Managing Project Risks and Issues

Inherent (or Business) Risk

Inherent Risk is the risk that exists in the environment around your portal project. It will tend to be unique to your organisation; it's culture and politics. For example, if you have a fragmented business (either geographical or functional), then this will create a higher inherent risk of poor communication.

Project (Specific) Risk

Project Risk is the risk specific to your project. Some Project Risk stems from the nature of what you are doing; there are certain risks common to any project (e.g. the unfamiliarity to users of the technology you are deploying). However, most project risk is under your direct influence; for example the skills of the project team, the level of governance effectiveness and so on.

Stage Risk

Finally, there is 'stage risk' which is the risk associated with the particular activity of any given phase of the project plan.

The Risk Log & Risk Plan

In order to stay in control of the risks to your portal project, it makes sense to have a formal log of all risks, to which anyone involved with the project is entitled to add. You might use a formal workshop to first populate the log.

Assessing Risks

Each risk (however derived) can be assessed using a simple methodology, whereby the probability of the risk being realised ('likelihood') and the size of the impact on the project objectives ('severity') can be measured.

The simplest system (based on the PRINCE project management method) is to give a score of 1-3 for likelihood and severity (where 1 is low and 3 is high). From these scores, the importance of each risk can be measured as the product of likelihood and severity.

Clearly, any risk of importance 9 demands immediate attention, followed by risks rated 6 and so on.

Risk Counter-measures

The importance of each risk should be regularly maintained, based on the extent to which the likelihood and severity of impact change over time.

For each risk, one should enter a counter-measure in the risk plan. Where a risk can be eliminated, then this will be the counter-measure. Where it cannot be fully eliminated, then risk mitigation actions will be the most appropriate.

Issues Log

A Risk is something that is yet to happen, whilst an Issue is something that has already happened. It may well be convenient to use the Risk Log to also track any issues on the project. Issues will generally fall into one of the following categories:

(R) - Request for a change (in the scope of the project);
(O) - An item has been identified that is Off-Specification;
(Q) - A Question has been raised that needs to be resolved;
(S) - A Statement of Concern has been raised by someone; and
(I) - Other issues.

To score issues, just ascribe an importance score (of between 1 and 9).

Managing Risks and Issues

Once you have put a Plan in place, then it is important to regularly monitor and report on the counter-measures that have been deployed and whether or not they have been successful in reducing the overall risk profile of the project.

For templates and examples of risks and issues pertinent to intranet portal deployment projects, please check out my chapter on Managing Risks and Issues in the (free to access) Intranet Portal Guide.

If you act, manage and report regularly on risks and issues, you will have substantially improved your chances of project success!

About the author:

David Viney (david@viney.com) is the author of the Intranet Portal Guide; 31 pages of advice, tools and downloads covering the period before, during and after an Intranet Portal implementation.

Read the guide at http://www.viney.com/DFV/intranet_portal_guide or the Intranet Watch Blog at http://www.viney.com/intranet_watch.

---

12 Powerful Ways To Use Autoresponders That Will Take YOU To The Top

If only I had known that autoresponders are a necessity... Read More

Online Payments Make It Easy For Your Customers To Buy

In the last column we discussed the process of credit... Read More

Getting Started: Creating a Business Plan

You're excited. You have a great idea for a profitable... Read More

Online Business- What Makes It a Success!

Only a few manage to sell everything under the sun... Read More

Selecting The Right Shopping Cart For Your Website

Shopping Cart Installation And SetupShopping cart technology has evolved to... Read More

Is ClickBanks Popularity Drawing To An End?

ClickBank is the Internet's most popular payment processor for online... Read More

Overcoming Frustration with Technology

For whatever reason, when we get a new boost in... Read More

Why Ecommerce is Not Ready for My Daughter or Me

As the mother of a teenage clothing fanatic I'm often... Read More

How Merchant Accounts Can Save You Money

We all know that accepting credit cards is the key... Read More

Alternative E-Commerce Solutions

Over the past several years, the Internet has emerged as... Read More

Increasing E-Commerce Website Sales: A Guide for the Online Newbie

Because of this encouraging surge in activity, many individuals are... Read More

How To Stay Cutting Edge In Online Business

Let's face it, there's just way too much information out... Read More

Building eCommerce Websites That Work - Part 1

You want to succeed at eCommerce? Welcome to a very... Read More

What You Must Know About Selling Online to Europe

The European market is a multi-billion $ sector which you... Read More

Beginner Ecommerce Mistakes

This is a short article because in the constraints of... Read More

What Does It Take to Make Money Online?

What a loaded question! Let's narrow that down a bit... Read More

The Art of Being Human

This isn't the first time I have written about the... Read More

Google Catalogs - Old Gashioned Mail Order Meets High Tech Search

In addition to Google's Froogle shopping service (still in beta),... Read More

The Rise of Multinational Virtual Corporations

The virtual corporation is the emerging organisational form, which best... Read More

Ecommerce Marketing Plan

Concept of ServiceThe current work deals with marketing offer of... Read More

Accepting Credit Card Payments Online

Being able to accept credit cards and other online payments... Read More

Is It Still Possible To Make Money On The Internet?

Many people are saying that the internet is dead. So... Read More

Is It Easy to Build An E-commerce Web Site?

--Online Commerce--E-Commerce website is all about selling products and services... Read More

Pitfalls of Doing Big International Brokerage Business Online

Nothing has helped international brokerage business more than the internet:... Read More

E-marketplaces from Sellers Perspective

What is an E-marketplace anyway?E-marketplace is a business to business... Read More

Online Shopping: Legal Challenges for Taxing Authorities

E-commerce offers customers the chance to eliminate many stages in... Read More

Grow Your Business Using B2B Emarketplace - Part I

If you are a small to medium size company and... Read More

Intranet Portals ? Search and Taxonomies

Knowledge Management for beginnersKnowledge Management (KM) can be defined simply... Read More

Shopping Cart Features to Consider

Often the simplest Web stores have the most success. But... Read More

Do You Need A Merchant Account?

Deciding when to get your own merchant account for internet... Read More

The Ecommerce Business Plan

Simply put, business plans can make or break your business.... Read More

Doing Business Online ? Private B2B Exchanges

Business processes are the building blocks of an enterprise. If... Read More

Online Customer Service - The Cornerstone of a Successful Online Business

Online customer service is still one of the most frequently... Read More