organization’s experience.
93) There is no general agreement of standard project phases and tasks in current project
management literature and therefore there are no commonly accepted time estimates or standard
processing rates. However, there is agreement as to several points related to the estimation
process. Which of the following is not an agreed-upon point in the estimation process?
A) Estimates are only estimates no matter how well thought out.
B) Initial estimates regarding time and costs are almost always too high.
C) The accuracy of estimation improves considerably as a project proceeds toward completion.
D) Costs are frequently higher than originally estimated.
94) Which of the following is not an aspect of good project control?
A) Setting measurable goals for each phase and task in the overall project
B) Reporting actual performance against the established project goals
C) Establishing and revising estimates of system utilization
D) Evaluating any significant deviations from the project plan