GDANSK UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

Risk Management
in Software Projects

Janusz Górski, Jakub Miler
Department of Software Engineering

Research domain

In our research, we are concentrating on software procurement and development projects and their objectives: the deadline, the budget, the product quality and the user satisfaction. We are investigating the process risk – the possibility to steer a project away from its goals – and working on a complete risk management method to keep a project on its track. We are also developing a software risk management tool – – and carrying out various validation experiments.

Objectives

• elaborate a method for risk management in software projects
• develop an effective environment for collaborative risk management
• provide for risk management in distributed software projects

Solution

We recognize effective, continuous and open communication as the prerequisite for successful risk management. Therefore, we provide to the project stakeholders a broad and highly available communication channel through which they can communicate risk-related information. On top of this communication facility we establish our continuous risk assessment process based on three concepts: reviews, snapshots and reports that underpin the three layers of processing the risk-related information: identification, analysis and reporting. The risk assessment process is supported by adequately defined data structures maintaining the risk-related information. An important feature of our solution is that our risk database is equipped with learning facilities to provide for "learning from experience".


Results

• risk assessment process as a sequence of reviews
• representation of risk in the process
• 2.30 risk management tool
• three validation experiments
• extensive case study in a large R&D software project