COURSE OUT LINE
COURSE UNITE: PROJECT RISK MANAGEMENT
COURSE CODE: MBA 7232
Introduction
Risk managers and project managers need to be professional best friends. Working in separate
towers will only lead to frustration for each of them, while if they understand each other’s roles
and support each other’s purpose, the result should be a win-win situation. Both are focused on
the success of the organisation that they work for, and collaboration in the effective management
of risk is a great contribution to organisational success. This must surely be beneficial at a
personal level, as well as in today’s working environment where increasing importance is placed
on being able to demonstrate the difference that you are making to value and that you can work
as part of a team. To be successful in delivering the benefits it envisages to its stakeholders, an
organisation needs a coherent, aligned and hierarchical set of objectives that provides a common
thread from the strategic level to tactical delivery. Having established these objectives, the
organisation needs to achieve them, despite uncertain operating environments. Projects do not
exist in isolation within an organization; they are one of the ways by which organisations make
their intentions material.
This course sets out to discover why risk management is important in the context of projects,
how it should be implemented, how risk outputs should be used both within and outside the
project, and what is necessary to maximise risk management effectiveness. For newcomers to the
project or risk professions, it provides a practical overview of risk management practice within
the specific context of projects, and how this relates to enterprise risk management. More
experienced project managers and risk managers should question developed thinking and
practice from time to time and, they may find themselves rehearsing first principles in order to
develop their take on innovation and best practice. Managing Risk in Projects provides a fast
track to both. The course takes current thinking in risk management and creates the necessary
links to show the possibility of a joined-up approach.
Objectives
- To describe and illustrate the areas of Competence for Project Risk
Management
- Definition of project risk management.
- To assess project risks – types of risks, sources of information and
prioritization.
- To describe the use of project risk management within the context of overall
project management (including tools for risk. identification and classification)
- Describe strategies for risk control and highlight effectiveness of risk control
techniques.
- Describe how risks are documented in the project proposals.
Learning Outcomes
- Awareness of project risk management
1
- Understanding of the linkage between project risk management and
successful project delivery.
- Ability to review risk centers in project design for successful implementation
of projects.
- Ability to facilitate project team to develop project risk register and mitigation
plan.
- Ability to document risks in practical project proposal designs.
Delivery Method: Lectures, Group work, review of documented project case
studies, presentations and guest lectures.
Assessment:
1. Course Works 40%
2. Final Exam 60%
The course covers the following:
1. Introduction
a) Uncertainty and Risk
b) Current sources of uncertainty
c) Responding to uncertainty
d) Distinguishing between uncertainty and risk
e) Purpose of the Practice Standard for Project Risk Management
f) Project Risk Management Definition
g) Role of Project Risk Management in Project Management
h) Good Risk Management Practice
i) Critical Success Factors for Project Risk Management
2. Risk and Projects
a) What’s wrong with projects?
b) Why are projects risky?
c) Why manage risk in projects?
d) ‘Risks’ or ‘risk’?
e) Why is risk management important to projects?
2
3. Managing Risk in Practice
a) Definition of Project Risk
b) Individual Risks and Overall Project Risk
c) Stakeholder Risk Attitudes
d) Iterative Process
e) Communication
f) Responsibility for Project Risk Management
g) Project Manager’s Role for Project Risk Management
h) Towards a risk management process
i) From narrative to reality
j) Describing the risk process
k) Not ‘one-size-fits-all’
l) More than a process
4. Risk and People
a) Understanding risk attitude
b) Influences on the risk attitude spectrum
c) Risk attitudes and decision-making
d) Risk attitudes and the risk process
e) Managing risk attitudes
f) People plus process
5. Integrating Risk Management with Wider Project Management
a) Managing risk throughout the project lifecycle
b) Contribution of risk management to other project management disciplines
c) ‘Built-in not bolt-on’
6. Making Risk Management Work
a) Risk energetics
b) Internal factors
c) External factors
d) Risk energetics across the project lifecycle and beyond
e) Proving it works
f) Why bother?
g) And finally…
7. Project Risk Management Processes And Plan Risk Management
a. Project Risk Management and Project Management
b. Project Risk Management Processes
c. Purpose and Objectives of the Plan Risk Management Process
d. Critical Success Factors for the Plan Risk Management Process
e. Identify and Address Barriers to Successful Project Risk Management
f. Involve Project Stakeholders in Project Risk Management
g. Comply with the Organization’s Objectives, Policies, and Practices
h. Tools and Techniques for the Plan Risk Management Process
3
i. Planning Sessions, Templates
j. Documenting the Results of the Plan Risk Management Process
8. Identify Risks
a) Purpose and Objectives of the Identify Risks Process
b) Critical Success Factors for the Identify Risks Process
c) Early Identification
d) Iterative Identification
e) Emergent Identification
f) Comprehensive Identification
g) Explicit Identification of Opportunities
h) Multiple Perspectives
i) Risks Linked to Project Objectives
j) Complete Risk Statement
k) Ownership and Level of Detail
l) Objectivity
m) Tools and Techniques for the Identify Risks Process
n) Historical Review
o) Current Assessments
p) Creativity Techniques
q) Documenting the Results of the Identify Risks Process
9. Perform Qualitative Risk Analysis
a) Purpose and Objectives of the Perform Qualitative Risk Analysis Process
b) Critical Success Factors for the Perform Qualitative Risk Analysis Process
c) Use Agreed-Upon Approach
d) Use Agreed-Upon Definitions of Risk Terms
e) Collect High-Quality Information about Risks
f) Perform Iterative Qualitative Risk Analysis
g) Tools and Techniques for the Perform Qualitative Risk Analysis Process
h) Select Risk Characteristics that Define Risks’ Importance
i) Collect and Analyze Data
j) Prioritize Risks by Probability and Impact on Specific Objectives
k) Prioritize Risks by Probability and Impact on Overall Project
l) Categorize Risk Causes
m) Documenting the Results of the Perform Qualitative Risk
10. Perform Quantitative Risk Analysis
a) Purpose and Objectives of the Perform Quantitative Risk Analysis Process
b) Critical Success Factors for the Perform Quantitative Risk Analysis Process
c) Prior Risk Identification and Qualitative Risk Analysis
d) Appropriate Project Model
e) Commitment to Collecting High Quality Risk Data
f) Unbiased Data
g) Overall Project Risk Derived from Individual Risks
h) Interrelationships Between Risks in Quantitative Risk Analysis
4
i) Tools and Techniques for the Perform Quantitative Risk Analysis Process
j) Comprehensive Risk Representation
k) Risk Impact Calculation
l) Quantitative Method Appropriate to Analyzing Uncertainty
m) Data Gathering Tools
n) Effective Presentation of Quantitative Analysis Results
o) Iterative Quantitative Risk Analysis
p) Information for Response Planning
q) Documenting the Results of the Perform Quantitative Risk Analysis Process
11. Monitor And Control Risks
a) Purpose and Objectives of the Monitor and Control Risks Process
b) Critical Success Factors for the Monitor and Control Risks Process
c) Integrate Risk Monitoring and Control with Project Monitoring and Control
d) Continuously Monitor Risk Trigger Conditions
e) Maintain Risk Awareness
f) Tools and Techniques for the Monitor and Control Risks Process
g) Managing Contingency Reserves
h) Tracking Trigger Conditions
i) Tracking Overall Risk
j) Tracking Compliance
k) Documenting the Results of the Monitor and Control Risks Process
References
1) Identifying and Managing Project Risk: Essential Tools for Failure-Proofing
Your Project Hardcover – March 25, 2015, by Tom Kendrick PMP,
2) Identifying and Managing Project Risk: Essential Tools for Failure-Proofing
Your ProjectMar 25, 2015 by Tom Kendrick PMP,
3) Results Without Authority: Controlling a Project When the Team Doesn't Report
to YouJan 29, 2012 by Tom Kendrick PMP,
4) 101 Project Management Problems and How to Solve Them: Practical Advice for
Handling Real-World Project Challenges Dec 1, 2010, by Tom Kendrick PMP,
5) The Project Management Tool Kit: 100 Tips and Techniques for Getting the Job
Done RightDec 19, 2013, by Tom Kendrick PMP,
6) Identifying and Managing Project Risk: Essential Tools for Failure-Proofing Your
Project by Kendrick PMP, Tom...1900, by Tom Kendrick PMP,
7) Identifying and Managing Project Risk 2nd (second) edition2009, by Tom
Kendrick, PMP,
8) Risk Management: Concepts and Guidance, Fourth Edition – February 19, 2010, by
Carl L. Pritchard,
11) Project Risk Management: A Proactive Approach (Project Management
Essential Library) by Paul S. Royer