Checklist for Conducting of Risk Analysis (pT1)

Note: The SEM Guidelines "Project Initiation" cover both the actual project initiation to SEM and the check of the tender. This checklist has been based very substantially on these Guidelines, but deals with the various aspects of the Initiation phase in greater detail. Five key areas are distinguished:
  • Task definition
  • Feasibility
  • Available experience
  • Determination of effort and costs
  • Project management
  • and risk determination in the narrower sense.

Task definition

  • Can the salient features of the required product be identified from the preliminary requirements and the analysis of these requirements?
  • Can the scope of the task be restricted?
  • How complex is the task?
  • Do the existing documents provide a basis for drawing up a software requirements specification or a tender?

Feasibility

  • Has the task been broken down into work packages?
  • Has rough effort planning been conducted?
  • Has rough deadline planning been conducted?
  • Has the planned solution been tested on a technical level?
  • Will sufficient personnel be available at the right times?

Available experience

  • Is the necessary expertise available for analyzing the requirements (domain know-how, analysts)?
  • Do personnel have experience of the planned hardware / operating system environment?
  • Do personnel have experience of the planned system architecture and software platform (client/server, DB, real time, etc.)?
  • Do personnel have experience of the planned methods (analysis and design, OO, programming language, GUI, etc.)?
  • Do personnel have experience of tools (CASE, CM, test tools, etc.)?
  • Does the envisaged project manager already have experience of managing similar projects?
  • Can missing know-how be acquired in good time through training?

Determination of effort and costs

  • Has the effort estimation been conducted and documented using an approved method?
  • Has effort for project management and CM been taken into account explicitly?
  • Has effort for QA (reviews, tests) been taken into account explicitly?
  • Has effort for building up know-how been taken into account explicitly?
  • Have travel costs been taken into account explicitly?
  • Has the estimation of the effort been influenced by pricing and deadline specifications?
  • Have costs for the necessary software tools and hardware been taken into account?
  • Have costs for the acceptance procedure been taken into account?
  • Have costs for warranty, operations support etc. been taken into account?
  • Have risk factors for costing been taken into account explicitly?

Project management

  • Has a project manager been defined?
  • Was the project manager involved in initiating the project?
  • Can tried and tested solutions be used for planning and CM?

Risk determination

  • Do critical requirements exist and where are these to be found (deadlines, functions, performance, standards, etc.)?
  • If the project is being executed in conjunction with partners, has the type of cooperation and responsibility been planned / defined exactly? Are the partners already known?
  • If outsourcing is being used, do any risks exist as regards compliance with deadlines or quality (e.g. unknown suppliers); does this have any serious consequences for the project?
  • Can the project be handled at several locations? What problems could arise as a result?
  • Is the system relevant in terms of safety and security; can errors in operation have serious consequences?
  • What is the situation as regards warranties and liabilities as well as other high-level commercial and technical risks?

Siemens AG Österreich, Program and Systems Engineering PSE
Contact: stdSEM Webmaster
Last modified: 08/27/98 15:41
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