Please limit your answers to one single-spaced page for each question. You may
allocate this space as you wish in answering all eight questions. What that means is that
you should have no more than eight pages to submit (not including a title page if you
include one). Use the Calibri or Arial, 11-point font, and single-space the document.
There are eight questions and the number of points for each answer is stated after each
question number. This task counts for 25% of your final grade. Please answer all
questions using a Word document and submit your file to your Assignment Folder no
later than 11:59 PM (EST) on the due date. In general, these questions require
conceptual integration and analysis.
The questions pertain to IT acquisition problems that are encountered by many
organizations. They present serious challenges that IT professionals and the business
managers must overcome to achieve superior business performance.
Do not repeat the questions. Use your own words--do not quote others. This is not a
research paper so you are not required to cite references. Be sure each answer you
prepare responds to the question asked and you will likely do very well.
Question 1. (20 points). The title of this course is IT Acquisition Management. In your
own words, please explain what does that mean? Why is it important? How is IT
acquisition different from commodity purchases?
Question 2. (35 points). State the main purpose of the following:
a. Organization chart,
b. Flow chart, and
c. Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
Identify the similarities and differences among the three. In addition, present a pictorial
diagram of each and their differences. Note: You are free to use whichever tool you are
familiar with - MS Project, SmartDraw, PowerPoint, Excel, etc.
Question 3. (20 points). For your project, you have used twelve (12) of the IT
Economic Corporation Templates. Of all those templates, which have been most useful
to you and why?
Question 4. (35 points). A large hospital is preparing a request for proposal to acquire
IT services to improve its electronic health records management system. It plans to
implement an iPhone software application (“app”) for convenient mobile access to view
and update patient records, prescribe medications, view lab results, communicate with
patients, and view personal work schedules. It plans to prepare a performance work
statement (PWS) for the development of the app to include in the RFP. Your Question/Task: Prepare the required outcomes and their performance standards,
monitoring methods, and incentives/disincentives that the hospital might use in its PWS
for the request for proposal. Your required outcomes and associated information should
apply to only the first and second desired app functions, view and update patient
records and prescribe medications. Your required outcomes and related information
should reflect the best practices for performance work statements and each should
include performance standards, monitoring methods, and incentives/disincentives, as
required by IT Economics Corporation Template 12
(http://www.iteconcorp.com/T12PBWS.html).
Note: This is not a test of your knowledge of hospital activities but of your ability to
prepare a performance work statement. You can make reasonable assumptions
regarding hospital activities if necessary. The app functions in the question are
comparable to those used by many organizations outside of the medical field.
Question 5. (35 points). Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) require that federal
agencies use performance-based contracting to the maximum extent possible for
service contracts, including contracts for the acquisition of IT services. Performancebased contracts rely on a performance work statements (PWS). However, a prominent
organization of former federal government acquisition officials argues that the PWS
works well with short-term, relatively simple service contracts, but "it is unrealistic to ask
agencies to specify services at time of contract award in clear, specific, objective, and
measurable terms when future needs are not fully known or understood, requirements
and priorities are expected to change during performance, and the circumstances and
conditions of performance are not reliably foreseeable."
Your Question/Task: If you agree with this group's position, explain why you believe
the group is correct in contending that the PWS is not suitable for long-term, complex IT
service contracts. If you disagree with this group's position, explain why you believe the
group is not correct and why a PWS is suitable for long-term, complex IT service
contracts.
Question 6. (35 points). Template 13, by IT Economics Corporation
(http://www.iteconcorp.com/T13EvaluateSources.html), is an example of a matrix used
for summarizing the results of evaluating proposals received from IT services
contractors. The template uses "adjectival" rating codes and brief statements to
summarize the evaluation results of each proposal from IT services contractors.
Your Question: What are the principal risks associated with using such a matrix and
what do you recommend to avoid, mitigate, or transfer each principal risk that you
identify?
Question 7. (35 points). An organization is planning an IT acquisition strategy for a
large and complex project. It plans to outsource part of the solution implementation to
an IT services contractor. Prior to preparing a request for proposals, it must decide which solution implementation activities should be performed by in-house staff and
which should be performed by the IT service contractor.
Your Question/Task: What guidelines would you recommend for making the decisions
regarding which solution implementation activities should be performed by in-house
staff and which should be performed by the IT service contractor?
Question 8. (35 points). An IT services contractor generally tries to appoint the project
manager that is best suited to the customer and the project. In the case described
below, the contractor appointed one of its best project managers to manage a project
under contract with an important client. Here is the problem that the project manager
encountered: The Case. An organization awarded a time and materials contract to a qualified
IT services contractor to develop software for analyzing large amounts of
customer data and establishing tailored reporting of the results for managers of
lines of business. The project required 40 full-time analysts, designers, and
programmers. Because of the importance of the project to both the customer and
the contractor, the contractor assigned a senior project manager who was known
for having excellent technical skills and excellent soft skills. After the project was
under way for several months, the project manager discovered that two team
members had charged time to the project for several three-to five day periods in
which they did not work on the project. The customer had no knowledge of this
and counted the time in calculating the payments to the contractor. Your Question/Task: Given the circumstances of this case, what action should the
project manager take? Explain the reason(s) for your answer.