Risk Workshop and Risk Registe

Risk Management Plan

This paper is the risk management plan for the Environmental Quality International in Siwa project. It defines the management processes to be employed by the management of EQI and the project sponsor throughout the entire lifespan of the project. The Risk Management Plan, in this case, will be a responsibility of the project manager who will be in the charge of the review and maintenance of the plan throughout the life of the project. The reason for this is to ensure the risk process remains relevant and appropriate in being addressed especially the given the level of risk that this project face.

Overall, the focus is on the risk management plan for the Environmental Quality International project in Siwa oasis in Egypt as can be applied in the case study, “Environmental Quality International in Siwa” by Story and published by INSEAD. The risk management plan entails preparing the Scope and Objectives of the Risk Management Process based on the facts presented in the EQI in Siwa case study, determining the project size, based on the facts submitted in the EQI in Siwa case study, and provide justification based on the Project Sizing Tool provided. There is also a selection of the risk tools and techniques for use in the Risk Management Plan for both the qualitative and quantitative aspects of the project. They are the development of the Risk Reviews and Reporting for the Risk Management Plan based on the determined project size, an overview of the Probability and Impacts section of the Risk Management Plan, and a definition of the Risk Thresholds section of the Risk Management Plan.

The Environmental Quality International in Siwa project has the following scope and objectives. Beginning with objectives, EQI’s project in Siwa aimed at ensuring that the customer information was protected by a more secure data system so as to guarantee an intact trust between the customers and the business. In particular, EQI’s project in Siwa provided for the insurance of the company becoming PCI compliant as well as the introduction of training strategies and communication and the security of the wireless inventory-control system. Overall, the project by EQI in Siwa had the objective of ensuring authenticity, staff background checks, and competency before accessing information (Pacetti, 2012).The scope of the Environmental Quality International’s project in Siwa was to demonstrate to how best to reduce or eradicate poverty in the society with the help of the local resources or avenues. This includes culture; the process ensuring the surrounding environment is safe, and intact for the betterment of the local community and the world at large (Norman, 2012). Specifically, EQI’s project is located deep in the heart of the community that needed help, which is the oasis of Siwa, Western Egypt. The particular area that that is project was implemented had its structures comprising of an old-fashioned swathe of olive and palm trees, natural springs, and salt lakes surrounded by the sands of the Sahara, and a sizeable population of 20,000 to 30,000 persons (Norman, 2012).

The project would be sustainable in the long run as it aimed at preserving the local culture, heritage, and landscape in Siwa. That is because the facilities were established in the traditional style and design of palm logs and blocks from rock salt and mud as well as some being built on the restored ruins of derelict houses thus the idea of rebuilding the old towns of Siwa as a way of promoting local heritage. Also, the project about the creation of Siwa aimed at restoring a craft-art that was fading from local reminiscence as well as job creation for the local women. The goals were not only achieved in Siwa but also in high-end outlets in Egypt, Italy, France, and England thus ensured that the economy was preserved following the setting of the wages for all workers and determination of the particular industry to promote (Norman, 2012).

There was a scope that EQI managed to attain when it launched the Siwa women’s Artisanship development initiative in 2001. It was mainly about women empowerment and development-ensuring self-sufficiency in the economy through provision of home based business opportunities. This increased the participation of the women from the local communities in the success of the Siwa projects (Norman, 2012).

Scope and Objective for the Risk Management Process

The EQI in Siwa project risk management process has aimed at managing the foreseeable risks of all types in a prop-active, appropriate and efficient manner possible so as to ensure that the project attains the set objectives and goals and at the same time maintaining an acceptable level of risk exposure. That will aim at engaging all the project stakeholders in an appropriate manner thus creating ownership and buy-in top the project by various stakeholders including the community around Siwa as well as necessitating risk management actions. All the information as a result of the risk management actions by the relevant parties to the project will then be communicated to the stakeholders at an ideal time so that if any change to the risk management strategy touched on the risk at hand, can be modified to incorporate the critical changes (Hillson, 2007).

That will make it easy for the project stakeholders to focus only those project areas at risk and in the process identify the potential risks with likely negative impact on the full implementation of the project as scheduled or as expected. The risk management products, in this case, will all be about the undertakings in the entire project (Hillson, 2007).

In particular, the risk process will cover both the internal and external risks to the project. One such risk identifiable form the case study is the fact that the project was exposed to high price for of local expertise and materials beyond the affordability of the local population. That meant that it was only the foreigners involved in the construction or building works that would use the traditional local techniques, art, and materials but using modern construction methods which are more economical to the locals out to expand their homes. The risk is both internal and external since the higher prices will mean that the cost of doing or implementing the project will be higher. This requires more effort in matters financial sourcing by the project sponsor and the stakeholders for it to succeed as needed (Story, 2009).

The higher prices are caused by external factors, which are that the select few will directly benefit from the project as they will have the financial muscle to do than compared to a majority locals with no such capability to participate in the project. That will, in turn, affect the project goals and objectives which are to uplift the local community in Siwa economically and Egypt as a country. Therefore, the risk management process for this project will focus on both external and internal risk facing the project. Another example of an internal risk is the fact that the introduction of indoor bathrooms and the digging of several wells in all the new structures are likely to strain the water supply in the entire locality. The impact of this will be a scarcity of the much-needed resources, risking the successful completion of the risk (Hillson, 2007).

Another external risk that the risk management process will be addressing the fact that Egypt, as evident in the case study is experiencing rising levels of urbanization in the country leading to increased usage of the modern means of transport. That means that the project will have to include elements of infrastructural development more so roads and then go ahead to train the locals who are part of the project on the need to adjust to the new means of transport. That is because if the old structures in the area are built, then they will serve as tourist attraction centers which will prompt people from different parts to the world to visit and the process, tourism will be only beneficial to the fullest following efficient management of the restoration of the cultural and traditional identity of Siwa. The following table shows the types of risks that will be included in the risk management process for the EQI project (Zwilling, 2014).

Determining Project Size

It is evident in the case study that EQI’s component projects of Adrère Amellal Oasis, Shali Lodge and Albabenshal, Siwa Creations, and Siwa Organic, which comprised of three hotels, a line of embroidered products and traditional jewelry, and the export of organic agriculture cost more than $1,360, 000. That is because the information from the case study reveals that the project attracted the attention of the International Finance Corporation, which came on board as a critical stakeholder given the organization provided $880,000 in loans and $486,000 in technical support (Story, 2009).

T he EQI projects in Siwa qualify to be classified as large given that they could surpass the $5M mark. Apart from the financial assistance from the International Finance Corporation, there are other investments that EQI carried out that were entirely funded by the organization with no help from stakeholders. This includes Adrère Amellal Oasis that were quite expensive. EAs evident from the project sizing tool below, EQI’s project is a larger project.

Risk Tools and Techniques

The following are the risk tools and techniques I the risk management plan for the EQI in Siwa project. The first one is initiation in that this risk management plan would be issued at the start of the project then will be reviewed at different stages of the project as needed. The second tool will be risk identification, which will be done with the help of methods such as brainstorming, analysis of project assumption analysis, a review of the project types list, and roundtable discussion on the same. There will also be a probability and impact assessment for all the identified risks using a specifically defined project scale and the project-sizing tool. Finally, the response tool would help in coming up with the appropriate strategy for each of the identified project risks (Hillson, 2007).

Risk Review and Reporting

The EQI in Siwa project risk exposure will be reviewed as need arises. That is, either daily, weekly, monthly or even quarterly depending on the level of risk, throughout the project life. That will play an essential role in identifying any emerging risks to the project thereby making a determination of whether or not the risk process approach tools should be changed or not. Following any agreement by the project manager and the risk champion, that will result in the risk management plan being modified. Additionally, there will be a risk report at the end of every week so as to help the project manager and risk champion alongside the project team members and other stakeholders. That will make it easy to identify possible risks at every stage of the project implementation thus ensuring smooth implementation of the project as scheduled (Hillson, 2007).

Risk Probability and Impact

The following is the probability and impact scale for the EQI project in Siwa;

Risk Threshold

The following table shows the risk threshold for the EQI project in Siwa.

References

Hillson, D., & Simon, P., (2007). Practical Project Risk Management. The ATOM Methodology. Management Concepts Publishing.