Risk Management Plan Template: Identifying and Managing Project Risks, Study notes of Project Management

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Risk Management Plan

Version X.XX

Instructions to the Author:

This is a template for developing a Risk Management Plan.

The template includes instructions to the author, boilerplate text, and fields that should be replaced with the values and information specific to the project.

Blue italicized text enclosed in boxes provide instructions to the document author, or describes the intent, assumptions, and context for the content included in this document. This instructional text should be removed from the final document to make the plan more readable.

Text enclosed in angle brackets () indicates a field that should be replaced with information specific to a project.

Text in black and tables are provided as boilerplate examples of wording and formats that may be used or modified as required to support a specific project. The information and outline is a suggestion to assist in developing project documents; they are not mandatory formats. The author should tailor the content of the document to fit the project that this work product will support.

Risk Management is the process of identifying, analyzing, and responding to risk factors throughout the life of a project and in the best interests of its objectives. Proper risk management implies control of possible future events and is proactive rather than reactive.

The purpose of risk management is to

• Identify possible risks
• Reduce or allocate risks
• Provide a rational basis for better decision making about all risks
• Plan

Assessing and managing risks is the best weapon against project catastrophes. By evaluating risks and the plan for potential problems and developing strategies to address them, you’ll improve the chances of a successful, if not, perfect project.

Additionally, continuous risk management will

• Ensure high priority risks are aggressively managed and that all risks are cost-effectively managed throughout the project
• Provide management at all levels with the information required to make informed decisions on issues critical to project success

If you don’t actively attack risks, they will actively attack your project.

DSS Project Management recommends the DSS Risk Assessment Toolkit as the starting point for developing the project risk management plan.

Remove this page from the final document.

Risk Management Plan

Introduction

Provide a brief introduction to the concept of risk management for the intended audience of this document, i.e. the project team, project sponsor, stakeholders, and executive leadership. Reference the Risk Assessment Toolkit for appropriate content.

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Risk Management is the process of identifying, analyzing, and responding to risk throughout the life of a

project to the best interests of its objectives.

Purpose

Define the purpose of this Risk Management Plan. Provide an overview of the strategy the project team will follow to manage risk throughout the project life cycle. Reference the Risk Assessment Toolkit for appropriate content.

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The purpose of the Risk Management Plan is to define how risks associated with the

project will be identified, analyzed, and managed. The Project Manager working with the project team

and project sponsors will ensure that risks are actively identified, analyzed, and managed throughout the

life of the project.

Scope

Define the scope of this Risk Management Plan. Provide an overview of who and what will be governed by the plan. If a supplier is part of the engagement, explain what their responsibilities will be to this plan. Reference the Risk Assessment Toolkit for appropriate content.

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The scope of this document pertains to the efforts to address internal and external risks specific to the

project. The risk management methodology identified in this document will be used

during the entire lifecycle of the project. A supplier’s risk management methodology will be provided as

a contractual deliverable. A supplier will develop a separate Risk Management Plan and will be responsible

for managing their project risks and reporting status of those risks to the Project Manager.

Roles & Responsibilities

Provide a list of personnel and their key roles and responsibilities with respect to risk management in the project.

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The will serve as the risk manager for this project. The risk

management roles and responsibilities of key members of the project are listed in the table below.

Name/Title Role Risk Management Responsibility

Project Director Monitors and manages risk across multiple projects

within the DSS Project Management project portfolio.

Project Sponsor Responsible for understanding risk and signing off on

all risk mitigation plans.

Project Manager Identifies project related risk, documents project

risks, leads the effort to mitigate risk, leads the effort

to communicate project risk.

Project Team Contributes to the identification of project risks.

Assist in the mitigation of risks.

Risk Management Plan

Name/Title Role Risk Management Responsibility

Risk Assessment

Lead

Identifies initial risk assessment, gathers initial

stakeholders input related to risk.

Procedures

Provide a summary of how risk management activities will be performed, recorded, and monitored throughout the lifecycle of the project. Reference the Risk Assessment Toolkit for appropriate content.

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Risks will be identified as early as possible in the project to minimize their impact.

Risk Identification

Explain how project risks will be identified and typed. Reference the Risk Assessment Toolkit for details on DSS Project Management risk identification best practices.

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Risk Analysis

Explain how risks to the project will be analyzed. Reference the Risk Assessment Toolkit for details on DSS Project Management risk analysis best practices.

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Risk Response

Provide a general outline of what response strategies the project will pursue should a risk escalate into an issue. Reference the Risk Assessment Toolkit for details on DSS Project Management risk response best practices.

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Risk Monitoring, Controlling, and Reporting

Provide a general outline of how the project team will monitor, control, and report risks. Outline standing project procedures, review processes, frequency of reviews, and team roles and responsibilities with respect to these tasks. Include a listing of conditions that will trigger an escalation of a risk to the appropriate level of visibility. Reference the Risk Assessment Toolkit for details on DSS Project Management risk monitoring, controlling and reporting best practices.

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E.g., all active high exposure risks will be tracked and published in a weekly project status report and in

the monthly executive steering committee report. When a risk has been reviewed and is found to be in a

state of escalation to a high level of exposure, it should be added to all reports.

Escalation

Provide an overview of the escalation path for reporting new high exposure risks.

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E.g., escalation of high exposure risks should, at minimum include in the reporting chain the

• Project Sponsor

Risk Management Plan