Question 1:

For the Unit 1 assignments use the following scenario. Review the scenario first and then continue on with your assignment. Consider saving the PDF or printing it out for your reference.

You have been meeting with the CEO, the project sponsor, your manager, and the heads of all the other departments to discuss the project and their expectations. You are starting to be concerned about the level of risk of this project and whether or not the organization really understands it. As far as you can tell, the company has never done formal risk management, taking a more relaxed approach to risks. You are starting to develop your risk management plan; you will present it to your manager and the sponsor in two weeks along with some other project planning deliverables.

Assignment Guidelines:

• Create a project charter and identify the key constraints of the project (scope, budget, timeline, quality, people resources, etc.).
• Using the scenario from this unit, create a spreadsheet that lists all the project risks you see based on what you currently know about the project. List at least 15 risks. For each project risk, provide a:
  • Detailed description
  • Category (schedule, strategy, people, etc.)

Note: This list will be used in later activities throughout the course.

Your submitted assignment must include the following:

• A 2-4 page typed document that includes:
  • A project charter and identification of key constraints
  • At least 15 risks listed in a spreadsheet with a detailed description and the category of each

Question 2:

You met with your department manager, a few of the stakeholders, and the sponsor last week to review the list of possible risks. They accepted most of your risks and agreed that the next step was the assessment. There was some confusion, however, over how that step should be completed. Apparently, a prior project manager did a poor job with risk assessment and felt that it was an unnecessary activity. This resulted in the project encountering several risks and always being in fire-fighting mode. Several of the stakeholders (who were impacted most by this mode) want a much more formal approach taken to risk assessment (as does the CEO).

Assignment Guidelines:

You have scheduled a risk assessment meeting for later this week. Create a pre read document for the meeting participants that will walk them through how you will run the meeting and what they should prepare in advance. In your 3-4 page document, be sure to address the following:

• Who will you involve? (number of people, roles, and project responsibilities)
• How will you manage the group?
• What is your process for assessing the risks? What techniques will you use?
• Where will you start?

In preparation for the meeting and to help you focus on the upcoming task, review your list of risks. Practice the various techniques you will use by assessing at least 15 of your risks. Create a grid for this activity. Use a qualitative method to identify the high-priority and low-priority risks. Provide a rationale for your responses. Then, using a semi-quantitative method, create a risk score and probability/impact matrix for the remaining risks. The columns should be organized as follows:

• Risk event
• Probability
• Rationale for probability
• Impact
• Rationale for impact
• Next steps (describe what you need to do with this risk event next: nothing, further analysis, or determine actions)

Your submitted assignment must include the following:

• A 3-4 page typed pre read document
• A grid assessing the risks you had outlined in Unit 1 formatted to the requirements listed above

Question 3:

You have finished the risk management plan and are preparing to present it to your manager and the project sponsor. Once they review and approve it, you will then present it to the stakeholders and the team. Although the project has not officially started, some upfront design work is being done by the vendor and three of the engineers. In the course of this work, you sat in on a design meeting and discovered that the vendor does not follow the documentation processes you had clearly defined as critical, because of the regulated nature of the product. Your engineers, who are not comfortable with the formal process approach the new CEO is taking, have told the vendor not to worry about the documents because they will do them at the end after they get the real work done.

You spoke with the quality manager who was hired just a couple of weeks ago. He (understandably) feels that this is the occurrence of a major risk, with project-stopping ramifications. The quality manager agreed not to immediately go to the CEO, giving you the opportunity to present the risk event to the sponsor and implement your action plan.

During the course of the design meeting, you also determined that your risk of the key engineer not being available to the project is actually occurring. Some junior engineers are doing most of the design work and are clearly struggling. Your engineers left the meeting frustrated, grumbling, and nervous about the project.

Assignment Guidelines:

Using the risk management plan you created during the group project, along with the library links, prepare an effective professional presentation of 8-12 slides with notes covering the following:

• Briefly describe the approach that was taken to identify and assess the risks.
• Define in detail the communication approach (audiences, frequencies, mechanisms, and exceptions) you will take to share risk updates.
• Discuss the risks with the vendor that you see happening and describe your action plans.
• Gain buy-in on the actions you will take with the vendors and your team.
• Establish the escalation path you will take when you have concerns about project risks.

Your submitted assignment must include the following:

• An 8-12 slide PowerPoint presentation with speaker notes covering the topics listed in the assignment guidelines