We all know projects carry some degree of risk, but the important thing is to try to manage and mitigate the risk so that it doesn’t evolve into an issue on your project. Too many times, companies have either not conducted a risk assessment, or have ignored risk assessments and not properly addressed and dealt with the risk, and the risk has come back to bite them tenfold.
One of the most straightforward ways to monitor your risks is to keep a risk register and gauge the degree of risk according to the probability the risk will affect the project, and the impact it will have if it does. The risk register in IPM lets you record various risks and score their probability and impact so you know the importance of each risk when addressing them.
What’s more, the new conditional formatting feature of CRM 2011 means you can make high risk items in your register appear in a different format in the list, so they stand out at a glance. You can also set up workflows that can notify relevant people on the project if the degree, impact or probability of the risk is changed in the risk record, or if a new risk record is created. This way everyone is on the same page and up to date with the latest information about your project risks.
So even though identifying risks at the start of the project is good practice, it is still so important to continually manage and review the risks as the project progresses. With IPM, this process is automated and efficient so it’s easy to stay up to date with the developments of risks on your project.
I’ll leave you with an interesting thought I came across from PMP Dr Sam Elbiek, and that is the difference between a risk and an issue. A risk is something that could happen in the future, whereas an issue is a problem that is happening now – so make assessments of your risks and pay attention to them to avoid having multiple issues to deal with down the track. Thanks Sam!