Risk plan template

Part of the process of producing this management plan creates to key living documents that any project must have, the risk register and risk log.. This management plan needs a solid foun

PROJECT RISK MANAGEMENT PLAN TEMPLATE

This template enables you to create a comprehensive and well-evidenced risk management plan To complete this plan you need to bring together

a wide variety of individuals to ensure all potential risks can be assessed and analyzed to ensure your project’s success You must gather together key individuals from your project team, your stakeholders and your subject matter experts so that every assumption and constraint can be fully discussed and weighted in terms of its probability and severity as it relates to the project

Using this template will ensure that all communications on project risks are properly analyzed and recorded with all the necessary supporting documentation Part of the process of producing this management plan creates to key living documents that any project must have, the risk

register and risk log Both of these documents are constantly updated and referred to throughout the life of any project and it is this management plan that defines how this process will be monitored and reported

This management plan needs a solid foundation of project data that provides sufficient structure to allow probabilities and the level of severity for each risk to be quantified For example

• Assigned ‘key’ project individuals with the responsibility for managing risk

• The scope of the project work must be defined This includes its schedule, costs and resource requirements

• Baseline thresholds for costs, resources and schedule must have a minimum and maximum

• Reporting requirements must have been established in regards to their different formats, frequencies and circulations

FRONT COVER DESCRIPTION: this page details the typical items found on the cover of risk management plan Amend its contents

to reflect the needs of your specific project and organization’s culture

Displays a top-level summary

of essential information

• Project Manager is listed as its author along with their contact details

• Project Name that this plan relates to

• Version of Risk Management Plan – Version history will be shown in relevant appendix

Project

Working Title: Project Description:

Version: Date:

Project Contact tel:

Sponsor: email:

Plan Contact tel:

Author: email:

Organization:

RISKMANAGEMENT PLAN APPROVAL

Project Sponsor

CIRCULATED TO:

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INTRODUCTION: describes the purpose of this plan, which is to identify all possible risks to the project The plan then quantifies how much of a risk

they are, the probability that they could occur and the likely impact they would have on the project if they happened It outlines how risks will be monitored, managed and reported on for the duration of the project

RISK MANAGEMENT APPROACH: this plan is written by the project manager and in this section he or she describes how they will manage any identified risks with the objective of keeping their impact on the project to a minimum This section defines who will act as risk manager throughout the project, usually this is the project manager but in some instances it is more effective to assign this role to one individual It also outlines the processes to be used to manage the risks faced by the project

NOTE: Some organizations like to see a high-level description of most critical risks (top three-five) in this section and how they will be mitigated and managed

Processes:

Risk Management Team Roles & Responsibilities:

RISK IDENTIFICATION: this section defines that the project will use to identify risks It must be performed as early as possible in the project and requires key project documents – definitions, baseline minimums/maximums for project costs, resources, schedule and scope This process creates the Risk Register that is recorded in appendix C and the Risk Log, which is recorded in appendix D and is the document used to monitor and report on the status of each risk to the risk management team

RISK ANALYSIS: having identified specific risks this part of the plan describes how each one will be analyzed using qualitative and quantitative methods A level of probability will be calculated and as assessment made of its likely impact on the project for each risk The resulting data enables the risk team to prioritize the risks it faces and decide how best to plan for it

Probability

Severity

Impact

RISK RESPONSE PLANNING: this section details how you aim to respond to each risk that has a high enough probability of happening or its impact is significant to warrant planning how to handle it The risk log assigns an owner to each of these major risks and it is their responsibility to monitor it and escalate its status if required to ensure the project continues to run smoothly

RISK MONITORING & CONTROLLING: the process for monitoring major risks, escalation procedures and reporting requirements are defined here The greatest risks are often included in the project schedule as this is a clear way to observe if and when ‘trigger’ conditions occur or changes are

requested

RISK REPORTING: this is a critical part of risk monitoring and starts from day one and continues till project closure The project manger defines the type of reports he or she wants to see in connection with risk management, who they are circulated to and their frequency The output data from risk management forms a key segment of any project status report and needs to be regularly communicated to the project sponsor and other key

project personnel and stakeholders

APPENDIX A – VERSION HISTORY

This appendix records the version history of this plan For each new and approved version the reasoning behind its creation are described below

Version

Number Name of Implementation Author

Date Revised Approved by

Date Approved Reasoning behind new version

1.0

APPENDIX B – GLOSSARY OF PROJECT TERMS

Each project uses standard acronyms and develops their own for the ease of communication It is important to record them in this plan to ensure clarity of description and terminology is consistent in every communication

PMO Project Management Office

APPENDIX C – PROJECT RISK REGISTER

ID Risk Description Likely Cause of Risk

Occurring

Affect on Project

Phase Affected

Proba-bility

%

Severity Level

Ability to Detect

Overall Risk Rank

%

High Med Low

EASY MODERATE COMPLEX

CRITICAL SERIOUS MODEST TRIVIAL

%

High Med Low

EASY MODERATE COMPLEX

CRITICAL SERIOUS MODEST TRIVIAL

%

High Med Low

EASY MODERATE COMPLEX

CRITICAL SERIOUS MODEST TRIVIAL

%

High Med Low

EASY MODERATE COMPLEX

CRITICAL SERIOUS MODEST TRIVIAL

ID Risk Description Likely Cause of Risk

Occurring

Affect on Project

Phase Affected

Proba-bility

%

Severity Level

Ability to Detect

Overall Risk Rank

%

High Med Low

EASY MODERATE COMPLEX

CRITICAL SERIOUS MODEST TRIVIAL

%

High Med Low

EASY MODERATE COMPLEX

CRITICAL SERIOUS MODEST TRIVIAL

%

High Med Low

EASY MODERATE COMPLEX

CRITICAL SERIOUS MODEST TRIVIAL

%

High Med Low

EASY MODERATE COMPLEX

CRITICAL SERIOUS MODEST TRIVIAL

APPENDIX D – PROJECT RISK LOG

ID Owner Affected Phase Logged Date Risk Description Impact Rating Escalation Activated Current Status Planned Mitigation Proba-bility Sever-ity

ID Owner Affected Phase Logged Date Risk Description Impact Rating Escalation Activated Current Status Planned Mitigation Proba-bility Sever-ity

APPENDIX E – DOCUMENTATION REFERENCES

Any professionally managed project has extensive documentation the purpose of this appendix is to record which documents (plus the version used, if applicable) have been used in the production of and conjunction with of the communications management plan