Today’s projects have more risk than ever before, and Information Technology projects have more risk than most other project types. Sometimes that risk results in a late project or over-budget project; other times it manifests itself in a perceived lack of quality in the project results. Still other times it results in total project failure.

This module describes a process of risk evaluation and management that identifies the greatest project risks. It covers assigning responsibilities for manage them, actions to avoid them, and contingency plans for the rest, accounting for them in the schedule. The module is consistent with the latest version of the Project Management Body of Knowledgy, and uses our unique risk management tool, KnowRisk®.

The difference between the half-day and full-day version of this module is the amount of time spent on the risks of participants’ own current projects. As a prerequisite, all participants bring a list of the risks of a current project, and they use the material to assess and remedy those risks.

Learning Objectives

	Understand the nature of Information Technology project Risk; describe the purpose, benefits, timing and key roles and responsibilities in Risk Management.
	Use brainstorming and Risk assessment checklists to identify areas of highest Risk, by individual Risk element.
	Evaluate the impact of individual Risks realized, and the probability that the Risk will be realized. List the top Risks.
	Quantify the cost impact of the top Risks if realized; summarize cumulative project cost of all significant Risks.
	Brainstorm with the project team to identify Responses for highest-impact Risks. Assign responsibility for each Response. Reflect the Risk Responses in the project plan.
	Track Risk Responses, and evaluate their effectiveness in mitigating Risks realized.
	Apply the KnowRisk® checklist, sample Responses, evaluation grid and strategy identification processes to further reduce IT Risk.
	Improve IT Risk Management by evaluating the process, risks realized (and those not) and responses at major milestones, and updating your risk knowledgebase.

Audience
Those who are (or should be) involved in assessing and managing risk in todays Information Technology project, including Sponsors, Resource Managers, Project Office Staff, Project Managers, Customers, Team Leaders and Team Members.

Modular Project Management and KnowRisk are registered trademarks of Goff Associates, Inc., the ProjectExperts.