IPA IP 2021 Question 54
A question IPA Japan published in 令和3年度 ITパスポート試験 公開問題 問54, translated into English. ITPEC is based on the same exams.
When a WBS is created, a supplementary document that describes the description of the work, the completion criteria, and other such information is created. Which of the following is an appropriate purpose of this document?
Explanation
Clearly defining the content and meaning of the work defined in the WBS — the supplementary document is the WBS dictionary.
A WBS breaks the project's deliverables and work down into a hierarchy whose lowest level is the work package. The tree itself shows only a short name for each element, so a supplementary document, the WBS dictionary, describes each element: what the work is, its deliverables, its completion criteria, who is responsible and the like. With it everyone reads each work package the same way, so the estimates, the assignment of the work and the judgement of when it is done are unambiguous.
Answer (d)
Why not others:
- •(a) — defining the meaning of data is the job of a data dictionary in system design, not of a project management document
- •(b) — progress is managed against the schedule with progress reports (for example with EVM); the dictionary defines the work, it does not track it
- •(c) — the critical path is found from the network of activities and their durations, in an arrow diagram or a PERT chart
Key rule: The WBS shows what work there is; the WBS dictionary says what each element is and when it counts as complete.
Project Management · AI-written, may contain errors
This question comes from the past questions IPA Japan publishes, translated into English by ITPEC Practice. ITPEC Practice is an independent study tool and is not affiliated with IPA or ITPEC. See the original paper (PDF) or Report an issue.