risk management

Since uncertainty is what typifies projects in progress, risk management is key to the success of a project. A technique known as Schedule Risk Analysis connects the risk information of project activities to the baseline schedule and provides sensitivity information of individual project activities as a way to assess the potential impact of uncertainty on the final project duration. The protection of a project’s deadline using a technique called Critical Chain/Buffer Management assures that delays in project activities are captured by buffers that are cleverly inserted into the project baseline schedule.

The interest in the sensitivity of project activities from both academics and practitioners lies in the need to focus a project manager’s attention on those activities that influence the (time and cost) performance of the project. When management has a certain indication of the potential impact of the various activities on the project objective, a better management focus and a more accurate response during project control should positively contribute to the overall performance of the project.

Schedule Risk Analysis (SRA) is a simple yet effective technique to connect the risk information of project activities to the baseline schedule, in order to provide sensitivity information of individual project activities to assess the potential impact of uncertainty on the final project duration. A traditional schedule risk analysis requires four steps, as described in “Schedule Risk Analysis: How to measure your baseline schedule’s sensitivity?”, to report activity sensitivity measures that evaluate each activity’s time estimate on a scale of risk.