N 社は，携帯情報端末用アプリケーションソフトウェア（以下，携帯アプリという）の商品開発プロジェクトを，4 月 1 日に社外秘で立ち上げた。携帯アプリの商品開発プロジェクトは，マーケティングを自社で，ソフトウェア開発を外部調達で行う。 〔7 月 1 日までのプロジェクトの経緯〕 (1) N 社の体制：4 月のプロジェクト立上げ時の構成員は，プロジェクトマネージャ 1 名とプロジェクトメンバ 3 名であったが，6 月からは A さんが参加し総勢 5 名になった。 (2) ソフトウェア開発：B 社及び C 社と守秘義務契約を締結後，この 2 社に見積書を提出してもらい，6 月中旬に B 社と請負契約を締結した。 (3) プロジェクト期間短縮：プロジェクト期間は当初 7 か月の計画で開始したが，競合他社が類似商品を開発する動きがあることから，6 月下旬に全体で 1 か月プロジェクト期間を短縮することを検討し実施した。前提条件は，次の 2 項目とした。 ・商品仕様と請負業務範囲は変更しない。 ・商品発表は，当初ソフトウェア開発の完了時に行うこととしていたが，ソフトウェア開発完了の 0.5 か月前に前倒しする。 〔契約変更と工程管理〕 プロジェクト期間短縮を B 社と協議したところ，次の回答があった。 “ソフトウェア開発工程の作業に要員を追加すれば，作業の完成を早めることが可能である。要員追加に伴い一時生産性が低下し，開発工数が増加するので，そのコスト増分が認められれば対応する。バグ増加などのリスクは少ない。” N 社と B 社は，この内容で合意し，請負契約の変更契約を 6 月末に締結した。 図 1 はプロジェクト期間を 1 か月短縮した変更計画を含むガントチャートである。N 社は，7 月 1 日からこのガントチャートの変更計画に従って工程管理を開始した。 N 社と B 社は, ソフトウェア開発の期間短縮を実現するために, 締結している請負契約の変更に合意し, 6月末に請負契約の変更契約を締結した。このとき, 最初の請負契約から変更になった項目の組合せはどれか。 ① 契約金額 ② 商品仕様 ③ 納期 ④ 納入物
平成25年度 秋期 ITパスポート試験 問87
This question's explanation and your answers so far.
問 87
※ Our check while writing this explanation could not fully confirm the published answer; scoring follows IPA's official key.
Incorrectア
① Contract amount is correct, but ② Product specifications are not changed. This modification means finishing earlier while building the same thing; the specifications were not cut down in order to meet the deadline. If the specifications were changed, the design, the tests, and even the acceptance criteria would have to be redone, which would actually lengthen the period.
- イ
正解 The purpose of the modification contract is to shorten the software development period. Shortening the period means moving up the time when Company B hands over the finished work, so first of all ③ Delivery deadline becomes an item to be changed. On the other hand, shortening the period is not free. Company B, the contractor, adds staff to the development process so that the work finishes earlier, but adding staff temporarily lowers productivity and increases the development man-hours (the total amount of work). The cost of that increase has to be borne by Company N, the client, so ① Contract amount is changed as well. In other words, this modification contract moves the deadline up and, in exchange, adds the extra man-hours to the contract amount: it is a trade-off between delivery time (D) and cost (C). The software itself (the product specifications and the deliverables) is not touched. Therefore the changed items are the combination of ① and ③, and the correct answer is イ.
Incorrectウ
Both ② Product specifications and ④ Deliverables are exactly what Company B builds and hands over under the contract-for-work, and they are left untouched in a change made to shorten the period. This option picks the two items that are not changed, and misses both ① and ③, which actually were changed.
Incorrectエ
③ Delivery deadline is correct, but ④ Deliverables is wrong. A change in the deliverables (the scope of the work products) is a change to the scope of the contracted work itself, which is a different kind of contract change from shortening the period. Moreover, this combination only moves the deadline up without settling the extra cost that arises for Company B, and it is also inappropriate in that ① Contract amount, which should have been changed, is missing.
- A contract-for-work is a contract that promises the completion of the work; the contract document sets out the deliverables (work products), the delivery deadline, the contract amount, and so on. In a modification contract, only the items that are actually affected are identified and agreed again.
- Shortening the development period normally involves more man-hours and higher cost caused by measures such as adding staff, so moving up the delivery deadline and raising the contract amount are handled as a set (the QCD trade-off). When only the period is shortened without changing the specifications or the scope of the work products, what changes is the delivery deadline and the amount.