RISK MANAGEMENT PLAN

GS E-COMMERCE WEBSITE

December 7, 2015

GENERAL SUPPLIES
41 Spring Hill Pkwy SE
Smyrna, GA 30080

Prepared By
Document Owners
Position
Gayathri Gangadharan
QA Tester
Prashaanth Jagannathan
Developer
Josephine Nord
Architect
Chukwuma Obiekwe
Support Specialist
Rob Wade
Project Manager/Business Analyst
Schedule Management Plan Version Control
Version Date
Author
Change Description
A
12/7/2015 Gayathri Gangadharan Creation of Risk Management Plan.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 4
TOP THREE RISKS ......................................................................................................... 4
RISK MANAGEMENT APPROACH ............................................................................ 5
RISK IDENTIFICATION ................................................................................................ 5
RISK QUALIFICATION AND PRIORITIZATION .................................................... 5
RISK MONITORING ...................................................................................................... 5
RISK MITIGATION AND AVOIDANCE ..................................................................... 6
SPONSOR ACCEPTANCE ............................................................................................. 6

INTRODUCTION
The purpose of the risk management plan is to help the project manager (and any other
project stakeholders) identify, assess, respond to, monitor and control risks. With any new
project, organizations are venturing into an area of uncertainty that comes with developing new
products/services. This uncertainty brings about many risks that could damage the progress of
the project or even the reputation of the company. The risk management plan helps establish the
framework to identify and respond/mitigate the impact of such risks.
This website development project has been scaled as a medium risk, with an overall risk
score of 35 (on a scale of 0 to 100). This scale is based on the clients risk evaluation process:
0 to 25 = low risk
26 to 50 = medium risk
51 to 75 = high risk
76 to 100 = extreme risk
Before the risk management aspect of this project can begin it is important that several
projects elements are set in place. These elements include:
Developing scope, schedule, resources and cost plans.
Setting schedule, resource and cost baselines
Creating a standardized reporting procedure for the project
Identifying individuals responsible for risk management

TOP THREE RISKS

The top three high probability and high impact risks to this project are:
Scope Creep
Due to the nature of the project (website development) and ever changing feature
requests from users, the scope of this project may increase over the course of the project.
By adding features that were not part of the original website layout, the project schedule,
resource and budget requirements, and quality management aspects may be
compromised. Any new requests from the client must be properly evaluated and decided
upon by the project manager, team and project sponsor. The decision will have to be
made to include the change in the current phase or defer it to a future phase of this
project.
Cross-Platform Compatibility
With website development, it is extremely important to keep track of the
platforms on which the website will be accessed. It is difficult to obtain website
compatibility on every browser, every screen size and every orientation. With an infinite
number of combinations, optimizing for one view may result in de-optimization for
another view.
Custom Coding
All features requested by the client in the requirements gathering phase will be
appropriately evaluated in the initial time management development phase of the project.
However, there exists the risk that the time it takes to develop any custom features may

have been incorrectly estimated. Additionally, if a custom feature includes any issues, it
may take several hours of additional custom coding, testing and troubleshooting. This
may result in the need for extra time and more budget availability.

RISK MANAGEMENT APPROACH

To manage risks, a methodical process will be utilized. This process begins with the
project team coming together to identify, score and rank various risks. Those risks that were
most likely to occur with high impacts were noted for the risk manager to keep an eye on during
the progression of the project. The risk manager will be responsible for providing the project
manager with status updates on each of the risks that project may face, placing special emphasis
on those risks that are most likely with the highest impact on the success of the project. At the
end of the project, the project manager will be responsible for analyzing the management of the
risks and the impact on the project success or failure. This will be used as improvement points or
future projects, as part of the lessons learned.

RISK IDENTIFICATION
The risk identification process for this project will be conducted in the initial planning
phase, through three methods:
Project Team Risk Identification Meeting
A risk assessment meeting will be held with the project team and other
stakeholders. The project manager will lead this meeting and all attendees will be
involved in identifying risks to the success of this project. All risks identified will be
included in the Risk Register.
Interview (Expert Judgment)
Three interviews of experts will be held for this project. The interviews will
reveal risks and mitigation responses that will be included in the Risk Register.
Root Cause Analysis of Similar Projects (Historical Review)
The project team will review the history of similar projects to determine the most
common risks and mitigation strategies. The projects reviewed may include a variety of
successful and failed projects, allowing the team to understand what may go well/wrong.

RISK QUALIFICATION AND PRIORITIZATION

To determine the impact and severity of these risks, the project team identified a risk
score and ranking to each risk (a calculation of risk impact and probability). This allows the
project team to prioritize risks that are more likely to occur with the highest impact on the
project.

RISK MONITORING
The risk manager is in charge of monitoring all risks, with special emphasis on those that
are classified as most likely and high impact. During the weekly meeting, the risk manager will
be responsible for providing the project team and the project manager with status updates on

risks that may occur during the appropriate phase of the project. This is done to streamline the
weekly meeting. For example, the risk manager will only discuss relevant risks for the current
phase of the project. Risk monitoring will be a continuous process throughout the project. If any
risks arise between the weekly update meetings, it is the risk managers responsibility to update
the project manager immediately. While the risk manager is responsible for monitoring and
controlling risks, the project manager is ultimately responsible for ensuring that the appropriate
risk manager is providing the necessary risk updates and documentation of trigger conditions and
risk responses.

RISK MITIGATION AND AVOIDANCE

Since risk management is a continuous process throughout the project, the project
manager will lead the team in developing appropriate risk responses. Throughout the project, if
any new risks are identified, they will be assessed by the project team as those risks identified in
the beginning were assessed. The team will work together to develop avoidance and mitigation
steps to each risk. The responses will be recorded in the Risk Register and project plan to ensure
that they are monitored appropriately.
All risks in this project will be controlled within their effects on the scope, time and cost
values of the project. Along with the team, the project manager will identify the most appropriate
approach to ensure risk compliance with the project constraints. The only strict constraint is the
cost constraint; all other constraints will be amended accordingly.

RISK REGISTER
The Risk Register for this project is record of all risks that have been identified by the
project team and project managers. This record also includes the probability and impact rating
for each risk, along with the risk trigger and risk response. A risk score and risk ranking will be
assigned to each risk based on the probability and impact ratings. This log will be created in the
initial risk identification meeting.
The project manager will be responsible for assigning a risk manager to implement the agreed
upon mitigation strategy at the most appropriate time in the project progression. This appropriate
time depends on when the risk is most likely to occur.

SPONSOR ACCEPTANCE

____________________________________________________
Project Sponsor

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Date