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(U) Delivering a Project? Learn About Risk Management and the
RiskNav Tool
FROM:
System Engineering Office (S01A1)
Run Date: 08/11/2005
(U) If meeting the customer's stated requirements on-time and within cost is important to the
success of your project, there is a process and a tool that can help.
(U) OK, so you say that you are feeling overwhelmed? Dreading the thought of adding yet
another "process" to your already lengthy "To Do" list? So you ask yourself, "Why is Risk
Management important?"
(U) All projects have risks; they come with the territory. Ignoring risks all but guarantees failure
to meet time, budget or performance measures. By applying the Risk Management Process, you
will be able to manage the project risks in a manner that will mitigate the potential adverse
impacts on the project.
(U) Risks may present themselves in any number of ways including: schedule slippages caused
by non-delivery of a crucial component, cost overruns caused by the unanticipated increase in
the scope of the project, or performance problems when a component part does not meet
expected tolerances during testing. Risks can also be environmental: the developed capability is
to be deployed to a ship, under adverse weather conditions, or to a combat zone. While
surprises add interest to our personal lives, they have no place in a well-managed project.
(U) Good project and program managers (PMs) and risk managers (RMs) plan early for risk
management. The Risk Management Process includes three major activities: Risk Planning, Risk
Assessment and Risk Resolution as shown in Figure 1 below. A detailed explanation of each
activity in the process, with templates to make your job easier can be found on the Risk
Management Process webpage. Risk Facilitators assist PMs and RMs by using the RiskNav tool to
monitor project/program risks identified during risk management planning.
(U) Figure 1: Risk Management Process
(U//FOUO) RiskNav was identified as the tool-of-choice in 2002 after a comparison study of six
risk management products. It is the only Risk Management tool currently on the NSA/CSS
Enterprise Solutions (NES) Baseline. RiskNav has more than 450 registered users, with 120 in
SIGINT, and is used for programs managed by the Program Executive Office (PEO), programs in
the Information Technology Directorate as well as those in the SIGINT Directorate. The PEO Risk
Management Board, Enterprise Software Engineering Services and the SIGINT Systems
Engineering Office actively endorse it.
(U)//FOUO) RiskNav is a web-based tool accessed from the SIGINT Systems Engineering Office
(SSEO) Risk Management web page that allows facilitators, RMs and PMs to view information online and to print project risk reports. RiskNav provides formatted screens for facilitators and RMs
to enter information about risks, document risk assessments, perform risk analysis and
justification, estimate potential impact, determine probability, document handling strategy
plans, and monitor and evaluate mitigation actions. The tool prioritizes risks based on the users'
input. The current version 5.0, released 30 March 2005, allows each project to control access to
its own risk data and provides enhanced management reporting capabilities.
(U//FOUO) The SSEO serves as the ombudsman for risk management across the Enterprise,
providing process definition, procedures, templates, risk management training, a help desk, as
well as RiskNav. In addition, organizations have Risk Facilitators who coordinate with Risk
Managers for all of the projects in their organizations. A detailed explanation of the various risk
management roles can be found on the Risk Management Process webpage.
(U//FOUO) NEED TRAINING? To schedule RiskNav training, and/or to obtain a login ID for the
RiskNav tool, send an email to the Risk Management Help Desk at: DL SID_RM_HELP. We look
forward to helping you!
(U//FOUO) The poc for training on the Risk Management and the Risk Nav tool is
@nsa).
(U//FOUO)
contributed to this article.
"(U//FOUO) SIDtoday articles may not be republished or reposted outside NSANet
without the consent of S0121 (DL sid_comms)."
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TOP SECRET // SI / TK // REL TO USA AUS CAN GBR NZL
DERIVED FROM: NSA/CSSM 1-52, DATED 08 JAN 2007 DECLASSIFY ON: 20320108