Question

1. Risk management tools must be developed or modified according to need. Describe the features of a good risk management tool.

2. What conditions might trigger re-development or modification of risk management tools?

3.How do you select the best risk management tool?

4. What logistical arrangements apply to the use of risk management tools?

5. Consultation regarding the application of tools should be facilitated. With whom should you consult?

6. What training is necessary for persons using risk management tools and how can it be provided?

7. How can risk management tools be used?

8. How can people using risk management tools be supported?

9. What data and information can contribute to an analysis of the outcomes of risk management tool use?

10. How can you document the outcomes of using risk management tools?

11. Why should this information be documented?

12. How can you communicate the outcomes from analysing the use of risk management tools?

13. Why should you review the usefulness and usability of risk management tools?

14. What steps might be taken after a review of usefulness and usability of risk management tools?

15. Why might it be necessary to modify or improve consultation, liaison and other logistical arrangements?

Answer 1

1. Risk management tools must be developed or modified according to need. Describe the features of a good risk management tool.?

Answer:

Risk Avoidance - don't engage in the activity that causes the risk. Acceptance - plan for reasonably foreseeable losses that you can handle. Mitigation - take action to reduce the probability of a risk event occuring. Mitigation - take action to reduce the severity of a risk event occurring.

The following are the important features are as follows;

• Speedy notifications

It’s no use finding out about a risk indicator once disaster has already struck. Automated notifications should be delivered promptly, as soon as risk thresholds are breached. You may find that software that provides a “heat map” of emerging risk at the early stages gives you the necessary insights to nip these risks when they have barely begun to bud; either way, make sure that your system is fast-acting enough to prevent risks from turning into full-blown problems – otherwise, your ORMS is just for show.

• Identifying roots

Spotting risks is all very well, but to improve operations in the long term you need to know what instigating events and roots causes led the risks to emerge in the first place. Your software should be able to track back through event time charts and cycles to suggest where risks are originating from, allowing you to mitigate these in the future.

• Tracking

The technology that you opt for should be able to identify, assess and measure operational risks automatically, providing information that allows for quantitative and qualitative analysis of the risks that have been flagged up. The best systems now include options for risk control self-assessment, as well as tools for establishing not only the existence of a risk, but also risk levels and risk mapping, to help you prioritise the most pressing issues as they emerge.

• Tailoring

Different departments and stakeholders in your company have different risk concerns, and they’ll need to be able to review information quickly and easily to check for red flags. To be useful, information needs to delivered in a timely fashion, updated in real time, and show integration between different areas of risk – but bombarding colleagues with dense and unnecessary information will likely kill its usefulness. You’ll need to think carefully about getting the right balance for your team, and look for a flexible systems that can be tailored to your needs.

2. What conditions might trigger re-development or modification of risk management tools?

Answer:

Every change initiative comes with inherent risk. But too often we shy away from exploring the potential pitfalls at the outset. If we are to succeed, however, we should embrace risk. After all, change initiatives are born from a risk analysis—a conclusion that the risk of doing nothing is higher than the risk of embarking on an experimental initiative.When leading a change initiative, you should focus on acknowledging, anticipating, and managing risk—instead of avoiding it at all costs.The good news is that risk management is not rocket science. Through my extensive work with change initiatives, I’ve identified six key steps to effective risk management. By following these steps on your initiative, I hope you’ll discover how embracing risk can lead to success.

SIX STEPS TO EFFECTIVE RISK MANAGEMENT

1. At the Start, Identify the Risks You Face.

Make a list. Formalize this process by holding a premortem. Just as a postmortem enables the team to assess what went right or wrong after the fact, a premortem provides a space for thinking in advance about what could go wrong during the project. As you and your team brainstorm, you should cast a wide net. Consider factors intrinsic to the project and also those outside the team’s control. For example, consider the risk of potential resistance from stakeholders, which nearly always arises in change initiatives.

2. Quantify the Risks.

Not all risks are created equal. The risk of a slight delay in funding might be very different from the risk of a major partner pulling out of a joint venture. By quantifying the risk, you decrease the influence emotions can play and allow different risks to be compared. One method is to assess the risk along two dimensions: the probability of the risk occurring, and the impact the risk would have if it actually occurred. Using a scale from one to five, you can evaluate each of these dimensions for the risks you’ve identified. Then, you can multiply the two numbers to produce a risk factor from 1 to 25.

3. Establish a Risk Threshold.

Consider your initiative’s tolerance for risk and then establish a threshold. If you are not sure where to start, set your threshold at the center of your risk scale. For example, on a scale of 1 to 25, start with 12 as your threshold. Compare your quantified risks to the threshold and then spend some time thinking about the ones that exceed the threshold and then adjust as needed.

4. Create Contingency Plans.

For each risk, engage in a thought experiment. First, think about what steps you can take, if any, to eliminate or mitigate the risk. It may be that a small adjustment to your plan will reduce the probability to zero. Second, think about what you plan to do if that possibility becomes reality—in other words, if the risk becomes an issue. Will the team be able to work around it easily? Or will the magnitude of that risk require rethinking your entire initiative? The more you plan for risks ahead of time, the better prepared you will be—and the more successful you will be in keeping your initiative on track

5. Monitor Risks over Time.

Along with the Gantt charts, status reports, dashboards, and other tools that help you assess your progress, you can also create a Risk Register (also called a Risk Log) that sets out all the risks, their risk factors, and current status. As you reach a particular milestone, perhaps one risk can be eliminated from consideration because it is no longer possible. Perhaps another risk has created an issue that needs to be dealt with. Or perhaps a new risk has been identified and should be evaluated. Your goal is to keep a close eye on risk throughout the project.

6. Consider Assigning a Risk Watcher.

You may want to identify a particular team member who has the responsibility to monitor risks and raise flags. Teams working on change initiatives are by definition optimistic. While everyone else on the team might be saying, “This will go fine,” someone needs to be able to say, “Clouds are rolling in” or “We’ve said that for the last six meetings and it hasn’t happened.”

To manage risk successfully, you need to be proactive in anticipating it. And to lead a change initiative successfully, you need to be an honest communicator. Talk with your team and with upper management about risks to the project and issues that crop up along the way. As a manager, you can improve your ability to manage risk by fostering a culture that values positive thinking while encouraging open discussions about problems.Embracing change means embracing risk. With the right pragmatic approach, you can become a more effective change agent by understanding risk as a natural part of change—and by anticipating and managing it.

3.How do you select the best risk management tool?

Answer:

Risk is inherent in project management and so is the need to control it. That methodology is called risk management, which is as important as planning to making sure a project comes in on time, within budget and of quality. The better a project manager identifies and responds to risk, the better the outcome. That’s why there are never enough risk management tools and techniques to have at your disposal when planning for a project.

There are two steps that will allow you to feel confident in the risk management system you choose for your organization. First, consider your internal environment. Then, use this to identify your primary and secondary system criteria. Finally, use this knowledge to research and select the vendor that is best suited to your organization.

Step One - Internal Environment Analysis

1. Consider the big picture. The first step in choosing the right risk management system is considering the big picture. ...
2. Consider your current process. ...
3. Consider the pain points of your current process. ...
4. Consult with users. ...
5. Consult with IT and legal teams.

Step Two - Determine Your Needs

1. Identify primary criteria

2. Identify secondary criteria

4.What logistical arrangements apply to the use of risk management tools.?

Answer:

This section describes the process of the development of the logistics risk assessment tool that allows users to identify and assess risks across their supply chains. Many tools similar to this are built in Excel, but there are many advantages to building tools are hosted in other environments, including ease of access and user friendliness. For these reasons, the tool was developed as a web-based tool. Building an entire website for this tool allows for increased flexibility and ability to scale as opposed to many traditional Excel-based tools. The tool utilizes databases to capture and store all pertinent information from surveys while still allowing users to interface with the tool in a very easy fashion.

5. Consultation regarding the application of tools should be facilitated. With whom should you consult?

Answer:

Stakeholder consultation involves the development of constructive, productive relationships over the long term. Consultation enables us to identify and monitor trends, challenges and perceptions over time with specific groups of stakeholders. It therefore helps us to: Identify and track needs and expectations.The following steps are intended as a guide to conducting a thorough professional consultation: Greet and seat the client in a styling chair for consultation. Introduce yourself to new clients by name. If you don't already know their name, ask them and make a concerted effort to remember and use it.Consultation must take place with the union(s) whose members are affected by the decision where an employer has decided to dismiss 15 or more employees (but before the dismissal occurs) for all or any of the following reasons: economic. technological. structural or similar reasons.

6. What training is necessary for persons using risk management tools and how can it be provided?

Answer:

The following are some of the best risk management tools and techniques that professional project managers use to manage their projects against the inevitable risks, issues and changes

Brainstorming

To begin the brainstorming process, you must assess the risks that could impact your project. This starts with reviewing the project documentation, looking over historic data and lessons learned from similar projects, reading over articles and organizational process assets. Anything that can provide insight into issues that might occur during the execution of the project. Once you’ve done your research, start brainstorming with anyone who might have insight.

Root Cause Analysis

The root cause is another way to say the essence of something. Therefore, root cause analysis is a systematic process used to identify the fundamental risks that are embedded in the project. This is a tool that says good management is not only responsive but preventative.

SWOT

SWOT, or strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats, is another tool to help with identifying risks. To apply this tool, go through the acronym.Begin with strengths and determine what those are as related to the project (though this can work on an organization-level, too). Next, list the weaknesses or things that could be improved or are missing from the project. This is where the likelihood of negative risk will raise its head, while positive risk come from the identification of strengths. Opportunities are another way of referring to positive risks and threats are negative risks.

7.How can risk management tools be used?

Answer:

Together these 5 risk management process steps combine to deliver a simple and effective risk management process.

1. Step 1: Identify the Risk. ...
2. Step 2: Analyze the risk. ...
3. Step 3: Evaluate or Rank the Risk. ...
4. Step 4: Treat the Risk. ...
5. Step 5: Monitor and Review the risk.

8. How can people using risk management tools be supported?

Answer:

A business risk management plan involves identifying, assessing and developing strategies to manage risks. It is an essential part of any business plan and will help you prepare for, and deal with, risk factors associated with an economic downturn.

During an economic downturn, business risk management involves closely monitoring your business's performance, identifying any issues affecting it and putting in place strategies to reduce or address these issues.  In most cases the best way to monitor performance is to use your financial statements. If you discover, for example, that your sales have dropped, you should analyse the factors affecting sales performance so you know how to address the issue and manage associated risks.

The process of identifying and managing risks during an economic downturn involves 5 steps.

1. Identify risks that could impact your business performance.

2. Analyse risks to assess their impacts.

3. Evaluate risks to prioritise their management.

4. Treat risks to minimise their impact.

5. Develop and review your risk management plan.

9.What data and information can contribute to an analysis of the outcomes of risk management tool use?

Answer:

• How Information Technologies influenced Risk Management?

1. Introduction

Risk management is a much-needed core competency that helps organizations deliver and increase stakeholder value over time. A good risk management requires better data and information, so organizations can take action on an ever-evolving inventory of risks.

Risk management teams must facilitate and encourage the capture, analysis, and delivery of current and forward-looking risk information. Predictive risk information can give management a leg-up in making better-informed decisions and help them take actions that produce outcomes that are more reliable.

2. Risk Management

2.1. What is Risk Management?

Risk management is the process of identifying, evaluating, assessing and controlling threats to an organization’s capital and earnings. These threats, or risks, could stem from a wide variety of sources, including financial uncertainty, legal liabilities, strategic management errors, accidents and natural disasters.

2.2. Risk Management process

All risk management plans follow the same steps that combine to make up the overall risk management process:

1. Risk identification: The Company identifies and defines potential risks that may negatively influence a specific company process or project.

2. Risk analysis: Once specific types of risk are identified, the company then determines the odds of it occurring, as well as its consequences. The goal of the analysis is to further understand each specific instance of risk, and how it could influence the company’s projects and objectives.

3. Risk assessment and evaluation: The risk is then further evaluated after determining the risk’s overall likelihood of occurrence combined with its overall consequence. The company can then make decisions on whether the risk is acceptable and whether the company is willing to take it on based on its risk appetite.

4. Risk mitigation: During this step, companies assess their highest-ranked risks and develop a plan to alleviate them using specific risk controls. These plans include risk mitigation processes, risk prevention tactics and contingency plans in the event the risk comes to fruition.

5. Risk monitoring: Part of the mitigation plan includes following up on both the risks and the overall plan to continuously monitor and track new and existing risks. The overall risk management process should also be reviewed and updated accordingly.

2.3. Risk management strategies

After the company’s specific risks are identified and the risk management process has been implemented, there are several different strategies companies can take in regard to different types of risk:

1. Risk avoidance: While the complete elimination of all risk is rarely possible, a risk avoidance strategy is designed to deflect as many threats as possible in order to avoid the costly and disruptive consequences of a damaging event.

2. Risk reduction: Companies are sometimes able to reduce the amount of effect certain risks can have on company processes. This is achieved by adjusting certain aspects of an overall project plan or company process, or by reducing its scope.

3. Risk sharing: Sometimes, the consequences of a risk is shared, or distributed among several of the project’s participants or business departments. The risk could also be shared with a third party, such as a vendor or business partner.

4. Risk retaining: Sometimes, companies decide a risk is worth it from a business standpoint, and decide to retain the risk and deal with any potential fallout. Companies will often retain a certain level of risk a project has anticipated profit is greater than the costs of its potential risk.

2.4. Risk Management Standards

Since the early 2000s, several industry and government bodies have expanded regulatory compliance rules that scrutinize companies’ risk management plans, policies and procedures. In an increasing number of industries, boards of directors are required to review and report on the adequacy of enterprise risk management processes. As a result, risk analysis, internal audits and other means of risk assessment have become major components of business strategy.

The ISO recommended the following target areas, or principles, should be part of the overall risk management process:

1. The process should create value for the organization.
2. It should be an integral part of the overall organizational process.
3. It should factor into the company’s overall decision-making process.
4. It must explicitly address any uncertainty.
5. It should be systematic and structured.
6. It should be based on the best available information.
7. It should be tailored to the project.
8. It must take into account human factors, including potential errors.
9. It should be transparent and all-inclusive.
10. It should be adaptable to change.
11. It should be continuously monitored and improved upon

10. How can you document the outcomes of using risk management tools?

Answer:

It is a tool to make any management team aware of the pitfalls of intended actions and at least give them the ability to change course if necessary. Risk management is important because of its message and disclosure. ... Well-written documentation will be evidence reflecting the organization's evolution in risk management.

Risk Management - Useful Tools and Techniques

In this section, the tools and methodologies that you can use during various phases of managing a risk are briefly described.

Risk Identification

There are many tools and techniques for Risk identification. Documentation Reviews

• Information gathering techniques
• Brainstorming
• Delphi technique – here a facilitator distributes a questionnaire to experts, responses are summarized (anonymously) & re-circulated among the experts for comments. This technique is used to achieve a consensus of experts and helps to receive unbiased data, ensuring that no one person will have undue influence on the outcome
• Interviewing

• Root cause analysis – for identifying a problem, discovering the causes that led to it and developing preventive action

• Checklist analysis

• Assumption analysis -this technique may reveal an inconsistency of assumptions, or uncover problematic assumptions.

• Diagramming techniques

• Cause and effect diagrams

• System or process flow charts

• Influence diagrams – graphical representation of situations, showing the casual influences or relationships among variables and outcomes

• SWOT analysis

• Expert judgment – individuals who have experience with similar project in the not too distant past may use their judgment through interviews or risk facilitation workshops.

Risk Analysis

Tools and Techniques for Qualitative Risk Analysis

• Risk probability and impact assessment – investigating the likelihood that each specific risk will occur and the potential effect on a project objective such as schedule, cost, quality or performance (negative effects for threats and positive effects for opportunities), defining it in levels, through interview or meeting with relevant stakeholders and documenting the results.
• Probability and impact matrix – rating risks for further quantitative analysis using a probability and impact matrix, rating rules should be specified by the organization in advance. See example in appendix B.
• Risk categorization – in order to determine the areas of the project most exposed to the effects of uncertainty. Grouping risks by common root causes can help us to develop effective risk responses.
• Risk urgency assessment - In some qualitative analyses the assessment of risk urgency can be combined with the risk ranking determined from the probability and impact matrix to give a final risk sensitivity rating. Example- a risk requiring a near-term responses may be considered more urgent to address.

• Tools and Techniques for Quantities Risk Analysis

• Data gathering & representation techniques
• Interviewing–You can carry out interviews in order to gather an optimistic (low), pessimistic (high), and most likely scenarios.

• Probability distributions– Continuous probability distributions are used extensively in modeling and simulations and represent the uncertainty in values such as tasks durations or cost of project components\ work packages. These distributions may help us perform quantitative analysis. Discrete distributions can be used to represent uncertain events (an outcome of a test or possible scenario in a decision tree)

• Quantitative risk analysis & modeling techniques- commonly used for event-oriented as well as project-oriented analysis:

• Sensitivity analysis – For determining which risks may have the most potential impact on the project. In sensitivity analysis one looks at the effect of varying the inputs of a mathematical model on the output of the model itself. Examining the effect of the uncertainty of each project element to a specific project objective, when all other uncertain elements are held at their baseline values. There may be presented through a tornado diagram.

• Expected Monetary Value analysis (EMV) – A statistical concept that calculates the average outcome when the future includes scenarios that may or may not happen (generally: opportunities are positive values, risks are negative values). These are commonly used in a decision tree analysis.

• Modeling & simulation – A project simulation, which uses a model that translates the specific detailed uncertainties of the project into their potential impact on project objectives, usually iterative. Monte Carlo is an example for a iterative simulation.

• Cost risk analysis - cost estimates are used as input values, chosen randomly for each iteration (according to probability distributions of these values), total cost will be calculated.

• Schedule risk analysis - duration estimates & network diagrams are used as input values, chosen at random for each iteration (according to probability distributions of these values), completion date will be calculated. One can check the probability of completing the project by a certain date or within a certain cost constraint.

• Expert judgment – used for identifying potential cost & schedule impacts, evaluate probabilities, interpretation of data, identify weaknesses of the tools, as well as their strengths, defining when is a specific tool more appropriate, considering organization’s capabilities & structure, and more.

• Risk Response Planning

• Risk reassessment – project risk reassessments should be regularly scheduled for reassessment of current risks and closing of risks. Monitoring and controlling Risks may also result in identification of new risks.
• Risk audits – examining and documenting the effectiveness of risk responses in dealing with identified risks and their root causes, as well as the effectiveness of the risk management process. Project Manager’s responsibility is to ensure the risk audits are performed at an appropriate frequency, as defined in the risk management plan. The format for the audit and its objectives should be clearly defined before the audit is conducted.
• Variance and trend analysis – using performance information for comparing planned results to the actual results, in order to control and monitor risk events and to identify trends in the project’s execution. Outcomes from this analysis may forecast potential deviation (at completion) from cost and schedule targets.
• Technical performance measurement – Comparing technical accomplishments during project execution to the project management plan’s schedule. It is required that objectives will be defined through quantifiable measures of technical performance, in order to compare actual results against targets.
• Reserve analysis – compares the amount of remaining contingency reserves (time and cost) to the amount of remaining risks in order to determine if the amount of remaining reserves is enough.
• Status meetings – Project risk management should be an agenda item at periodic status meetings, as frequent discussion about risk makes it more likely that people will identify risks and opportunities or advice regarding responses.
• Expert judgment – individuals who have experience with similar project in the not too distant past may use their judgment through interviews or risk facilitation workshops.

11. Why should this information be documented?

Answer:

In every field, it's important to minimize as much risk as possible. Documentation is a great tool in protecting against lawsuits and complaints. Documentation help ensure consent and expectations. It helps to tell the narrative for decisions made, and how yourself or the client responded to different situations.

So here are 4 reasons why documentation is key to your business’ success:

1. Employees don’t have to be mind-readers

If you want someone to do something the most efficient way possible, you document it. By documenting your processes, you ensure efficiency, consistency, and peace of mind for anyone involved. This kind of standardization between processes ensures everyone in your organization is working the same way towards the same outcome. This benefits not only your customers who are receiving a consistent service experience, but for your bottom line as there isn’t any variation in how things are getting done.

2. Training time and cost are reduced

Say goodbye to having new team members learn about your organization via osmosis. With great documentation, a new hire is able to quickly learn about your internal processes and your customer environments, without the constant shoulder tapping. Less time is taken up trying to get them up to speed on how things are done because it’s all there in the documentation for them to see, rather than stored in the repository of someone’s mind.

Plus, bringing on new staff is pricey, which means you want to make the most out of all of your new hires. To see how much it’s really costing your organization to train new team members, check this out.

3. You make more money

Time is money. The faster and more consistently you can complete tasks, the more you can do. Likewise, documenting important information means less time is wasted trying to locate it. A significant source of time waste for MSPs is searching for information.Documentation is a competitive advantage. When you showcase the processes you have in place to crush tickets, or how you document a client’s environment, your clients won’t just be choosing your services based on a price tag.

4. Documentation demonstrates that you are a professional organization

Great documentation practices show your customers and prospects that you’re dedicated and committed in your role as a gatekeeper of their mission-critical information. It shows your staff that you are committed to providing them with the best tools to assist them in doing their job in an efficient way. And lastly, it shows potential buyers that your business has created a tangible asset to buy. They know what they’re buying, and the documentation in place eases the transition process if they do.

Documentation can play a pivotal role in ensuring your business’ success. Great communication is and will always be at the heart of any business. Great documentation just takes that communication and puts it in a manageable framework that everyone can access for success.

12.How can you communicate the outcomes from analysing the use of risk management tools?

Answer:

Risk analysis involves examining how project outcomes and objectives might change due to the impact of the risk event. Once the risks are identified, they are analysed to identify the qualitative and quantitative impact of the risk on the project so that appropriate steps can be taken to mitigate them.

Identifying risks should never be purely an academic exercise – in reality, risk assessments are next to useless unless effectively communicated.

• PROMOTE ACCOUNTABILITY

Before risks are identified, it can be difficult for project roles and responsibilities to be defined. 29% of businesses identify accountability as a key obstacle to project completion – highlighting the need for better role allocation and procedures for dealing with risks.  

If project managers are able to immediately call to the right individual or resources to deal with an issue, projects can stay on track when or if a risk occurs, as potential risks are already 'marked in red'. By communicating potential risks to the right people, such as your teams and stakeholders, you're able to better understand who you should allocate roles and responsibilities to.

• PROVIDE REALISTIC EXPECTATIONS

Project stakeholders will have multiple reasons for investing their finances, time, and support into your project – so it's important to return the gesture with transparent communications about your project timeline.

If your stakeholders have unrealistic expectations that are not met, it's likely they will become disengaged or unhappy and cause damage to your project by being non-responsive or communicating negatively to others. If you find a balance in both general and risk communications and communicate the potential risks that could alter project timelines, your stakeholders are likely to have higher trust and confidence in your project.

• UNIFY YOUR TEAM

In modern times, projects and the teams that work on them often aren't found in just one location, with many projects even extending across the world. So, if something goes wrong, how can project managers effectively communicate the risk to their widespread team?

By taking steps to communicate risk, you identify potential issues beforehand and equip your teams with the ability to respond effectively. This reduces confusion and enhances problem-solving skills in your teams. Risk analysis software can detect potential risks and communicate them using graphical reports. This provides your teams with easily understood information, enabling them to respond to risk instantly, without needing to be informed by other personnel who may be in different locations or time zones.

• How to Communicate Risk to Stakeholders

Risks need to be clearly communicated before, during, and after a project to ensure that stakeholder expectations and opinion are upheld.

Unfortunately, we all know that risk management isn't as easy as writing a list and sliding it across the table towards your most important stakeholders. Project managers need to involve stakeholders in project conversations, keep important individuals engaged, and use the correct tools to enable effective communication.

Here are our four tips for communicating risks to stakeholders, and why they're important:

1. INVOLVE YOUR TEAM

Project managers are often held responsible for communicating with stakeholders, but they shouldn't be the only line of communication. Risk management requires the involvement of all of your project team members, especially if individuals hold expertise in certain risk areas, or are leaders of a specific aspect of the project.

These particular specialists will provide relevant and detailed information, and help build more realistic stakeholder expectations. By meeting expectations, it's easier to relate to project stakeholders and obtain their vital support for your project.

Studies conducted by The Project Management Institute found that by shaping realistic stakeholder expectations, projects were found to be more successful, as support was a distinguishing factor between successful and challenged projects. By allocating communication responsibilities to expert individuals, stakeholders can obtain more relevant information that provides them with these vital realistic expectations.

2. CONSIDER STAKEHOLDER LOCATION   

If key stakeholders aren't located near you or your project, it can make it difficult to communicate effectively. Ideally, you should choose a project team member who is close to the location of your stakeholders, whether it's by region, country, or timezone, who can more easily respond to questions and concerns.

In our digital age, face-to-face communication can build stronger working relationships and encourage higher engagement, so consideration of stakeholder location should be a priority if you want to communicate effectively. If you're holding a weekly call at a time where a stakeholder in a different time zone may be asleep, or can't find a time or day when essential stakeholders are available, it's likely they'll become disengaged. Remote members of your team can use your risk assessment reporting system as the central hub of their information and communicate to stakeholders with greater foresight into potential risks.  

3. UTILIZE TECHNOLOGY

Risk analysis technology can equip you and your team members with the ability to communicate quantitative risk analysis to your stakeholders. When risk assessment is purely speculative or includes an inaccurate assessment of resources, finances, or time, stakeholder expectations can become misguided towards unrealistic demands. This can leave them unhappy with your project's management, potentially damaging their support.  

Cost risk tools can perform a cost-only risk analysis from the beginning of your project until closeout, ensuring that financial expectations are met. Additionally, risk analysis technology can perform a schedule risk analysis that identifies high-risk areas of your project, provides high value information such as a prioritized report of the top risks likely to delay your project, and allows you to accurately determine an end date (a crucial stakeholder expectation).

Moreover, risk assessment tools enable you to visualize alternative scenarios to your risks and enable you to calculate the impact of them. By using technology, you can communicate accurate information to your stakeholders that is more likely to ensure their support.

4. USE REPORTING AND ALERTS

By regularly reporting on your project, you can check for common issues, report potential issues with interactive links, and submit them for analysis. You can then set up alerts for potential risks and retroactively react and inform key individuals or stakeholders who need to know.

13. Why should you review the usefulness and usability of risk management tools?

Answer:

Project development, especially in the software related field, due to its complex nature, could often encounter many unanticipated problems, resulting in projects falling behind on deadlines, exceeding budgets and result in sub-standard products. Although these problems cannot be totally eliminated, they can however be controlled by applying Risk Management methods. This can help to deal with problems before they occur. Organisations who implement risk management procedures and techniques will have greater control over the overall management of the project. By analysing five of the most commonly used methods of risk management, conclusions will be drawn regarding the effectiveness of each method. The origin of each method will be established, along with the typical areas of application, the framework of the methods, techniques used by each and the advantages and disadvantages of each of the methods. Each method will be summarised, then an overall comparison will be drawn. Suitable references will be included to highlight features, along with diagrams and charts to illustrate differences in each approach.

14.What steps might be taken after a review of usefulness and usability of risk management tools?

Answer:

Ensuring that adequate and timely risk identification is performed is the responsibility of the owner, as the owner is the first participant in the project. The sooner risks are identified, the sooner plans can be made to mitigate or manage them. Assigning the risk identification process to a contractor or an individual member of the project staff is rarely successful and may be considered a way to achieve the appearance of risk identification without actually doing it.

It is important, however, that all project management personnel receive specific training in risk management methodology. This training should cover not only risk analysis techniques but also the managerial skills needed to interpret risk assessments. Because the owner may lack the specific expertise and experience to identify all the risks of a project without assistance, it is the responsibility of DOE’s project directors to ensure that all significant risks are identified by the integrated project team .The actual identification of risks may be carried out by the owner’s representatives, by contractors, and by internal and external consultants or advisors. The risk identification function should not be left to chance but should be explicitly covered in a number of project documents:

• Statement of work

• Work breakdown structure

• Budget.

• Schedule.

• Acquisition plan,

• Execution plan

METHODS OF RISK IDENTIFICATION

There are a number of methods in use for risk identification. Comprehensive databases of the events on past projects are very helpful; however, this knowledge frequently lies buried in people’s minds, and access to it involves brainstorming sessions by the project team or a significant subset of it. In addition to technical expertise and experience, personal contacts and group dynamics are keys to successful risk identification.

Project team participation and face-to-face interaction are needed to encourage open communication and trust, which are essential to effective risk identification; without them, team members will be reluctant to raise their risk concerns in an open forum. While smaller, specialized groups can perform risk assessment and risk analysis, effective, ongoing risk identification requires input from the entire project team and from others outside it. Risk identification is one reason early activation of the IPT is essential to project success.

The risk identification process on a project is typically one of brainstorming, and the usual rules of brainstorming apply:

• The full project team should be actively involved.

• Potential risks should be identified by all members of the project team.

• No criticism of any suggestion is permitted.

• Any potential risk identified by anyone should be recorded, regardless of whether other members of the group consider it to be significant.

• All potential risks identified by brainstorming should be documented and followed up by the IPT.

The objective of risk identification is to identify all possible risks, not to eliminate risks from consideration or to develop solutions for mitigating risks—those functions are carried out during the risk assessment and risk mitigation steps. Some of the documentation and materials that should be used in risk identification as they become available include these:

• Sponsor mission, objectives, and strategy; and project goals to achieve this strategy,

• SOW,

• Project justification and cost-effectiveness (project benefits, present worth, rate of return, etc.),

• WBS,

• Project performance specifications and technical specifications,

• Project schedule and milestones,

• Project financing plan,

• Project procurement plan,

• Project execution plan,

• Project benefits projection,

• Project cost estimate,

• Project environmental impact statement,

• Regulations and congressional reports that may affect the project,

• News articles about how the project is viewed by regulators, politicians, and the public, and

• Historical safety performance.

The risk identification process needs to be repeated as these sources of information change and new information becomes available.

There are many ways to approach risk identification. Two possible approaches are (1) to identify the root causes of risks—that is, identify the undesirable events or things that can go wrong and then identify the potential impacts on the project of each such event—and (2) to identify all the essential functions that the project must perform or goals that it must reach to be considered successful and then identify all the possible modes by which these functions might fail to perform. Both approaches can work, but the project team may find it easier to identify all the factors that are critical to success, and then work backward to identify the things that can go wrong with each one.

Risk identification should be performed early in the project (starting with preproject planning, even before the preliminary concept is approved) and should continue until the project is completed. Risk identification is not an exact science and therefore should be an ongoing process throughout the project, especially as it enters a new phase and as new personnel and contractors bring different experiences and viewpoints to risk identification. For this reason, the DOE project director should ensure that the project risk management plan provides for periodic updates.

15.Why might it be necessary to modify or improve consultation, liaison and other logistical arrangements?

Answer:

Evidence of the ability to:

• Select, develop and modify suitable work health and safety (WHS) risk management tools, in consultation with others, that address the workplace and legal requirements
• Facilitate the use of WHS risk management tools including:
• Developing and conducting training for users
• Consulting on and facilitating logistical arrangements for use
• Supporting users
• Use and apply WHS risk management tools and communicate outcomes including:
• Completing risk management process steps
• Facilitating logistical arrangements
• Collating and analysing results and findings
• Communicating results, findings and outcomes to others
• Review usefulness and usability of WHS risk management tools and make changes based on the review outcomes.

  To complete the unit requirements safely and effectively, the individual must:

• Describe risk management tools, their correct application, use and limitations
• Identify internal and external sources of WHS information and data, and how to access them
• Outline the language, literacy and cultural profile of the work team
• Describe WHS risk management methods, techniques, procedures and processes, including:
• Correct application and use
• Limitations
• Usefulness and usability
• Ummarise the nature of workplace processes (work flow, planning and control) and hazards relevant to the workplace
• Outline organisational WHS policies, procedures, processes and systems
• Identify other functional areas that impact on the management of WHS
• Describe techniques, tools and processes for identifying WHS hazards including:
• Azard and risk checklists
• Hazard hunts
• Job safety analyses
• Manifests and registers, including for dangerous goods, hazardous chemicals and plant
• Surveys using questionnaires, interviews and other survey techniques
• Safe work method statements
• Workplace inspections and walk throughs
• Describe tools, techniques and methods to address specific physical or psychosocial risks
• Outline WHS Acts, regulations, codes of practice and other instruments issued by WHS regulators and how they apply to the organisation.
• Assessment Conditions