(3, 2) – Programmes & Projects: risk management and planning methodologies Flashcards
What is involved in risk identification? Who is responsible for it in a project?
The team members need to identify risks in their areas. They should rank risks by:
- Impact – what is the scale of the effect?
- Probability – how likely is it to occur?
- Proximity – what stage of the project is it most likely to happen?
What role do assumptions play in project management? What assumptions might be made?
An assumption might be made about events which might happen or about resources which are expected to be available. Assumptions should be documented and the benefits of making them are it allows you to set benchmarks.
What are the 4 methods for dealing with risks when they’ve been identified?
T – Treat; mitigate the impact or reduce the probability
T – Tolerate; progress despite the risk
T – Transfer; spread the exposure to another party
T – Terminate; avoid the risk because it’s too high
What is risk simulation? Give an example?
It is a commonly used method for assessing the likely impact of risks on project deliverables. It is aligned with ‘sensitivity analysis’, which is used to analyse the impact of one variable on another. Monte Carlo analysis is a popular risk simulation technique and is carried out by mathematical modelling of different scenarios.
What headings might you have in a risk log?
Unique ID Description of risk Description of impact Probability Score Impact Score Risk Score Risk Owner Action List
What risks may occur in the supply chain?
Supply risk Demand risk Process and operational risk Environmental risk Control-based risk
What risks might occur in the external macro environment?
P – Political E – Economic S – Sociological T – Technological L – Legal E – Environmental
What might pose a risk in the external micro environment?
Competitors
Customers
Suppliers
What is networking analysis?
It is the timetabling of interrelated activities which must be done. This allows the correct sequencing to achieve the best timescales and is usually detailed in a “network diagram” showing the required project activities along with their inter-dependencies and durations.
What is the critical path?
It is the series of activities where a delay will result in an overall delay in the delivery of the project.
How do you compile a network diagram and calculate the critical path?
List all the activities
Estimate the time required to complete each activity (duration)
Identify the tasks that need to be completed before each activity can go ahead
Activities which can be delayed without impacting the overall project should be highlighted, this is known as float.
What does it mean to ‘Crash’ activities? What is the process for doing this?
It is where the overall duration of activities is reduced to save time.
- Identify activities that can be crashed
- Establish the cost of crashing
- Estimate the new duration (with additional resources)
- Determine the revised completion date and costs
- Recalculate critical path
- Compare options and obtain sign off
What is the PERT technique?
When activities durations are not known, the project manager determines three different duration options for each activity:
1. The most likely
2. Optimistic
3. Pessimistic
These can then be used to look at mean and standard deviations.
What is a Gantt chart?
This shows a work breakdown structure of activities on a project. Some Gantt charts also show any inter-dependencies between activities. They are highly visual showing the start and finish times of each task and used to show any delays to key milestones.
