GIS Project Management 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: In a GIS project, what does a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) primarily help you accomplish?
- Automatically generate map symbology
- Decompose project scope into manageable deliverables (Correct answer)
- Set coordinate reference systems
- Schedule satellite imagery acquisition
Correct answer: Decompose project scope into manageable deliverables
A WBS breaks the total project scope into smaller, manageable components to improve planning and accountability.
Question 2: Which risk response strategy involves contracting a third-party vendor to handle data conversion in a GIS project?
- Avoid
- Accept
- Transfer (Correct answer)
- Mitigate
Correct answer: Transfer
Transferring risk shifts responsibility to another party, such as outsourcing risky data conversion tasks to a vendor.
Question 3: A GIS project manager notices that geospatial data deliverables are consistently behind schedule. Which PM tool best visualizes task dependencies causing the delay?
- Pie chart
- Network diagram (PDM) (Correct answer)
- Data flow diagram
- Entity-relationship diagram
Correct answer: Network diagram (PDM)
A Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM) network diagram shows task dependencies and helps identify bottlenecks on the critical path.
Question 4: What is the purpose of a GIS project charter?
- Define the geodatabase schema
- Formally authorize the project and identify the project manager (Correct answer)
- Outline the attribute table structure
- Specify the projection system to use
Correct answer: Formally authorize the project and identify the project manager
The project charter formally authorizes the project, names the project manager, and provides high-level scope and objectives.
Question 5: During a GIS implementation project, stakeholders request adding aerial photography analysis midway through. This is an example of:
- Scope creep (Correct answer)
- Quality assurance
- Risk transfer
- Change baseline
Correct answer: Scope creep
Scope creep occurs when new features or requirements are added to a project without formal change control.
Question 6: Which quality metric is most appropriate for evaluating the accuracy of digitized road centerlines in a GIS project?
- Schedule Performance Index (SPI)
- Positional accuracy measured by RMSE (Correct answer)
- Cost Variance (CV)
- Stakeholder satisfaction score
Correct answer: Positional accuracy measured by RMSE
Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) measures the deviation between digitized features and their true positions, directly assessing positional accuracy.
Question 7: A GIS project team is using agile sprints. What is the primary benefit of this approach for GIS application development?
- Eliminates the need for metadata documentation
- Delivers incremental, working software with frequent stakeholder feedback (Correct answer)
- Locks scope before any coding begins
- Guarantees zero defects in spatial analysis
Correct answer: Delivers incremental, working software with frequent stakeholder feedback
Agile sprints enable iterative delivery so stakeholders can review functional GIS features and provide feedback early and often.
GIS Project Management 2
In a GIS project, what does a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) primarily help you accomplish?