Managing Risk
What is a Risk?
In the best planned projects there is always an element of risk and this is particularly true of systm implementations. Many elements of the implementation may turn out differently to what you expected or planned for and if these situations aren't properly managed they could have an adverse effect on you achieving your goals.
What is Risk Management?
Risk management is probably the single most important element of project management. It is a systematic process of identifying, analysing and responding to project risk. JISC infoNet has produced a full infoKit on Risk Management and this section merely highlights a few issues of particular relevance to system implementation.
Organisations must not leave the success or failure of major projects to luck, and formal procedures to identify and monitor project risks, develop mitigation strategies and manage those strategies are paramount to achieving success.
Experience shows that technical risk itself is often the least cause of major problems, but high risk factors are:
major political rifts within the organisation
poor clarification, communication and containment of objectives
key members of the project team leaving
insufficient people with the appropriate business and technical knowledge
failure of external dependencies
the software supplier going into liquidation
the main computer room being destroyed by fire
There needs to be a contingency plan for major risks, and one that the institution is willing and able to invoke. A sense of urgency for all involved is critical at these times as often small delays are not considered significant in themselves, but in aggregate can be disastrous.
It is also vital to constantly scan for new risks, which can emerge quickly and unexpectedly, and then promptly decide upon actions to deal with the risks. It is also important to regularly review those risks already identified and how they are being managed. Security is widely regarded as one of the greatest risks to an institution and its systems and networks, particularly as they are now accepted targets for hackers and viruses.
A more detailed discussion of security issues including data protection is available here.
During a system implementation, all organisations should also plan for business continuity and disaster recovery.
