Assessing Risk Impact

3 factors affect the consequences which are likely if a risk does obtain its nature, its timing and its scope. The nature of the risk is indicates the problems which are likely if it occurs example for  a poorly describe external interface to customer hardware a technical risk will preclude previously testing  and design and will likely lead to system integration problems late in a project. The scope of a risk merge the severity just how serious is it?  How many customers are harmed or with its overall distribution how much of the project will be affected or.  In the final the timing of a risk considers when and for how long the impact will be felt.  In most cases a project manager might need the bad news to occur as soon as possible but in some cases the longer the delay and the better.

By returning once more to the risk analysis approach proposed by the United State Air Force the following steps are recommended to determine the overall consequences of a risk.

1.    Determine the average possibility of occurrence value for each and every risk component.

2.    By using determine the impact for each component which is based on the criteria shown.

3.    Complete the risk table and analyze the results as define in the preceding sections.

The risk analysis techniques and projection applied iteratively as the software project proceeds.   The project team should again visit the risk table at regular intervals, reevaluating each and every risk to determine when new circumstances cause its possibility and impact to change.  With a consequence of this activity it may be must to add new risks to the table and remove some risks which are no longer relevant and change the relative positioning of still others.