Risk in project management

Project management risk.

Part 1
Select a case study to use for your course project. You are encouraged to select your own scenario. The case study must use an IT-based scenario.

Examples include the following:

Planning and implementing new software or updating existing software for a business.
Planning and implementing a new system or updating a legacy system for a business.
Migrating and integrating a new component into an existing network component for a business.
Planning and implementing an expansion to an IT system.
Moving an IT system to a new location.
Directions
Complete the following.

Project Proposal
Write a project proposal explaining the case study you have selected for your project plan. Submit this separately from the project plan template you will also submit in this assessment.

Your proposal must include a professional cover page with your name, project case study title, and course title and number. (Cover page templates are available in Microsoft Word.) Within the body of the document, explain the project plan scenario and answer who, what, where, why, when, and how.

Best practice is to support your proposal with current research. You may find the “Suggested Resources” and/ the Project Management Research Guide useful as you do so.

Project Charter Section
Use the Project Plan Template (linked in the Resources under the Capella Resources heading) throughout the course for the project; you will complete parts of the template in each assessment. You will then submit the completed sections of the document, reusing and refining it in each assessment.

Suggestion: You may want to download two copies of the Project Plan Template, leaving one blank for future reference if you need to refer back to the original comments and guidance in the document.

The first project component is the project charter. Use the Project Plan Template and modify as needed to develop a project charter for your particular project. You may include more sections if you feel this is necessary, but the minimum requirements are to fill in all the sections provided.

Remember that the charter is a high-level look at the project that tells the project’s story. Complete the following for your project charter:
Use the Project Plan Template linked in the Resources.
Provide an overall project-budget amount.
Define project objectives that are achievable and stated in terms of the expected outcomes and critical success factors.
Do not fill in the SWOT Analysis; Known Project Risks, Constraints, and Assumptions; or Role and Responsibilities subsections of the charter yet. You will complete these in upcoming assessments.
Best practice is to support your decisions with references to current research.

Team Contract Section
The purpose of a contract is to ensure all project team members are aware, and in agreement with, the guidelines of their roles within the project. A template is provided for you to complete. Fill out the template as if you were actually working with a team on a project. You may use fictitious names for the team members, but the job titles must be grounded in reality. For example, “Project Manager,” “Lead Programmer,” “Graphic Designer,” “Database Administrator,” “Network Administrator,” et cetera, would be realistic job titles for members of a project management team.

Complete the following for your team contract:

Use the Project Plan Template linked in the Resources (There are suggestions for additional information you may include in the document to clarify the particular project you are working on).
Identify tools, skills, and norms of a project team.
Establish team norms about decision making, communication, and other key areas related to teaming and collaboration.
State clearly and concisely the team commitments and provide reliable ground rules for project success.
Best practice is to include tools and skills for contributing to this project team.

Risk Identification Questions Section
This is your preliminary walk-through of the Risk Identification Questions section. You will return to it in a subsequent assessment.

In this section, complete the following:

Decide which questions apply to your project case study in the Answer column (answer Yes), ones which do not (answer No), and ones you are not sure about (answer TBD, for to be determined).
Replace the Examples Preliminary Action column with preliminary actions that need to be taken at the start of the project.
Leave the Mitigation Assigned columns blank. You will complete them in a subsequent assessment.

Part 2. :

omplete the following sections of your project plan template:

Risk Identification Questions (revised from Assessment 1):
Develop the preliminary information for the Mitigation and Assigned columns of the risk- identification questions.
Make any other necessary adjustments based on new information and/or feedback from your instructor.
Best practice is to describe the preliminary potential risks in detail and with support from current research. For this and all other tasks in the assessment, you may find the Suggested Resources and the Project Management Research Guide useful.
Project Charter Section:
SWOT Analysis.
Risks, Constraints, and Assumptions
Roles and Responsibilities.
Best practice is to provide examples.
Project Scope Section:
Best practice is to provide additional information and explain the required work in detail.
Work Breakdown Structure (WBS):
Best practice is to format the breakdown in a hierarchy and list view, including three levels of detail.
Risk Breakdown Structure (RBS):
Best practice is to include three levels of detail.
Budget:
Please note that this includes establishing a cost baseline for measuring project performance.
Best practice is to include additional details to support the validity of the budget.
The Project Plan template provides further instructions and recommendations for completing these tasks. The readings recommended in the “Resources” section for this assessment will also be useful to you.

Part 3

Directions
Complete and submit the following sections in your Project Plan template, along with all previously completed sections.

Communications Matrix
A communications matrix assists the project manager in making sure all information is being distributed to the correct personnel, whether the project team, sponsor, upper management, customer, or stakeholders. A well-documented communications matrix displays important information at a glance. Best practice is to provide additional information that clearly defines the communication strategy of the project.

Stakeholder Communications Analysis
A stakeholder communications analysis assists the project manager in spelling out delivery of specific reports for the project. This section gives the project manager the ability to detail the communications process to satisfy stakeholders. The communications matrix above helps guide the stakeholder communications analysis in determining who is receiving project information. Best practice is to detail the communications process in a way that will satisfy stakeholders. Best practice is to provide additional information that assists stakeholders to understand project details clearly.

Glossary
Glossaries explain terms specific to the project and the discipline. For example, if you are installing a network, you may need to define terms like “switch,” “fiber optics,” “domain name,” et cetera. In addition, you should define terms that are indigenous to project management such as “WBS” (work breakdown structure), “gold plating,” and the like. If you have even the slightest doubt about what a term means, it is virtually guaranteed that a senior stakeholder will have no knowledge whatsoever of that term! Best practice is to provide additional information that assists stakeholders to understand project details clearly.

Remember, this is a public document. A person without an IT background should understand the terms. Use layman’s terms and avoid “geek speak.”

RACI Matrix
RACI matrices clarify who will be responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed (RACI). In some cases, one or more letters may be associated with a person. For example, a subject matter expert (SME) may be called upon for consulting (C) and later informed (I) to inspect the completed task. Best practice is to include additional information and features to clarify the process.

Note: The RACI matrix for this assessment is an embedded Excel spreadsheet document that requires Microsoft Word 2007 or later to edit within the Project Plan Template. For those without access to a compatible version of Excel, submit the Project RACI Template (linked in the Required Resources under the Capella Resources heading) along with your project plan template.

Part 4

Directions
Complete and submit the following sections in your Project Plan Template, along with all previously completed sections.

Risk Matrix
Risk matrices are at the core of helping solving problems before they impact project scope, cost, schedule, and product quality. Clearly, one may categorize risks on what they are going to impact or the type of risk. For example, risks may relate to team personnel (training on a new technology, loss of key members due to illness) problems in the past with a certain vendor, and so forth. Best practice is to format the matrix in a hierarchy and list view including three levels of detail.

Risk Stakeholder Roles and Responsibilities
Risk stakeholder roles and responsibilities assist the project leaders in knowing who has been assigned to general and specific risks. This is helpful because there are now more eyes overseeing risks that could affect project progress. As with all matrices, this one can be expanded as “progressive elaboration” appears during a project. In order to create more table rows, simply place your cursor in the last cell in the lower right corner of the table and press Tab. Best practice is to format the matrix including three levels of detail.

Risk Management Process and Activities
Risk management processes and activities assist project leaders in knowing how to approach project risk processes. For example, there may be a need to update the risk watch list, or to have a procedure if a negative risk does occur. As with all matrices, this one can be expanded as “progressive elaboration” appears during a project. In order to create more table rows, simply place your cursor in the last cell in the lower right corner of the table and press Tab. Best practice is to include additional information and features to clarify approaches and processes.

Executive Summary
Use your knowledge gained in this course from completing the previous project plan sections to create an executive summary for the project plan you are creating for this course.

The executive summary must be concise–contain all necessary information with the fewest words necessary–at no longer than 150-250 words. It will contain all of the following:

Explain who, what, where, when, why, and how.
List project priorities.
Describe the objectives of the project (much of this section is defined by your project charter, particularly the objectives).
List and describe the key stakeholders and customers.
Describe the final deliverables. (The project plan and supporting documentation is also a deliverable.)
Note the customer-acceptance criteria.
List major risks.
List project start and completion dates.
Estimate project cost.
Best practice is to present the summary in a manner that is clearly understood and supported by current research.

Reflections
Complete the “Reflections: What I Learned” section of the Project Plan Template. Below are the questions you will respond to:

What did you learn from the project?
What was the most important thing you learned?
Is this information immediately helpful to you now?
How are you able to apply these skills to future IT projects?
Do you have any other relevant thoughts or comments on the course subject matter?
Best practice is to develop detailed reflections supported by best practices and current research.

Additional Requirements
Add sections as necessary to update any other sections of the Project Plan Template that may have been affected by the new information you have developed. There is guidance and additional comments in the template to assist you in this endeavor.

Upload the complete document with the following sections completed:

Version section updated.
Previously completed sections.
Risk Matrix.
Risk Stakeholder Roles and Responsibilities.
Risk Management Process and Activities.
Executive Summary.
Reflections.
The rest of the document may be left in its original condition.

Part 5.

For this assessment, use your knowledge of Microsoft Project to create a schedule for the project plan you are creating for this course.

Some ideas to embellish your schedule include:

Try the critical path view. If you are not sure how to do this, try the help feature in Microsoft Project.
Identify high-risk tasks using highlighting or notes.
There is an embedded Microsoft Project object in the Project Plan template. You will need Microsoft Word 2007 or later to utilize this feature. However, if this becomes problematic, please submit a separate Microsoft Project document in addition to the Project Plan template.

Complete your project schedule with attention to the following criteria:

Develop a project schedule based on the culmination of information in a developed project plan.
Best practice is to include additional detail required to support the schedule.
Develop milestones and other measurable, tangible, and verifiable outcomes or results.
Best practice is to provide complete milestone details.
Use advanced features of Microsoft Project to develop a project schedule.
Best practice is to include additional detail required to support the schedule.
Create an overview of the Project schedule in the body of the project plan.
Best practice is to speak to features and advanced features used in the tool.
Communicate in a manner that is professional and consistent with expectations for members of the project management profession.
Best practice is to provide a scholarly perspective where applicable to support your conclusions.
Additional Requirements
Add features and customizations as necessary to complete your Project Schedule section. (There is guidance and additional comments in the template to assist you in this endeavor.) Update and revise the document per feedback from faculty.
Update the Version and Schedule sections. Include previously completed sections. The rest of the document may be left in its original condition.