Risk Management

A risk is an uncertain event or condition, that if it occurs, has a positive or negative effect on
a project objective (Project Management Institute, 2000). Thus a risk is not an event which
has already happened but an event that might happen. It can have a positive impact or a
negative impact. Through brainstorming and interviewing process owners, following risk
events had been identified.

1. Failure to gather business requirements accurately

2. Frequent changes in business requirements during the project period
3. Application not meeting business requirements
4. Incompatibility between application and infrastructure
5. Issues In migrating data from on-premises to cloud
6. Delay in on time delivery of hardware
7. Data entering errors
8. Failures in User Acceptance Testing (UAT)
9. Exit of process owners before project completion
10. User resistance to the system

Risk Evaluation

Risk events identified are classified based on following probability/likelihood and impact
matrix.

High Risk 7 Risk 1

Probability

Risk 3
Risk 2
Medium Risk 9
Risk 8
Risk 10
Risk 5
Low Risk 4
Risk 6
Low Medium High
Impact
High Risk Medium Risk Low Risk
Risk Register

Bellow risk register depicts the risk responses for the identified risks through the risk assessment.

Risk Risk Risk Event Response Risk Owner

Level No.
High 1 Failure to gather business 1. Clearly define all business requirements from key process Business Analyst
requirements accurately owners
2. Proper requirement signoff procedure

3 Application not meeting 1. Closely monitor progress Project Champion

business requirements 2. Frequent discussions with partners
3. Immediately attend to any issues

7 Data entering errors 1. Provide comprehensive training materials and programs Operational Manager
2. Improve user awareness

9 Exit of process owners 1. Employment contract covers three months’ notice period HR Manager
before project completion 2. Continue user engagement activities Line Manager
3. Establish good relationship with employees
4. Review the salary packages frequently according to market
conditions

10 User resistance to the 1. Improve user awareness Project Champion

system 2. Provide comprehensive training materials and programs Line Manager

Medium 2 Frequent changes in 1. Frequent discussions with partners Business Analyst

business requirements 2. Establish strong business requirements statement initially
during the project period 3. Implement proper change request mechanism
 4 Incompatibility between 1. Establish infrastructure requirements accurately at the initial Technical Specialist
application and stage.
infrastructure 2. Employ on-demand cloud infrastructure as contingency
plan

8 Failures in User Acceptance 1. Proper test cases need to be developed and QA needs to be Line Manager
Testing (UAT) perfect.
2. Proper documentation

Low 5 Issues In migrating data 1. Develop a cloud migration framework and stick to it Data Migration
from on-premises to cloud 2. Implement proper backup maintenance procedures Specialist

6 Delay in on time delivery of 1. Clear deadlines for hardware venders with heavy penalties Procurement Manager
hardware 2. Purchase items in advance
3. Identify existing inventory
Monitoring and control

In order to mitigate the high and medium level risks, further controls to be taken. Depending
on the circumstances in both internal and external environment, risks that the management
will have to face are not static but hugely volatile and beyond the control of the management.
Based on the materiality of the risk and its impact, magnitude of the control activities needs
to be moderated. If the risks are not timely identified and treated, business will not be able to
survive. Hence continuous monitoring and controlling is required.

Communication Management

Project managers need to devote time to interactively communicate with project team
members and project stakeholders. These stakeholders can be internal or external
stakeholders. Effective communication generates a bridge amongst varied stakeholders with
different cultural and structural backgrounds. Different levels of communication expertise
with different perspectives and interests, will have huge impact or on project execution and
outcome.

The frequency of the proper communications helps the stakeholders to be timely updated on
the project status. Project managers can successfully communicate the project deviations with
ease through applications such as Microsoft Teams, Zoom and Skype which are very
effective tools for project management communications.

In order to execute the planned communications, single points of contacts need to be assigned
who is fully aware of the project status and key milestones. It will help to minimize
communication gaps and circumvent miscommunication.

System Issues can be communicated though raising a ticket in the JIRA ticket management
platform. Once a ticket is raised a support consultant will pick the ticket and provide the
necessary inputs.

Change Management
Integration between project management and change management needs to be taken place
simultaneously. S&D Associates employees are more process oriented. Thus, changing the
people dimension is the utmost important aspect.

For this, proper communication needs to be setup from the top management. Importance of
the new technology needs to be expressed to the bottom layer. Through facts and figures
change needs to be justified and the process ownership needs to be built among the sales
representatives to implement and gain the benefits of a sales force application.