CASE: GREEN COMPUTING RESEARCH PROJECT (8,9)

 

Part 8: Project Risk Management

Project risk management is the process that project managers use to manage potential risks that may affect a project in any way, both positively and negatively. The goal is to minimise the impact of these risks. A risk is any unexpected event that can affect people, technology, resources, or processes (including projects). Unlike a regular problem that may arise, risks are incidents that may occur suddenly, sometimes entirely unexpected.

Case Study

Because several problems have occurred on the Green Computing Research Project, as described in the previous section, you decide to be more proactive in managing risks. You also want to address positive and negative risks.

Part 9: Project Procurement Management

Procurement, in terms of project management, is when you need to purchase, rent or contract with some external resource to meet your project goal. These relationships, like any process in the project, need management.

Case Study

After a monthly program management review meeting four months into your project, Ito and Ben approved another $100,000 and an additional month to complete the work. You provided a strong rationale to justify additional travel funds and more money for outside consultants to help you find good research information. You decided to have James return to his old job because he didn’t seem open to sharing ideas with others. It would be best to have one of the participating consulting firms do the work that James was assigned to do, even though the cost would be greater. The lead consultant, Anne, has done a great analysis of improving overall energy efficiency for the company; her ideas could save millions of dollars each year. Ben, your project sponsor, was disappointed that you couldn’t meet the original time and cost goals, but he wants to make sure that the final results are of high quality.