Course Project Overview
Introduction
For this course, you will complete a risk management plan as part of the Course Project. In
Project Risk Management (PROJ420) you will choose a project idea will be submitted in the
Week 1 Module Project Idea discussion where your instructor will respond with an approval or a
request for additional information before approving. You will develop various sections of the
risk management plan based on the processes in risk management. The risk management plan
will be completed and submitted in parts due each week throughout the course. Your final risk
management plan will be submitted during Week 8.
Some sample project ideas include the following:
Starting a business project can include opening a coffee shop, comedy club, restaurant, clothing
store, etc. This type of project usually relies on marketing analysis and developing a plan to meet
a consumer need. This type of project can typically take anywhere from five months to nine
months to complete. These projects rely on governmental authorities to provide a business
license. Some typical risks include political risk, product risk, market risk, competition risk,
environmental risk, and resource risk. A possible project schedule is as follows:
Task Name Duration Start Finish
New Business 124 days Mon 1/3/00 Thu 6/22/00
Phase 1 – Strategic Plan 23 days Mon 1/3/00 Wed 2/2/00
Self-Assessment 3 days Mon 1/3/00 Wed 1/5/00
Define the Opportunity 10 days Thu 1/6/00 Wed 1/19/00
Evaluate Business Approach 4 days Thu 1/20/00 Tue 1/25/00
Evaluate Potential Risks and
Rewards Fri 1/21/00 Mon 1/31/00
Review and modify the
strategic plan 2 days Tue 2/1/00 Wed 2/2/00
Confirm decision to proceed 0 days Wed 2/2/00 Wed 2/2/00
Phase 2 – Define the Business
Opportunity 27 days Thu 2/3/00 Fri 3/10/00
Define the Market 13 days Thu 2/3/00 Mon 2/21/00
Identify Needed Materials and
Supplies 7 days Tue 2/22/00 Wed 3/1/00
Evaluate Potential Risks and 6 days Thu 3/2/00 Thu 3/9/00
Rewards
Review and modify the
business opportunity 1 day Fri 3/10/00 Fri 3/10/00
Confirm decision to proceed 0 days Fri 3/10/00 Fri 3/10/00
Phase 3 – Plan for Action 21 days Mon 3/13/00 Mon 4/10/00
Develop Detailed 5-Year
Business Plan 21 days Mon 3/13/00 Mon 4/10/00
Phase 4 – Proceed With Startup
Plan 53 days Tue 4/11/00 Thu 6/22/00
Choose a location 1 day Tue 4/11/00 Tue 4/11/00
Establish Business Structure 24 days Wed 4/12/00 Mon 5/15/00
Choose a Name 2 days Wed 4/12/00 Thu 4/13/00
Choose a Bank 5 days Fri 4/14/00 Thu 4/20/00
Choose legal representation 1 day Fri 4/21/00 Fri 4/21/00
Select business tax-basis
category 2 days Mon 4/24/00 Tue 4/25/00
Choose capital funding
source 2 days Wed 4/26/00 Thu 4/27/00
Commit capital funding 0 days Thu 4/27/00 Thu 4/27/00
Establish the Operating
Control Base 12 days Fri 4/28/00 Mon 5/15/00
Develop Marketing Program 4 days Thu 4/13/00 Tue 4/18/00
Provide Physical Facilities 15 days Tue 5/16/00 Mon 6/5/00
Provide Staffing 40 days Fri 4/28/00 Thu 6/22/00
Start up the business 0 days Thu 6/22/00 Thu 6/22/00
The project idea you select should be a project that will take between six months to a year to
complete. Choose a business or community project topic in which you are interested and have
knowledge to make it easier for you to complete these assignments. The ideal project should
have some types of risks that can be detailed with the risk management plan. You will have to
use critical thinking skills to describe the potential risks in your project and create response
plans. You will use qualitative risk analysis to rank the risks in terms of severity and you will
describe the quantitative risk analysis technique chosen.
The intent of the Course Project is the project will be sufficiently complex to require
consideration of several risk management issues. In completing the sample project documents for
this course, consider the full breadth of the project work required, but remember you will
develop the details to a lesser depth than would be required in reality.
As a reminder, your project topic must be a business or community project topic. This will allow
you to complete all sections of the project. Try to find a project at your workplace or community
organization that you can use as a basis for completing these assignments.
You should keep in mind that your project must meet all the following characteristics of a
project.
1. A specific and defined objective
2. A defined life span with a definitive start and a definitive end
3. Involving risk events that may affect the project outcomes
Note: Your report should demonstrate proper APA style, in text citations and a properly
formatted reference page.
Just a few reminders on your Course Project:
• You will be using the information you obtained in the weekly assignments to complete
the paper, but you should not simply copy and paste the weekly assignments into each
section of your final paper.
• Ensure that each of your weekly assignments has been submitted and graded. Remember
that the paper is only one part of your weekly work and that your weekly assignments
make up critical information you will use to write your final Course Project paper.
• Follow the format as indicated in the Deliverables section above.
• One of the most important steps you can take: proofread your paper! Have someone else
who does not know about the project read the paper. If he or she can read and fully
understand what you’re saying, you probably have a good paper. Remember: You know
what you’re saying, but does the reader understand the message that you’re trying to
convey?
• Papers must be 10 to 15 pages in length using 12-point font, double-spaced, and must
include a cover page, table of contents, introduction, body of the report, summary or
conclusion, and works cited.
• Even though this is not a scientific writing assignment and is mostly creative in nature,
references are still very important.
o At least three authoritative, outside references are required.
o These should be listed on the last page, titled References.
• Appropriate citations are required.
• The final risk management plan due in Week 8, is worth 200 total points and will be
graded on quality of research topic, quality of paper information, use of citations,
grammar, and sentence structure
During Week 1, you will select a project for your Course Project. The project can be a project
you are working on as part of your regular job, a case study you have completed in the past, or a
project you want to plan, either business or personal. You will choose the project so you will be
very familiar with it and understand its various elements. Once you have your idea, again please
add your project idea to the Project Idea Approval discussion by Wednesday evening at 11:59
pm so your instructor can provide approval.
Use the Risk Management Plan template and complete the Project Description and Risk
Management Planning sections. Also, complete the Title Page, Table of Contents, and the
References sections.
Your submission must be well presented because this is a required assignment that will receive a
grade in Gradebook. Before you submit your Week 1 deliverable you must add your project to
the project idea discussion for approval by your instructor first. The project paper is a required
item for successful completion of this class. If you do not submit a project selection, you will not
be able to proceed with assignments, because each week builds upon the last. We will discuss the
various steps in developing the risk management plan for your project in our weekly discussions.
All submissions for a grade will also be evaluated for grammar and spelling.
For Week 2, you will discuss at least four categories in which risks can occur in your project and
list at least 10 risks within these categories. You should include both negative and positive risks.
Use the Risk Management Plan template and complete the Project Risk Identification section
In Week 3, a qualitative risk analysis will be conducted on the 10 risks you identified in Week 2.
Complete a probability and impact matrix and add the matrix to the Qualitative Risk Analysis
section of the Risk Management Plan template. Ensure you rank the risks in order of severity.
This week 4 involves a discussion of a quantitative risk analysis technique.
Describe a data analysis tool you will use for quantitative risk analysis. You do not have to
complete a quantitative risk analysis but you should describe the tool in detail.
Complete the Quantitative Risk Analysis section of the Risk Management Plan template.
Week 5
The focus this week is on risk response strategies.
Complete the Risk Response Planning section of the Risk Management Plan template by
discussing the strategies you will use for each of your risks identified in Week 2.
Week 6
This week, you will discuss techniques that will be used to implement risk responses.
Complete the Risk Response Implementation section of the Risk Management Plan template.
Week 7:
The focus this week is on identifying new risks and the review of implemented response plans.
Complete the Risk Monitoring section of the Risk Management Plan template. Additionally,
review instructor feedback of your risk management plan throughout this session and make any
necessary changes to improve the previous week’s sections and submit the entire document as a
final risk management plan.
Final Risk Management Plan Grading Rubric:
Category Points %
Week 1: Format: Cover Page, Table of Contents, Organization 10 5%
Week 1: Project Description 20 10%
Week 1: Risk Management Planning 20 10%
Week 2: Project Risk Identification 25 25%
Week 3: Qualitative Risk Analysis 20 10%
Week 4: Quantitative Risk Analysis 20 10%
Week 5: Risk Response Planning 25 12.5%
Week 6: Risk Response Implementation 20 10%
Week 7: Risk Monitoring 20 10%
All weeks: References 10 5%
All weeks: APA Formatting 10 5%
Total 200 100%
