Risk Management

OBJECTIVES One of the risks you anticipated for the project was the late delivery of the prototype from the vendor. You adjusted your project schedule to minimize the impact of the risk, built in a penalty for late delivery and created action plans in case the vendor delivered late.

You also identified a risk with the vendor that they have very little technical depth; if the key engineer is not available to your project, the risk of a delay is even greater. You determined how you would monitor the vendor’s performance and ensure timely delivery. You took a very risk-averse, protective approach to the relationship, but now, as the project is progressing, you are wondering if there is something you could do with the vendor to actually benefit the project instead of just protecting it.

Assignment Guidelines: Create a 1-page addendum to your risk management plan that describes how you will modify the plans or create new plans relative to that vendor to create an opportunity that will result in lower costs, earlier delivery, higher quality, or other positive impacts. Also, answer the following questions: What can you change in your plans to create an opportunity? What would that opportunity be? What is the probability that this opportunity could occur? What is the impact? What are the risks (adverse effects) that are introduced by this change in plans? How will you communicate this change to the vendor?