Information Technology Project Management 5e – Marchewka
Chapter 9: Managing Project Quality
True/False
1. The PMBOK® definition of project quality management focuses on
conformance to specifications.
a. True
b. False
2. PMBOK® defines the major quality management processes as: conformance
to requirements, fitness for use, and having a high degree of excellence.
a. True
b. False
3. Project Quality Management (PQM) focuses on the project product and Project
Control Management (PCM) focuses on the project process.
a. True
b. False
4. Taken together, the concepts of quality management, verification and validation,
and quality control support the overall project quality management plan.
a. True
b. False
5. Documenting lessons learned is an important part of continuous quality
improvement.
Information Technology Project Management 5e – Marchewka
a. True
b. False
6. Most quality initiatives translate readily and require little if any corporate culture
changes as evidenced by the Japanese adoption of Deming’s quality philosophy.
a. True
b. False
7. Software process maturity represents the expected results that can be achieved by
following a particular software process.
a. True
b. False
8. Control charts are used to highlight statistically significant variation in processes.
a. True
b. False
9. Variations that fall more than three standard deviations from the mean are
attributed to assignable cause.
a. True
b. False
Information Technology Project Management 5e – Marchewka
10. A process that is shown to have eight successive values that are more than two
standard deviations away from the mean might be correctly categorized as stable
or in statistical control.
a. True
b. False
11. The Pareto Diagram is based on the notion that 20 percent of the problems are
based on 80 percent of the causes
a. True
b. False
12. Defect arrival rates, Defects by phase, and Fix Response time are all process
metrics.
a. True
b. False
13. Verification activities focus on asking the question of whether we followed the
right procedures and processes.
a. True
b. False
14. Validation is a process-oriented activity that focuses on the deployment of
specific development procedures.
a. True
b. False
Information Technology Project Management 5e – Marchewka
Information Technology Project Management 5e – Marchewka
Multiple Choice
1. ________ is determining which quality requirements and/or standards are
important for the project and the product and then documenting how compliance
will be demonstrated.
a) Plan Quality
b) Perform Quality Assurance
c) Perform Quality Control
d) Project Quality Management
e) Quality Management Plan
2. ________ provides the basis for continuous improvement by auditing and
evaluating the results from quality control measurements so that appropriate
quality standards and operational definitions are used.
a) Plan Quality
b) Perform Quality Assurance
c) Perform Quality Control
d) Project Quality Management
e) Quality Management Plan
3. ________ is monitoring and documenting the results of executing project quality
activities to eliminate causes of unsatisfactory performance and implement new
processes and techniques to improve project quality throughout the organization.
a) Plan Quality
b) Perform Quality Assurance
c) Perform Quality Control
d) Project Quality Management
e) Quality Management Plan
Information Technology Project Management 5e – Marchewka
4. ________ is the person most closely associated with the scientific management
approach.
a) Eli Whitney
b) Frederic Taylor
c) Walter Shewhart
d) W. Edwards Deming
e) Joseph Juran
5. __________ published the Quality Control Handbook which viewed quality as
“fitness for use” as perceived by the customer.
a) Eli Whitney
b) Frederic Taylor
c) Walter Shewhart
d) W. Edwards Deming
e) Joseph Juran
6. The CMM/CMMI level characterized by an immature software organization using
ad hoc process is _______ ?
a) Level 1 Initial
b) Level 2 Repeatable
c) Level 3 Defined
d) Level 4 Managed
e) Level 5 Optimizing
7. The CMM/CMMI level which is the first to introduce key process areas is
_________ ?
Information Technology Project Management 5e – Marchewka
a) Level 1 Initial
b) Level 2 Repeatable
c) Level 3 Defined
d) Level 4 Managed
e) Level 5 Optimizing
8. The CMM/CMMI level which documents and standardizes software engineering
and management processes throughout the organization is _________ ?
a) Level 1 Initial
b) Level 2 Repeatable
c) Level 3 Defined
d) Level 4 Managed
e) Level 5 Optimizing
9. The CMM/CMMI level which is the first to introduce technology change
management _________ ?
a) Level 1 Initial
b) Level 2 Repeatable
c) Level 3 Defined
d) Level 4 Managed
e) Level 5 Optimizing
10. The CMM/CMMI level which is characterized by the addition of Software
Quality management and Quantitative Process Management is _________ ?
a) Level 1 Initial
b) Level 2 Repeatable
c) Level 3 Defined
d) Level 4 Managed
Information Technology Project Management 5e – Marchewka
e) Level 5 Optimizing
11. A _____ refers to the activities, methods, materials, and measurements used to
produce the product or service.
a) metric
b) performance indicator
c) quality indicator
d) process
e) quality chain
12. _________ introduced the control chart to better understand process variations.
a) Eli Whitney
b) Frederic Taylor
c) Walter Shewhart
d) W. Edwards Deming
e) Joseph Juran
13. The core values of quality programs proposed by Shewhart, Deming, Juran,
Ishikawa, and Crosby include:
a) focus on the customer
b) incremental or continuous improvement
c) problem detection and correction
d) measurement
e) all of these are part of the core values proposed.
Information Technology Project Management 5e – Marchewka
14. Verification and validation of project deliverables should be carried out _____
a) at the beginning of the project
b) in the middle of the project
c) at the end of the project
d) throughout the project
e) there is no preferable time to complete these activities
15. In general control limits are set at + or – ________ standard deviations which
provides ________ probability limits.
a) 3, .05
b) 3, .001
c) 2, .05
d) 2, .01
e) 1, .34
16. A _____ provides a picture of how a particular process is behaving over time by
providing a chart with a center line and limits on either side of the center line.
a) statistical chart
b) flow chart
c) pareto diagram
d) control chart
e) fishbone diagram
Information Technology Project Management 5e – Marchewka
17. A _____ is best developed by brainstorming with a learning cycle approach to
identify and correct a particular problem.
a) statistical chart
b) flow chart
c) pareto diagram
d) control chart
e) fishbone diagram
18. A _____ is useful for identifying and investigating the most important problems
by ranking them in descending order.
a) statistical chart
b) flow chart
c) pareto diagram
d) control chart
e) fishbone diagram
19. A list of 14 points for quality is associated with
a) Deming
b) Juran
c) Crosby
d) Capability Maturity Model (CMM)
e) Ishikawa
20. Defect arrival rate is an example of a:
a) Process Metric
b) Product Metric
c) Project Metric
Information Technology Project Management 5e – Marchewka
d) Project Standard
e) None of these
21. Customer found defects is an example of a:
a) Process Metric
b) Product Metric
c) Project Metric
d) Project Standard
e) None of these
22. Earned Value (EV) would be an example of a
a) Process Metric
b) Product Metric
c) Project Metric
d) Project Standard
e) None of these
23. Quality metrics should focus on
a) Process
b) Product
c) Project
d) All of these
e) None of these
Information Technology Project Management 5e – Marchewka
24. Which of the following is a product-oriented activity that attempts to determine if
the system or project deliverable meets the customer or client’s expectations?
a) Verification
b) Validation
c) Configuration management
d) Fact-based management
e) Software process maturity
25. Which of the following focuses on the process-related activities of the project to
ensure that the product or deliverable meets its specified requirements before final
testing of the system begins?
a) Verification
b) Validation
c) Configuration management
d) Fact-based management
e) Software process maturity
Information Technology Project Management 5e – Marchewka
Short Answer
1. What is PQM?
2. Why should quality management include both the products and processes of a
project?
3. What is scientific management? Why was it so popular? Why was it so
controversial?
Information Technology Project Management 5e – Marchewka
4. Why did the teachings of Deming and Juran have such an important impact on
Japan just after World War II?
5. What is software process maturity?
6. What is a control chart? When is a process said to be in statistical control? How
would you know if it was not?
7. What is an Ishikawa diagram? How can it be used as a quality control tool for
an IT project?
Information Technology Project Management 5e – Marchewka
8. What is a Pareto diagram? How can it be used as a quality control tool for an IT
project?
9. What is a standard? What role do standards play in developing an information
system?
10. What is a process metric? Give an example.
11. What is a product metric? Give an example.
Information Technology Project Management 5e – Marchewka
12. Describe verification. What activities support verification?
13. Describe validation. What activities support validation?
Information Technology Project Management 5e – Marchewka
Essay Questions
1. What role does quality play in the IT project methodology?
2. The text discusses a number of quality gurus. Choose one of these individuals and
describe the cultural environment in which he developed his contribution and then
explain the significance of their contribution to IT project quality management.
3. The Capacity Maturity Model Integration (CMMI)/ posits five levels of
organizational maturity that are a function of the nature of their processes. Describe
how processes mature from the lowest to the highest level.
4. The IT Project quality plan is built on five foundational ideas. Briefly describe the
importance of each of these pillars.
5. The text discusses five different testing approaches. Briefly describe the objectives
of each of them.
6. Metrics are often specifically developed to target processes, products, or projects.
Describe two examples of a good metric for each of those three entities.
7. Compare and contrast validation and verification. What is the role of each and how
do they differ?
8. Describe the characteristics of both a mature and an immature software
organization. What qualities are possessed by a mature organization that are lacking
in an immature organization?