Risk Management Planning Exercise

Question: Using the techniques described in Chapter 11, CPM 4e and Chapter 11, PMBOK 6e, for below case study identify five threats and five opportunities (a total of 10 risks), one each for the different types of risk responses (e.g., accept, enhance, mitigate, share, transfer, exploit, avoid escalate).

Read the following scenario:

Dr. Bili Mattes, the Provost for Harrisburg University (HU), is hosting a campus event and she wants to ensure it is a complete success. Your group has been asked to manage risks associated with the planning for the event. The project team leader, Virat Kohli, is new to project management and has about 6 months to plan and execute the project. The budget for the entire project is $20,000.

An outdoor site venue will be used for the event, which includes a live band for the entertainment. The finance department has allocated funds, additional funding is needed (through sponsorship of the event and by selling tickets) to meet the total cost burden of the event. Promoting the event will be important to raising funds.

The outdoor event site used must be returned in the condition it was found. Security is also important as alcohol will be served. Neighbors are already concerned about noise and vandalism.

Dr. Mattes has a risk neutral personality. She is the project sponsor and has asked that $500 be used from the project budget to manage risks. The university has a culture of risk seeking (as evidenced by their recent decision to pursue e-Sports).

For this event, the senior management at HU has no tolerance (or appetite) for risks that can impact the project schedule. "The schedule must be protected", Dr. Mattes stated, "because we can't hold an event any later than the planned weekend." Senior management has high tolerance for risks that can impact the project budget. "We've come through the challenging times of the early years and are now in great shape, particularly with the high enrollment numbers of foreign students", said Joe Dokes, Chief Financial Officer at HU.

For this 6-month long project, Dr. Mattes has asked for risk and other project status reports each month. These are low-key meetings using the relevant elements of the risk register. Dr. Mattes is not familiar with the risk register, so it will be important for your group to spend some time explaining in the RMP how to use it, and to provide examples of how to create a proper risk statement.