I have to assist in a project manager capacity on a project.
I need to create a risk register. The company does not traditionally use formal processes such as this on projects.
The format etc is all fine.
My question is who should be responsible for identifying the risks and applying the rating?
Is it the stakeholder/representative of that part of the project?
The project team will be made up of different stakeholders in the business so obviously finance members will not be aware of IT risks etc.
I don't think it will be good enough to simply place the empty register on the drive and ask people to have a look and add anything they see relevant or it will stay empty.
Would you normally try to bring key stakeholders together to workshop and identify risks? Saving Changes...
Brenda PhillipsProject Manager| VerizonSanford, Fl, United States
Paul, this is a great opportunity for you to bring some best practices to your organization! I agree with the other responses that all stakeholders should weigh in on risks. It’s not always feasible to gather input from each stakeholder, but to the extent that you’re able, gathering feedback at the beginning of a project is invaluable. Sometimes it’s difficult to get to the real concerns if people are reluctant to talk about them. Doing a premortem is an effective way to gather the information. It invites the team to assume the project has already failed. Saving Changes...
RAJESH K LProject Manager, PMP| Bharat Electronics, Bengaluru, IndiaBengaluru, Karnataka, India
Usually I consult the Colleague PM/s who have done exactly similar project in the past...to have an insight apart from the above approaches ( Ramini & Dinah's) Saving Changes...
The Risk manager is responsible for facilitating identification and further management of Risks and Opportunities in a project.
Rating a risk should follow the PI matrix defined in Risk management plan. Once a risk is identified, the risk owner is assigned; the risk owner is responsible for analysis of the risk and further implementation of risk response strategy.
Risks can be identified by reading the project documents by relevant functions, through workshops, interviews, following RBS, from knowledge base, etc. The Risk manager or PM shall be responsible for overall management of the risks. Saving Changes...
Nabeel HamedPMO Manager| General Contracting Co.Dammam, Saudi Arabia
Every stakeholder,including team members, is supposed to contribute by registering his/her identified risk item and recording it in the register. Then periodical workshops should be conducted to carry on qualitative risk assessment sessions. Saving Changes...
Mike BissonetteBusiness Executive, Adjunct Professor, Training Consutant, Author, Entrepreneur| RTConfidenceLaguna Hills, Ca, United States
I agree with Guilherme regarding the establishment of probability and impact rating scales -- and remember that these scales are relative to overall project impact, not necessarily task impact. To assess impact you need a Project Plan (schedule, cost, scope, quality and resources). Risk will naturally surface when the team tries to balance the plan and finds difficulties in doing so. Risk tolerances should be understood (i.e., what is the RED zone of the risk matrix -- should stay out of it). The Project Planners should clearly be involved in this process, along with their functional managers (if in a matrix org.). Bring in SMEs (Subject Matter Experts) as appropriate. Having a Risk Breakdown Structure is good. Clearly understanding Project Assumptions is also important -- for assumption typically take away risks. Risks are typically associated with tasks, so identifying potentially risky schedule tasks is a good place to start, and you might find that you need to establish other tasks (more scope) or add more resources to the plan to eliminate RED risks. Some ideas. Bests, Mike Saving Changes...
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