Project plan (3): Risk analysis

Table 1 Project Risks

Risk	Probability	Impact	Score	Notes
Loss of key personnel	1	5	5	There has been a change in the personnel involved (Beebe Chen has re-located). Allison Ridge and Debbie Cooke are now the new project leaders. Both have delivered many high profile projects both for the university and elsewhere.
Project is over ambitious	2	1	2	Unlikely. The project is estimated to take 12 weeks based on iCREATE’s timings. If we begin on 1st April this gives us 22 weeks to new launch date of 31 Aug.
Organisational strategy changes	1	3	3	Senior management commitment to the plan makes this unlikely.
Technical problems with connecting to systems	2	5	10	This project is based on existing sound technology. Any issues in this risk area are likely to be minor.
Cultural issues	3	2	6	No adverse objections have been raised to date, however some objections are inevitable and these will be addressed ASAP to when they are raised.
Failure to communicate and promote to audience	1	3	3	A comms plan will be out in place to actively communicate the game to students. Comms to be sent out week 1 of September in preparation for enrolment a few weeks later.

Table 2 Game Risks

Risk	Details	Contingency
Games interface is not ready and working on time	This could cause the project to be delayed in launch until 2012’s intake of students	Constant weekly updates from I-Create. Monthly blogs. Meetings should keep the project on track
Incorrect or confusing information sent out in the letter	Hard to get users playing and interacting with the game	Unlikely as the Head of Marketing is now one of the project leaders. All information before it goes live will need final sign off/approval by key parties
Communications issues	Miss communication about what it’s for and about. This could lead to students having issues with the functionality and the usefulness of the game overall.	Make sure all parties are clear what this is. Project leader’s to showcase this at key stages at management meetings to keep buy in high.

Success plan

Table 3 Success Risks

Success	Contingency
Too many students log on and the game crashes.	Web Manager will make sure all relevant functionality is in place to make sure this doesn’t happen. Any success will be managed appropriately. As a University we are used to running competitions on-line which cause spikes in traffic so we do not envisage any successes to be able to be viewed negatively

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