Requirements and Risks

ACME Development Corporation (ADC), a developer of custom homes and apartment complexes, has decided to standardize its project management practices and processes across its national organization. The goal is to standardize with one single project-scheduling tool and to have the tool installed and be operational within 90 days. To this end, the company is forming a central project management office (PMO). Until now, project managers (there are 40 presently on staff distributed all over the United States) have been able to use whatever scheduling tool they liked, within their budget constraints. They have also been able to buy equipment and engage contractors at will. The PMO will be determining one scheduling tool that all PMs will be expected to use, exclusive of any other scheduling tools. The PMO will also develop and implement a standardized procurement process. Because the PMs are located across the United States, a Web-based solution seems likely to be the most successful tool.
As the project manager, you have been charged with implementing the procurement process, and you decide that your first project will be purchasing the scheduling tool for ACME Development Corporation.

Individual Portion: Part 1

Create a risk template by listing the risks that you think are appropriate for ADC.
You may need to make assumptions about the project. Just be sure to document them in the description of the risk.
When identifying your risks, be sure to consider the following:

Project and product risks
External and internal risks
Project budget risks
Scheduling risks
Resource risks
Product quality risks

Be sure to categorize and quantify all of the identified risks.
Click on the following link to download and view a copy of an example risk template.
When you have finished, upload your file to the Small Group Discussion Area for peer review.

Individual Portion: Part 2

Next, create a weighted scorecard list of functional requirements for the scheduling tool you need to purchase for ADC.

Begin by reviewing each group member’s completed risk template.

If you notice any errors or contradictions, be sure to explain the issues thoroughly to each member before proceeding to risk responses and the creation of the weighted scorecard.

Use the Small Group Discussion Area to come to a consensus on the risk responses and how the weighted scorecard should be completed.

The members of the group should decide the following:

What risks and requirements must be included
What weight each risk or requirement should be given

Place each of your requirement statements, one per row, in the Requirements column.
Document any project assumptions you make in footnotes.
When the group has finished, the Score and Weighted Score columns should not be blank.
Click on the following link to download and view a copy of an example weighted scorecard.