Risk Assessment
Purpose
The purpose of this document is to provide a plan to identify and manage risks. Risk
management is an important part of project management and is one of the nine knowledge areas.
Management Plan
To manage risks, we will use the following procedure:
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8.
Identify the risk
Identify the phase that the risk is in.
Enter the risk into our team’s risk management plan.
Determine the risk’s probability of occurring and the severity to the project if the risk
occurs.
Enter the risk probability and severity.
Determine a strategy for managing the risk from the Risk Management Strategy section.
Mitigate or otherwise deal with the risk.
Track the risk
We will deal with the risks by using the most appropriate risk management strategy. These
strategies are:
1. Acceptance – If this strategy is chosen, we simple simply accept the consequence of a
risk if it does occur. This strategy will be chosen if the cost to deal with the risk is
greater than the cost of the risk occurring. This will also be the default strategy for any
risk that occurs that we have not identified.
2. Avoidance – If this strategy is chosen, we will take steps to avoid the risk all-together.
3. Transference – If this strategy is chosen, we will transfer the risk to a third party. This is
the strategy that we have chosen for dealing with some park specific problems.
4. Mitigation – If this strategy is chosen, we will take steps to decrease either the severity of
the risk and/ or the probability that the risk will occur. We can accomplish this by
making contingency plans.
Risks that may impact our project:
Diagram 1: Risk Matrix
A. End User Acceptance: The most threatening risk to the ThrillTracker project is the
acceptance by the end users of our product, the park patrons. There are several factors that could
cause patrons to be unwilling to use our product. Patrons may have fears about wearing an RFID
pass, as they may feel they’re privacy is being violated as they’re tracked through the park. The
end users may also be unwilling to take the time to learn how to use the new features that we’ll
be implementing inside the parks. Patrons may also be unwilling to pay the extra fee for the
premium features, an important feature for the profitability of our project. If the patrons are
unwilling to use our product though, the parks won’t purchase it.
Mitigation Action: The most effective ways to mitigate this risk are through research and
marketing. Soft surveys performed by the Blue Team have already shown that there are park
goers that would be willing to pay for the premium features we’re proposing. Our experts have
agreed that our findings likely represent a large portion of park goers, but additional research can
be done to show that these people are not in the minority. Research can also be done to find
specific concerns of the potential end users and ways to make the product as appealing as
possible. Through marketing we can promote the product to the masses to increase the overall
interest in our product and its features. We will have to accept, however, that ThrillTracker won’t
please every patron.
B. Technology Incompatibility: As with any project, if the technologies being used simply
won’t work together, then the plan will have to be modified. The ThrillTracker system involves
the interaction of a lot of different hardware devices. In the event that an incompatibility is
discovered, it could cause us to have to cancel or modify a feature, find another device to replace
the incompatible one, or develop a new piece of hardware altogether.
Mitigation Action: All of the technology that we plan to use with the ThrillTracker comes from
off the shelf. As we’re not developing any new hardware devices, the likelihood of
incompatibilities should already be minimal. Through research, development, and testing, we
should be able to minimize the probability that this risk becomes a problem.
C. Network Outage: Our system relies upon the constant transmission of data across the park
between devices. The more features we link to our network, the more we have relying upon it. If
the network went down, none of our products features would be operational. This could cause
certain things within the park to grind to a halt, and would likely frustrate the park patrons.
Mitigation Action: The best way to protect a park from a network failure would be through
regular maintenance and the use of redundant systems. Redundant systems would allow our
system to remain fully operational in the event of a single failure. Regular maintenance would
help to us find and correct potential problems before they actually caused a failure or an outage.
D. Liabilities: It is possible that through misuse of our system someone could be subject to
personal or financial harm. It is also possible that some people could interpret certain features of
our product as providing guarantees of certain benefits. In either case if we were subject to a
lawsuit it would hurt both our budget and our finances.
Mitigation Action: Through good marketing we can reduce the likeliness that people will
misunderstand what our product will and will not do. By combining this with a sound disclaimer,
we should be able to significantly reduce our liabilities.
E. Failing to Keep on Schedule: Making the deadlines is a problem with most all projects. Our
project involves the development of a lot of software, as well as the testing of both the hardware
and the software. With our project, we have theme parks that are going to be counting on having
our product for their patrons by a certain time. If we fail to deliver the product in time, they’ll be
losing money, and we’ll be losing money.
Mitigation Action: The best way to ensure we deliver our product on schedule is to carefully
manage our development time. This can be done through the use of project management tools.
We plan to use Microsoft Project for the development of ThrillTracker. By carefully breaking
down all of the tasks that must be completed it becomes easier to develop and accurate
achievable schedule. Using Microsoft Project we track our progress on individual tasks, making
it easier for us to track our overall progress and keep ourselves on schedule.
F. RFID Gate Failure: The ThrillTracker system relies upon the use of RFID gates to track
patrons at attractions throughout the park. The gates are also used to restrict access to the
attractions. This prevents people that are too small or young from riding rides they aren’t
permitted on and allows premium patrons access to the rides at the correct times. If a gate fails,
nobody can pass through that gate. This would affect anyone at park trying to access that
attraction.
Mitigation Action: The impact of this risk can be minimized by placing more than one gate the
entrance to every attraction. This way, if one gate fails, patrons can still get in line for the ride by
using the other gate. This would inconvenience patrons that have to wait longer to get through
the gate, but the ride wouldn’t have to close. As with any hardware, we can reduce the likeliness
of the RFID gates failing through regular maintenance. By also providing the parks with a supply
of replacement gates, we can ensure that any malfunctioning gate can be quickly replaced.
G. Kiosk Lines: Many of the features that ThrillTracker will offer will be provided through the
service kiosks throughout the park. The availability of these kiosks is an integral part in
providing the services that the patrons will expecting. If patrons are taking too long at the kiosks
or if there aren’t enough kiosks available patrons will become frustrated with our product. One of
our projects objectives is to reduce the number of people that are standing in lines. If people are
having to stand in line at kiosks to get our services, then we’re defeating our own purpose.
Mitigation Action: The simplest way to reduce this risk is by ensuring we provide a sufficient
supply of kiosks that get positioned well throughout the park. In conjunction with this, we can
develop fast user friendly kiosk applications to reduce the amount of time it takes each patron to
use the kiosks. Through research, and testing, we can optimize our kiosk applications and
determine the ideal number of kiosks for each park.
H. Setup Cost: The ThrillTracker will require a lot of hardware to be setup across throughout
the park. This cost will vary from park to park. The more expensive it is for us to set up, the
more it’s going to cost the park. The higher the setup costs are, the harder its going to be for us to
sell to the park.
Mitigation Action: Many parks having some sort of existing network infrastructure in place
already. We can reduce the cost of setting of system up by maximizing our usage of this existing
park infrastructure. The best way for us to reduce this risk further is simply through our return on
investment plan. If we can provide projections to convince parks that our system will bring in
enough revenue to cover the setup costs, then we can avert this risk.
I. Privacy Concerns: Whenever people are being tracked, some of them will have concerns.
While using RFID to track patrons will give us a significantly better means for collecting data
than existing methods, it will also raise greater privacy concerns. Turnstiles, which most parks
currently use, are stationary and they don’t identify who’s passing through them. Our system
involves the use of a pass that is tied to the person carrying it that they would carry around with
them everywhere. This could cause patrons to not attend parks that have our system in place.
Mitigation Action: The best way to reduce this risk is through education and marketing. By
educating people about the technology we’re using and how it works we quell some of the fears
that they might have. Beyond this we need to use marketing to convince patrons that the benefits
of our system outweigh their concerns.
J. RFID Pass Malfunction: Our system revolves around everyone in the park having their RFID
pass on them at all times. While the passes are generally pretty durable, with enough of them in
the park some are bound to get lost or broken. If a pass is lost or broken, then that patron cannot
use any of the ThrillTracker services.
Mitigation Action: The best way to reduce this risk is by having the park provide easy pass
replacement services at information centers across the park.
K. Park Remodeling Costs: Many parks have very elaborate structures set up to house the lines
leading up to their attractions. The ThrillTracker system relies upon the installation of RFID
gates at the entrances and exits to these rides. In addition, to accommodate our premium
ThrillTracker Fast Pass patrons, the major attractions at these parks would have to have separate
entrance for premium patrons. Some of these lines are unlikely to be able handle the addition of
our RFID gates and an additional entrance. Many parks would likely have to redesign the lines at
their rides to accommodate these features that we plan to sell them.
Mitigation Action: This is a risk that we will most likely have to accept. Some parks may be
able to handle our system with their existing line structures, while others may not. Parks that
that cannot accommodate certain features our system at certain rides can choose to not
implement those features at those features at those rides. If a park deems it necessary to remodel
at certain attractions, the costs will have to be born by the park. We will minimize the risk that
parks will deem it unprofitable to remodel through our park ROI.