GISP GIS Project Management 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which project management document formally authorizes a GIS project and grants the project manager authority to apply organizational resources?
- Project scope statement
- Project charter (Correct answer)
- Work breakdown structure
- Requirements traceability matrix
Correct answer: Project charter
The project charter is the document that formally authorizes the project and gives the project manager the authority to use organizational resources.
Question 2: In GIS project planning, a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is used primarily to:
- Assign personnel to tasks based on skill sets
- Decompose project deliverables into manageable components (Correct answer)
- Track project budget expenditures over time
- Identify risks associated with data acquisition
Correct answer: Decompose project deliverables into manageable components
A WBS decomposes the total scope of work into smaller, manageable components called work packages to facilitate planning and control.
Question 3: Which scheduling technique uses the longest path through a project network to determine the minimum project duration?
- Gantt chart analysis
- Critical Path Method (CPM) (Correct answer)
- Resource leveling
- Earned Value Management
Correct answer: Critical Path Method (CPM)
The Critical Path Method identifies the longest sequence of dependent tasks, which determines the earliest possible project completion date.
Question 4: A GIS project manager is using Earned Value Management (EVM). If the Schedule Performance Index (SPI) is 0.80, what does this indicate?
- The project is 20% under budget
- The project is progressing at 80% of the planned rate (Correct answer)
- The project has completed 80% of planned work
- The project will finish 20% over budget
Correct answer: The project is progressing at 80% of the planned rate
An SPI of 0.80 means the project is earning only $0.80 of planned value for every $1.00 of scheduled work, indicating it is behind schedule.
Question 5: When managing a GIS project, which risk response strategy involves transferring the negative impact of a risk to a third party?
- Risk avoidance
- Risk mitigation
- Risk transference (Correct answer)
- Risk acceptance
Correct answer: Risk transference
Risk transference shifts the ownership of a risk and its response to a third party, such as through insurance or outsourcing.
Question 6: In the context of GIS project management, which document defines what is and is not included in a project?
- Risk register
- Project scope statement (Correct answer)
- Communications plan
- Stakeholder register
Correct answer: Project scope statement
The project scope statement clearly documents the project boundaries, deliverables, and exclusions to prevent scope creep.
Question 7: Which agile project management framework uses fixed-length iterations called sprints, typically lasting 2–4 weeks, and is increasingly applied to GIS software development?
- Waterfall
- PRINCE2
- Scrum (Correct answer)
- PMBOK
Correct answer: Scrum
Scrum is an agile framework that organizes work into time-boxed sprints, enabling iterative delivery and continuous improvement in software and GIS development projects.
GISP GIS Project Management 1
Which project management document formally authorizes a GIS project and grants the project manager authority to apply organizational resources?