Prof.MacQueen

Running Head: PROJECT RISK MANAGEMENT ANALYSIS

PROJECT RISK MANAGEMENT ANALYSIS 2

AN ANALYSIS OF THE RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH THE ADVANCEMENT IN TECHNOLOGY

By: Tauren Jenkins

04/18/2017

Professor Paul Schneider PM 584

Executive Summary

Technology has been on an upward spiral in the last six decades, with the invention of the computer. The period has been characterized by rapid growth and production of new innovations. Thousands of patents have been filed and organizations are spending billions of dollars in Research and Development, and this just guarantees more advancement in technology. Through history, man has made landmark discoveries that changed the basic understanding of life and increased production. Things like the wheel, printer and the car come to mind on the mention of landmark innovations. However, when placed beside the computer, these technologies, despite how good and helpful they were, seem to be just a fraction of what the discovery of the computer did to humankind.

The impact of information technology has been so pronounced that it brought forth the term knowledge age, succeeding the industrialization period that used machines for production. Nowadays, the possession of knowledge about a topic is a valued asset both for organizations and countries. The latest technology shift is the cloud, a mode of computing that stores information in virtual online caskets called the cloud. It is a major step in computing, and researchers see it as a very important computing development that will save the world billions of dollars in data storage and access. This paper will examine some of these risks and approaches to countering them. Comment by Schneider, Paul: This is the only sentence in the Executive Summary that discusses the paper, and it does not mention the Project Summary, the discussion on risk identification, the risk matrices, or the risk register. This is a poor Executive Summary.

Project Summary

Scope

Sometimes we are not even aware of the presence of technology, because it has become part of us. Eric Schmidt, the chairman of Google calls it the disappearance of the internet, to mean that it will become a key part of man’s existence, just like oxygen, ("Forbes Welcome," n.d.). The idea is, at this rate of change in technology, people may not notice the kind of risks they get exposed to. Ideally, the risks of technology can be in its use, something that is more a by-product of technology than a technology itself. ISIL, for instance, uses Telegram to communicate their missions and policies and they may start using Whatsapp messenger due to the recent enhancements of its security features (Metz, 2016).

This project will rest on the above backdrop to investigate the risks of technology advancements. It will consider the risks at the design stage and the user stage. However, due to the expanse of the technology space, this project will look at the measurable risks, like how the number of eye patients has increased since the introduction of the computer to common use, role of technology in terrorism, and carcinogenic element in mobile booster cables and other electronic devices. Budget constraints will restrict this project to a maximum of five technologies for study, and recommendations offered on the ways to minimize the risks of technology. Comment by Schneider, Paul: Scope…good, but you should have elaborated on this single sentence regarding the scope of the project.

Project Milestones Comment by Schneider, Paul: You do a good job of listing the 4 milestones below, but how long is the duration for the entire project? Where do your 4 milestones fit into that duration? When is the project expected to start? When is it expected to end?

Successful project management is dependent on timelines and disciplined adherence to the time plan. This makes milestones very important elements of research, ("Project Planning Typical Milestones - Recognizing Common Milestones", 2016).The whole project will be conducted in milestones as follows:

Milestone1: Project design – This stage will concentrate on constructing the research framework, variables to be investigated and the methods to be used in implementing the research design. Key decisions in this stage will be determination of the methods for data collection, review of existing data on the research and literature as well as the challenges of access to data. Other costs will be considered, like the need for sophisticated data software and the features which the software should come with.

Milestone 2: Data collection and processing. The second target for the project will be timely delivery on data collection and organization into uniform formats. It will be a long process and costly, hence, the project manager will need to take hands on approach to ensure that the exercise is completed on time. Further considerations will be done in regard to the quality of the staff involved in this research and their understanding of the research process.

Milestone 3: Analysis of collected data. Data analysis is an equally important factor in research, just like data collection. The most important consideration for data analysis is the empirical deduction of relationships and meanings on the data collected and organized in uniform forms. It is in this stage that data will be visualized for easy understanding, by the use of maps and graphs.

Milestone 4: Project reporting-The final report will be a flip through the summary of the whole project and the findings. For the benefit of the users of the report, such disclosures like the financier of the report and research methodology will be highlighted to boost the data credibility. Moreover, it matters to disclose the research methodology as it helps the data users to understand the research hypothesis with clarity.

Cost constraints

Technically, every research project has a budget constraint due to the nature with which these projects are created. As mentioned earlier, it is practically impossible to investigate all the variables of a certain subject, so the choices on the variables and the data to be collected must be made on the basis of budgetary allocations. Comment by Schneider, Paul: OK, but what is the budget? What would be the variable cost of pursuing/investigating another technology? Are there any travel costs associated with your investigations? Are there other resource costs associated with your investigations? Elaborate please.

Quality requirements

The concept of quality is a pursuit of excellence, by ensuring that all processes are stuck to the letter and information is collected using uniform methods (in asking questions) and uniform answers (allowing interviewees to choose answers from a range of choices). Comment by Schneider, Paul: OK, but specifically, what are the quality requirements for the project – e.g. the technologies to be investigated, how many persons will be investigating those technologies, how will these investigations be presented, etc.? Elaborate please.

Risk Identification Framework

There is need to identify the risks that are associated with phenomenon. It is the only way one can know how to plan for them. In fact, it is the first step of the risk management process, ("The Owner's Role in Project Risk Management", 2005). This must be well documented in the scope, work breakdown structure, schedule and also the execution plan, (Development, 2013).

The framework for risk identification is made of methods observing, classifying and quantifying risk. Factors that cannot be quantified will be filtered out, and related risks will be grouped together for easy analysis. The idea is that, by classifying risks, the project manager will be able to achieve more for less.

Foundation of Risk Assessment

Risk assessment is the collaborative mix of risk identification and risk evaluation. In assessment, the project lead is looking at the message being passed across by the results of the research. It gives a scope of understanding and making recommendations on the issues covered by the research. Comment by Schneider, Paul: This is incorrect. Risk assessment is composed of both risk analysis and risk evaluation. Risk identification serves as the preceding stage of risk management. Further, the stage of risk identification is completely independent from risk assessment. Comment by Schneider, Paul: ? Comment by Schneider, Paul: The output of risk assessment are only priorities given to the project risks. There are no recommendations that come out of risk assessment; only priorities.

How does risk assessment support the project?

Risk assessment is important because it makes managers make decisions that are risk-informed as opposed to risk-based. Hence, after examining the risks posed by technology advancements, and by considering the data from the project, it is important to implement recommendations. Any project that does not take the results seriously will be committing an error of judgment in that a costly process amounted to nothing on the implementation stage, (Vellani, 2007, p. 65).

Techniques of Risk Assessment

The risk assessment will draw comparisons between the risk evaluations results with the risks identified. The idea will be to reconcile the risk problem with the risk result. Therefore, risk assessment will use analytical tools and software to construct solutions, meaning that the risk assessment technique is advanced. The reason for this choice of techniques is for the manager to be able to do simulations and data comparisons.

Risk Matrix Comment by Schneider, Paul: While this priority setting matrix does indicate what the significance of a project risk would be, it does not indicate the specific significances for your risks. Further, the matrix does not list the individual risks, it does not identify the risks’ RFs, and it is not organized to identify their impact to cost, schedule, or performance.

SEVERITY	Frequent	Likely	Occasional	Seldom	Unlikely
Catastrophic	E	E	H	H	M
Critical	E	H	H	M	L
Marginal	H	M	M	L	L
Negligible	M	L	L	L	L

Risk Register Comment by Schneider, Paul: Please refer to table 4.12 and figure 4.1 in the text regarding the appriate layout for a Risk Register. Your missing quite a few items. Among the things you should have is assignment of the party responsible for monitoring the risk. Also, I wanted to see this Register applied to your project. I was looking for you to list the various risks identified in your project.

	Risk	Source	Impact
Reference		(How can the risk occur)	(What is the impact of the risk occurring)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7

References

Development, C. (2013). What are the 5 Risk Management Process Steps?. Continuing Professional Development. Retrieved 4 April 2016, from http://continuingprofessionaldevelopment.org/risk-management-steps-in-risk-management-process/

Forbes Welcome. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2015/01/24/eric-schmidts-quite-right-the-internet-will-disappear-all-technologies-do-as-they-mature/#18647147644e

Metz, C. (2016, April 5). Forget Apple vs. the FBI: WhatsApp Just Switched on Encryption for a Billion People | WIRED. Retrieved from http://www.wired.com/2016/04/forget-apple-vs-fbi-whatsapp-just-switched-encryption-billion-people/

Project Documentation Guidelines | Standard for information technology project management | Virginia Tech. (2016). Itplanning.org.vt.edu. Retrieved 4 April 2016, from http://www.itplanning.org.vt.edu/pm/documentation.html

Project Planning Typical Milestones - Recognizing Common Milestones. (2016). Brighthub Project Management. Retrieved 4 April 2016, from http://www.brighthubpm.com/project-planning/68429-project-planning-typical-milestones/

The global village in international communication. (2016). Academia.edu. Retrieved 4 April 2016, from http://www.academia.edu/6219856/The_global_village_in_international_communication

The internet has virtually reduced the world to a global village | Law Teacher. (2016). Lawteacher.net. Retrieved 4 April 2016, from http://www.lawteacher.net/free-law-essays/commercial-law/the-internet-has-virtually-reduced-the-world-to-a-global-village-commercial-law-essay.php

The Owner's Role in Project Risk Management. (2005). http://dx.doi.org/10.17226/11183