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Project Budgets and Execution Plans are developed using criteria, data, and strategies that are assumed to be correct, repeatable,
and valid. It is also assumed that certain events will or will not occur. Project success is dependent upon the validity of these
assumptions, many of which we have only limited control. Risks are the occurrence or non occurrence of events that negate or
up-end these assumptions, and will negatively impact any of our project's success. Risks may be project internal as well as
project external, they may be insured against or not, and may be either preventable or not.
Our approach to Risk Management recognizes Risk as real and present, and while not always avoidable, it is always manageable.
We also believe that there are costs associated with risk that may or not be clearly evident. Cost elements include the visible
costs of protection and mitigation and/or the costs of impacts when risk events do occur, and the hidden costs of inflated
estimates and contingencies, exclusion of qualified performance partners, and inclusion of inappropriate performance partners.
We involve all project stakeholders via interactive participation to:
- Identify the Risks and Threats to the Projects success.
- Determine the Likelihood of Occurrence for each Risk.
- Assess the Severity of Impact for each occurrence of a Risk event.
- Develop a Management Strategy for each Risk.
- Monitor the execution of selected Management Strategies.
Risk Management strategies include the choices to Accept, Transfer, Mitigate, or Avoid. Each option has an associated cost or
required process. We assist in recommending the most appropriate strategies consistent with optimizing costs and effort.
We place an emphasis upon identifying opportunities for reducing the overall Cost of Risk through partnering and risk-sharing
actions.
As projects evolve over time and through execution phases, the nature and number of risks also change. Our process includes
reevaluation of the project and its risks at timely and appropriate project intervals.
A Fortune 500 company with global facilities wanted a uniform way to budget, perform, and report facilities maintenance and management.
The company had already selected appropriate software and peripheral tools, had assembled a management team and created a plan to develop,
implement, roll-out, and train at multiple sites. So, they were off to a good start. However, they asked us to generate and review an execution
plan and performance- monitoring system to make certain they were thorough and efficient.
We felt that the success factors for this $22MM project were based upon many unverified assumptions that were not grounded in comparative experience.
We suggested in-depth plans for risk assessment, management, and mitigation. Through interactive stakeholder sessions, the team could identify risks
and threats, evaluate their potential for occurrence and severity of impact, and calculate the costs of occurrence vs. the costs of mitigation.
When the project was completed, the company was able to validate initial conditions for success and execute a "no surprises" plan that saved them time, resources, and money.
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