PROCESO PRODUCTIVO

The risk management plan describes how risk identification, qualitative and quantitative analysis, response planning, monitoring, and control will be

structured and performed during the project life cycle. The risk management plan may include the following.

– Methodology. Defines the approaches, tools, and data sources that may be used to perform risk management on this project. Different types of

assessments may be appropriate, depending upon the project stage, amount of information available, and flexibility remaining in risk management.

– Roles and responsibilities. Defines the lead, support, and risk management team membership for each type of action in the risk management plan. Risk management teams organized outside of the project office may be able to perform more independent, unbiased risk analyses of project than those from the sponsoring project team.

– Budgeting. Establishes a budget for risk management for the project. – Timing. Defines how often the risk management process will be performed

throughout the project life cycle. Results should be developed early enough to affect decisions. The decisions should be revisited periodically during project execution.

– Scoring and interpretation. The scoring and interpretation methods appropriate for the type and timing of the qualitative and quantitative risk analysis being performed. Methods and scoring must be determined in advance to ensure consistency.

– Thresholds. The threshold criteria for risks that will be acted upon, by whom, and in what manner. The project owner, customer, or sponsor may have a different risk threshold. The acceptable threshold forms the target against which the project team will measure the effectiveness of the risk response plan execution.

– Reporting formats. Describes the content and format of the risk response plan. Defines how the results of the risk management processes will be documented, analyzed, and communicated to the project team, internal and external stakeholders, sponsors, and others.

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– Tracking. Documents how all facets of risk activities will be recorded for the benefit of the current project, future needs, and lessons learned. Documents if and how risk processes will be audited.

4.10 Scheduling

Any project can be completed, given an infinite amount of time and resources. Realistically, the amount of time available for project development is always finite.

In fact, in most cases it is less than the project manager considers sufficient. Few projects are completed ahead of time; many projects overrun their schedule. The project schedule is one of the most important parts of the project

development plan. The plan includes:

– Scheduling of development activities and

– Scheduling of project resources, particularly people The project development plan describes in detail:

– how the project manager plans to develop the project – what resources will be required and

– how these resources will be applied

No matter how well the project schedule is prepared, that schedule is useless unless it is adhered to. It is the project manager's responsibility to withstand pressure and to assure that the project is developed in an orderly fashion,

according to the schedule. Whenever circumstances change, the project schedule should then be updated to reflect the new situation.

A schedule is a list of: – Activities and

– Anticipated time of implementation of these activities There are many ways of representing a schedule:

– Lists of activities, – Diagrams,

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The most common methods of schedule representation are : – precedence network diagrams (such as PERT), – Gantt charts and

– lists of milestones

4.11 Guidelines for successful Planning

A common failure in many kinds of planning is that the plan is never really implemented. Instead, all focus is on writing a plan document.

Most of the following guidelines help to ensure that the planning process is carried out completely and is implemented completely or, deviations from the intended plan are recognized and managed accordingly.

i. Involve the Right People in the Planning Process

It's critical that all parts of the system continue to exchange feedback in order to function effectively. This is true no matter what type of system.

When planning, get input from everyone who will be responsible to carry out parts of the plan, along with representative from groups who will be affected by the plan.

Of course, people involved should be responsible to review and authorize the plan.

ii. Write Down the Planning Information and Communicate it Widely New managers, in particular, often forget that others don't know what these managers know.

Even if managers do communicate their intentions and plans verbally, chances are that others won't completely hear or understand what the manager wants done. Also, as plans change, it's extremely difficult to remember who is supposed to be doing what and according to which version of the plan.

Key stakeholders (employees, management, board members, sponsors, customers, clients, etc.) may request copies of various types of plans.

Therefore, it's critical to write plans down and communicate them widely. iii. Goals and Objectives Should Be SMARTER

• Specific • Measurable

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• Acceptable • Realistic • Time frame • Extending • Rewarding

iv. Build in Accountability (Regularly Review Who's Doing What and By When?)

Plans should specify who is responsible for achieving each result, including goals and objectives.

Dates should be set for completion of each result, as well. Responsible parties should regularly review status of the plan.

Be sure to have someone of authority "sign off" on the plan, including putting their signature on the plan to indicate they agree with and support its contents. Include responsibilities in policies, procedures, job descriptions, performance review processes, etc.

v. Note Deviations from the Plan and Re-plan Accordingly

It's OK to deviate from the plan. The plan is not a set of rules. It's an overall guideline. It is equally important to notice deviations and adjust the plan accordingly.

vi. Evaluate Planning Process and the Plan

During the planning process, regularly collect feedback from participants. Do they agree with the planning process? If not, what don't they like and how could it be done better?

In large, ongoing planning processes (such as strategic planning, business planning, project planning, etc.), it's critical to collect this kind of feedback regularly.

During regular reviews of implementation of the plan, assess if goals are being achieved or not. If not, were goals realistic? Do responsible parties have the resources necessary to achieve the goals and objectives?

Should goals be changed? Should more priority be placed on achieving the goals? What needs to be done?

Write down how the planning process could have been done better. File it away and read it the next time you conduct the planning process.

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vii. Recurring Planning Process is at Least as Important as Plan Document Far too often, primary emphasis is placed on the plan document.

This is extremely unfortunate because the real treasure of planning is the planning process itself.

During planning, planners learn a great deal from ongoing analysis, reflection, discussion, debates and dialogue around issues and goals in the system. The ongoing communications are what sensitize people to understanding and following the values and behaviors described

viii. Nature of the Process Should Be Compatible to Nature of Planners A prominent example of this type of potential problem is when planners don't prefer the "top down" or "bottom up", "linear" type of planning

For example, going from general to specific along the process of an

environmental scan, SWOT analysis, mission/vision/values, issues and goals, strategies, objectives, timelines, etc.

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LECTURE # 27