TABLE OF CONTENTS Now that you ve identified risks to your project, it s time to analyze them and prioritize them. Not all risks need a response plan. Some risks may fall within a tolerance level that s acceptable to your organization. To determine which risks have the greatest impact to the project and which risks may not need response plans, you have to examine them and determine priorities. This chapter discusses the methods for analyzing risks, how to prioritize them, and how to determine those that need risk response plans.
Qualitative Risk Analysis is concerned with discovering the probability of a risk event occurring and the impact the risk will have if it does occur. All risks have both probability and impact. You ll recall from Chapter 4, Preventing Scope and Schedule Risks, that probability is the likelihood that a risk event will occur, and impact is the significance of the consequences of the risk event. Impact typically affects the following project elements:
Schedule
Budget
Resources
Deliverables
Costs
Quality
Scope
Performance
Of course, this isn t an all-inclusive list because any area of your project can suffer from the effects of a positive or negative risk. However, the areas listed previously are the most common places you ll see the effects of risk.
The probability that a risk will occur during the course of the project depends on the nature of the risk. For example, if you re planning an outdoor event in Seattle, Washington, the probability of rain is fairly high. If...
