Software Risk Management Tools and Tricks for Risk Monitoring and Tracking

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Software Risk ManagementTools and Tricks for
Risk Monitoring and Tracking

• By Michael J. Sepcot

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Agenda

• Risk Management Overview
• Risk Monitoring Issues
• Risk Monitoring Techniques
• Implementing Risk Management
• Riskit Methodology
• Software Tools
• Conclusion

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Risk Management Overview

• Risk the possibility of a negative event
  happening to your program
• Probability of a negative event occurring
• Consequence if the event does occur
• Risk Management the process of controlling risk

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Risk Management Overview

• Risk Planning
• Develop Identification and Tracking Plans
• Develop Risk Migration Plans
• Develop Risk Assessment Plans
• Plan for Adequate Resources

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Risk Management Overview

• Risk Assessment
• Risk Identification
• Examine the program, process, requirements, and
  technologies
• Identify and Document Risk Areas
• Risk Analysis
• Isolate the cause of the risk areas
• Determine the impact of the risk areas

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Risk Management Overview

• Risk Handling
• Identify strategies to reduce the impact of risk
  areas
• Avoidance Change in requirements
• Risk Control (Mitigation) Take active steps to
  minimize impact
• Risk Prevention (Transfer) Re-allocate design
  requirements
• Risk Assumption Accept the risk

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Risk Management Overview

• Risk Monitoring
• Track and Evaluate risk handling actions
• Indicators How am I doing today?
• Metrics How am I doing today compared to how I
  was doing yesterday?

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Risk Monitoring Issues

• Risk Monitoring needs to be performed regularly
  with short intervals between meetings
• Risk Monitoring needs to sufficiently question
  the implementation of risk handling actions and
  their impact

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Risk Monitoring Techniques

• Milestone Tracking
• Document the status of risk mitigation steps
• Risk Reassessment
• Re-evaluate risk status
• Corrective Action
• Change risk mitigation techniques

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Risk Monitoring Techniques

• Top 10 Risk Item List
• Rank the most significant risk items
• Establish a regular schedule for higher
  management reviews
• Begin project-review meetings with a summary of
  progress on the top 10 risk items
• Focus the meeting on risk resolution problems

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Implementing Risk Management

• Risk management should be closely integrated with
  project management and daily project work to
  foster the synergy between these activities
• Risk identification should be scheduled
  automatically at predefined milestones
• Risk monitoring should be performed regularly
  with short intervals between two meetings
• Risk monitoring has to sufficiently question the
  implementation of controlling actions and their
  impact on risks
• Training of employed risk management process is
  important to train the participants and raise
  awareness for risk management and risks

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Implementing Risk Management

• Process Ownership for risk management has to rest
  with the project manager
• Commitment of the project manager is of utmost
  importance and has to be ensured from the
  beginning
• The cost of risk management accounted for 5 of
  the overall project management effort
• At management level, the existence of more
  professional project management was seen as worth
  the cost
• Motivation and clear definition of
  responsibilities are necessary for successful
  risk management
• Systematic risk management was perceived as
  beneficial and seemed to improve participants
  confidence in risk management results

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Riskit Methodology
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Riskit Methodology
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Riskit Methodology

• Practical and understandable features
• Explicitly support stakeholders
• Increase confidence in risk analysis results

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Software Tools Risk

• Seamless integration with Microsoft Project
• Quantify cost and schedule uncertainty
• Probabilistic Branching
• Conditional IF-THEN-ELSE

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Software Tools Crystal Ball

• Microsoft Excel Add-in Tool
• Monte Carlo simulation for spreadsheets
• Use randomly generated values for uncertainty
  variables to simulate real-life systems

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Software Tools SIRTF

• Web-based risk management system
• Developed by NASA to provide
• Risk knowledge to management capture
• Aid in compliance of NASA NPG 7120.5A
  requirements
• Reports for project management
• An easy way to organize risk knowledge
• Accessibility of information
• Expandability of knowledge capture
• Adaptability for varying types of projects
• Security for risk information

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Software Tools P/CS

• Probability/Consequence Screening
• Link program assessment to files containing
  schedule and cost information
• Compute consequence-screening matrix
• Quick and easy to implement at any time during
  the project life-cycle

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Conclusion

• To be most effective
• Risk management must be supported and enforced
• Risk management training should start before the
  project starts
• Different risks require different documentation
• Stakeholders and goals play a critical role in
  risk management
• A common risk management framework makes risk
  management efficient
• Risk identification requires special attention
  and a different mindset from other project and
  risk management activities