Project Risk

Project Risk

Although the term risk is used in different contexts, it’s the probability that an outcome will not be as expected or as assessed. Therefore, risks are unforeseen circumstances and have the potential to negatively impact a project’s timeline, budget, or overall performance (Larson et al., 2017). There are four project risks, including organization risks, technical risks, resource risks, and schedule risks in my workplace and other organizations, and it is vital to recommend ways to mitigate these risks.

Organization Risk

Each company has its own internal culture; for any new procedure or system being deployed to be successful, it must conform to the organization’s culture. In any system design, there arises the risk that the system will deviate from the organization’s culture rendering it unimplementable. This risk is inherent to a specific organization and is referred to as organizational risk. During the feasibility study, the project team should fully evaluate the inherent organizational and cultural issues which could affect the system being rolled out. These issues may include fear of excessive control by management, fear of loss of jobs, disruption of set work procedures, or computer phobia, among others (Satzinger et al., 2015).

The fear of excessive control by management characterizes my workplace. Employees are always skeptical of any new procedures and systems being introduced by management to give them control over the employees. Recently, the organization hinted at plans to install CCTV cameras in all the offices and workstations and also install a biometric system entry into the workplace. These new systems raised protests among the employees accusing the management of trying to overly control the workplace.

To counter these risks, the project team should be more open with the users of the system, educate the users on the importance of the system and have the end-users involved in the whole project planning and implementation stages. This will eliminate the backlash associated with the implementation of the system (Satzinger et al., 2015).

Technical Risks

Technical risk is the possible impact the new system could have on the organization if the deployed system doesn’t work as expected. Failure to carefully appraise the technology requirement and available expertise could lead to system failure, increased maintenance time, and security breaches (Sandberg & Antinyan, 2014).

In 2014, MillerCoors, a beer brewing company, hired an Indian IT services company, HCL Technologies, to roll out a unified SAP’s ERP software to serve the entire company and its subsidiaries. The system rolled out by HCL had more than a thousand problems and defects, and MillerCoors sued HCL for $100 million in 2017 for failing to live up to the promises. The two companies were involved in fierce court battles related to the project, and in December 2018, they both decided to solve the dispute amicably (Tamturk, 2017). Technical risks can be mitigated by hiring reputable and experienced consultants, providing additional training, and hiring experienced employees (Satzinger et al., 2015).

Resource Risks

When embarking on a project, the project team should assess the availability of the necessary resources to implement the project. These include both financial and human resources. Resource risk is associated with a lack of or inadequate technical skills and financial capabilities. Resource risk can be broken down into people, money, and outsourcing. People risks are associated with the project team; money risk is associated with the project funding, and outsourcing risk is associated with the use of staff and services outside the project team to fulfill essential aspects of the project (Kendrick, 2005).

In 2016, the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) was tasked with increasing the number of border agents tasked with securing the nation’s points of entry. CBP faces an enormous challenge on a daily basis through screening millions of travelers and shipments into the US, and fulfilling these renewed objectives proved a bigger challenge to the organization. To solve this, CBP contracted an external agent (Accenture) to recruit about 7,000 border protection officers, air and marine agents, and border patrol agents. This project proved harder to implement as attracting the required expertise for the various agents proved very difficult. In the pilot year, the project spent a total of $13 million, but only two agents accepted the job offer. After the continuous lack of skilled agents, CBP suspended the project in April 2019, having spent in excess of $23 million to recruit only 22 agents (Sands, 2019).

Resource risks can be mitigated through a contingency plan; this alternative plan is to be implemented if the possible foreseen risk happens. The contingency plan includes actions that will reduce or mitigate the negative implications of the risk (Larson et al., 2017).

Schedule Risks

Schedule risks are associated with various assumptions, estimates, and uncertainties when developing a project schedule. When developing a new system, the project team has to rely on assumptions concerning the needs of the project, the capability and availability of the project staff, and project implementation time, among others (Satzinger et al., 2015).

In one of my previous projects at my workplace, we were contracted by an insurance company to upgrade the network infrastructure in one of their offices. The network upgrade was to be conducted with minimal disruption to the client’s employees. To comply with this requirement, the project team resulted in working on the project after normal working hours (8 AM – 5 PM). This new schedule, however, proved very difficult to implement as very few staff members were willing to work during the night. Furthermore, the project team’s productivity at night was very low, leading to the project being completed in almost double the scheduled duration.

To mitigate against schedule risks, the project team should define milestones in the project schedule to compare the actual project progress against the planned schedule and apply corrective measures where necessary (Satzinger et al., 2015).

References

Antinyan, V., Staron, M., Meding, W., Henriksson, A., Hansson, J., & Sandberg, A. (2014). Defining Technical Risks in Software Development. 2014 Joint Conference of the International Workshop on Software Measurement and the International Conference on Software Process and Product Measurement, 66-71.

Kendrick, T. (2005). Identifying and Managing Project Risk: Essential Tools for Failure-Proofing Your Project.

Larson, E., Gray, C., & Gray, C. (2017). Project management. McGraw-Hill Irwin.

Sands, G. (2019). CBP terminates controversial $297 million Accenture contract amid continued staffing struggles. CNN. Retrieved 30 November 2020, from https://edition.cnn.com/2019/04/05/politics/cbp-terminate-hiring-contract-accenture/index.html.

Satzinger, J., Jackson, R., & Burd, S. (2015). Systems analysis and design in a changing world.

Tamturk, V. (2017). ERP Implementation Failure: MillerCoors Sues HCL for $100M. CMSC. Retrieved 30 November 2020, from https://www.cms-connected.com/News-Archive/March-2017/ERP-SAP-Implementation-Failure-MillerCoors-Sues-HCL-for-$100M#:~:text=The%20Chicago%2Dbased%20brewer%20MillerCoors,to%20implement%20business%20software%20SAP.

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Risk (Technology Essay)

Week 8 Assignment 4 is due this week it is worth 150 points or 15% of your overall grade in the class. SO READ THIS TO GET A PERFECT GRADE ON THIS ASSIGNMENT.

Project Risk

The grading criteria are as follows as per the rubric.

I do not want to read your paper multiple times to pull out the gradable material.

This paper is pretty straight forward. Research the 4 types of Risks (Organizations Risks, Technical Risks, Resource Risks & Schedule Risks). And write about them in terms of your workplace or a different organization.

Be sure to include

1. What type of risk it is? (a good definition is needed before you add your workplace or chosen organization information)
   2. Ways to help mitigate the risk category.

Grading is based on the following.

Just make the HEADERS of the paper sections numbered 1-4 (taken from the grading rubric) and answer each question in order. Make a reference section at the end in APA format for the minimum 2 references.

1. Examine Organizations Risksin your workplace or another organization. (31.5 Points)
   2. Examine Technical Risksin your workplace or another organization. (31.5 Points)
   3. Examine Resource Risks in your workplace or another organization. (31.5 Points)
   4. Examine Schedule Risks in your workplace or another organization. (31.5 Points)
   5. Use at least 3 Quality Resources. (9 Points)
   6. Clarity and writing mechanics. (15 Points)