LinksBRAM Risk Assessment Methodology
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Best Practice Software Quality Assurance
Nature of Application or Project
We use the following risk assessment process:
'If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure.' - George W. Bush
The classic approach to get you started is a Risk Severity * Likelihood Matrix
|
Severity*Likelihood |
High Likelihood |
Medium Likelihood |
Low Likelihood |
|
High Severity |
A |
A |
B |
|
Medium Severity |
A |
B |
C |
|
Low Severity |
B |
C |
C |
Alternatively,
| Consequence Scale: Indicates the Impact of the risk on the objective | |||||
| Likelihood Scale: Provides an assessment of the Likelihood of the risk occuring | |||||
| Likelihood | |||||
| 1 Rare | 2 Unlikely | 3 Moderate | 4 Moderate | 5 Almost Certain | |
| May occur only in exceptional circumstances | Could occur at some time | Might occur at some time | Will probably occur in most circumstances | Is is expected to occur in most circumstances | |
| 5 Catastrophic | |||||
| Distaster with the potential to end the objective. No achievement staisfied. | 12 | 18 | 21 | 24 | 25 |
| 4 Major | |||||
| Critical events affecting the achievement of the objective. Needs significant senior management attention | 10 | 14 | 19 | 22 | 23 |
| 3 Moderate | |||||
| Event with significance, additional management attention required | 6 | 9 | 15 | 17 | 20 |
| 2 Minor | |||||
| Event that can be managed under normal operating conditions & requires moderate levels of resource & management input. | 3 | 5 | 8 | 13 | 16 |
| 1 Insignificant | |||||
| Consequences can be readily absorbed but management effort is still required to minimise their impact | 1 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 11 |
The BAL Risk Assessment Methodology BRAM is a staged approach started by customising the below standard questionnaire to the customer's business specifics. The questionnaire is then distributed and collated from all stake-holders into a stake-holder matrix. Each of the categories and questions within categories have different weights customisable.
Customised versions of the BRAM are available for:
A. Staffing
1. Application knowledge - have the staff on this Project worked on similar applications before?
a. ...... All have worked on same application
b. ...... Some have worked on same application
c. ...... Some have worked on related applications
d. ...... No one has worked on the same or related applications
2. What is the level of technical experience? (for staff that require technical experience)
a. ...... All have experience
b. ...... Most have experience
c. ...... Some have experience
d. ...... Little or no experience
3. Project Manager:
a. ...... Full time, experienced
b. ...... Part time, experienced
c. ...... Inexperienced
d. ...... No-assigned Project Manager
4. Service/Process/CSC (Customer Service Centre) involvement
a. ...... Service/Process/CSC assigned full time on the Project
b. ...... Service/Process/CSC will be involved
c. ...... Service/Process/CSC will keep in touch
d. ...... Service/Process/CSC not involved
5. Resource Availability (identified and agreed to):
a. ...... All team members assigned
b. ...... Most team members assigned
c. ...... Some team members assigned
d. ...... No team members assigned
a. ...... Very good operations environment
b. ...... Good operations environment
c. ...... Fair operations environment
d. ...... Poor operations environment
2. Development Environment
a. ...... Very good working conditions
b. ...... Good working conditions
c. ...... Fair working conditions
d. ...... Poor working conditions
3. Project Team Location:
a. ...... One location
b. ...... More than 75% of project team functions in a central site
c. ...... Project Team remote (at a single site)
d. ...... Multiple remote sites
4. Integration and Testing Environment:
a. ...... All networking, software and hardware already working
b. ...... New software needed, good Installation Management
c. ...... New software, new hardware, new networking, good Installation
Management
d. ...... New software, new hardware, new networking, poor Installation
Management
5. Product Management Commitment:
a. ...... Excellent commitment
b. ...... Good commitment but Product Management not enthusiastic
c. ...... Moderate commitment but Product Management has doubts about the product
d. ...... Poor commitment � Product Management would not want to use the product
6. Prior Project Experience � by Product Management, Service Implementation and Operations:
a. ...... Positive experience, successful large project
b. ...... Positive experience, successful small project
c. ...... No prior experience
d. ...... Dissatisfied with prior project
7. Business Potential:
a. ...... Highest priority Project
b. ...... Moderate potential, good management support
c. ...... Moderate potential, poor management support
d. ...... Low potential, poor management support
1. Feasibility Study:
a. ...... Complete
b. ...... Incomplete
c. ...... Sections vague or misleading
d. ...... Not done
2. Customer Need for the Project:
a. ...... Justified
b. ...... Good return on investment
c. ...... High priority
d. ...... Critical to the business
3. System Resource Availability:
a. ...... Exclusive team use
b. ...... Shared - high priority
c. ...... Shared - low priority
d. ...... Not yet established
4. Are Success Criteria Clearly Known/Deliverables Specified:
a. ...... Yes
b. ...... Deliverables identified, not specified
c. ...... No deliverables, quantified objectives
d. ...... No deliverables, criteria to be established
5. Project Responsibilities:
a. ...... Clearly documented and accepted
b. ...... Clearly documented, reluctant acceptance
c. ...... Documented, but Customer will have difficulty
d. ...... Not clearly documented or understood
6. Role of Pilot:
a. ...... Project Pilot Customer Driven
b. ...... Pilot Customer(s) Identified and strongly committed
c. ...... Pilot Customer(s) Identified but commitment weak
d. ...... Failed Pilot � Poor Customer Liaison
7. Dependencies (Outside of the Project's Control e.g. networking, sales, activation):
a. ...... No dependencies
b. ...... Minor dependencies
c. ...... Major dependencies
d. ...... Critical dependencies
1. Estimates � Schedule, Cost, Quality Reviews and Risk Assessment:
a. ...... Excellent
b. ...... Good
c. ...... Moderate
d. ...... Poor
2. Project Plan:
a. ...... Documented, thorough
b. ...... Detailed but not documented well
c. ...... Sketchy
d. ...... Incomplete or non-existent
3. Adequate Standards for Project:
a. ...... Existing/proven standards will be used
b. ...... New standards must be used
c. ...... Standards must be written
d. ...... No standards or poor standards will be used
4. Quality of Most Recent Project Definition Document: (e.g. Product Requirements, Business Case and Business Process Plan)
a. ...... Authored by Product Management, standard detail
b. ...... Authored by Product Management, incomplete
c. ...... Authored by Development - standard detail
d. ...... Authored by Development - incomplete
1. Application Justification:
a. ...... First year benefits exceed project cost
b. ...... Moderate Return On Investment but 2 year pay back
c. ...... High ROI but long term pay back
d. ...... Marginal justification or based on corporate politics or mandate
2. Project Duration from Start to Production:
a. ...... 3- 9 months
b. ...... 10-12 months
c. ...... 13-18 months
d. ...... Over 18 months
3. Is This a New Application or a Conversion:
a. ...... New application
b. ...... Converting data (e.g. from one system to another)
c. ...... Converting process, data and code (well documented system)
d. ...... Converting multiple, poorly documented sub systems (process, data and code)
4. Application Difficulty:
a. ...... Straightforward
b. ...... Moderate
c. ...... Complex
d. ...... Exceptionally Complex
5. Documentation of Specifications and Project:
a. ...... Complete
b. ...... Good
c. ...... Poor
d. ...... Missing or incomplete or not authorised
6. Project Schedule:
a. ...... Schedule a non-issue
b. ...... Schedule not significant, but difficult
c. ...... Schedule important and difficult
d. ...... Schedule critical to business
7. Design
a. ...... Standard design practice
b. ...... Enhanced design practice
c. ...... Leading edge design practice (all new technology)
d. ...... Bleeding edge (dangerously ambitious) design practice
8. Project Size - Peak Personnel:
a. ...... 1-5
b. ...... 6-10
c. ...... 11-20
d. ...... 20 plus
9. State-of-the-Art (e.g. Operations, Service/Process, Products and Techniques):
a. ...... Standard approach
b. ...... Standard approaches but new to the Project
c. ...... Standard approaches but new to the Organisation
d. ...... Untried approaches
10. Changes to Requirements:
a. ...... Fixed specifications
b. ...... Normal Product Management change requests
c. ...... Dynamic business and not subject to government regulations
d. ...... Dynamic business and government regulations - high risk of change
11. Implementation Impact (on the Customer):
a. ...... Can be phased by Customer (some User, some function)
b. ...... Can be phased by Customer (some User, all function)
c. ...... All Users, some function
d. ...... All Users, all function
Life is a risk. Diane Von Furstenberg
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