Project Risks

A risk is something that may occur that will affect the project. Don't mix this up with an issue, which is a risk that has happened, i.e. it is affecting the project already.

The following risks to the project have been identified and will be added to the project Risk and Issues Log. This list is not necessarily exhaustive and, as the feasibility study progresses, any further risks identified will be added to the log.

The nature of the core processes may mean that a phased approach is not practical
Staff concerns could potentially lead to personnel issues
(A staff representative has been included as a stakeholder, which should help resolve concerns)
Staff may take holidays and be unavailable at critical times

For obvious reasons, any business change can cause concern amongst the operational staff. They may fear losing their job if productivity improvements are on the agenda. They may fear a change to their jobs that they may not be able to cope with.

Although the project manager's responsibility, it is a key facet of the role of a BA to help ensure that these fears are put to rest, as far as possible. Active and repeated user involvement, as advocated by SSADM helps, as does clear, open and frequent communication.

An intranet web page, kept up to date with news, or frequent email newsletters to staff are ways that this can be achieved.