Defense Architectural Framework

Working to understand the risks a project may endure along with the cost associated is critical in every project management plan. Understanding potential risks based on the project type, resources needed, timeline and budget still leaves gaps that creates uncertainty for actually predicating the outcome of the project. There is not a true way to predict when and where a project risk will occur but designing a plan to properly address and manage those risks will increase confidence while eliminating the element of surprise.

The following short case will give you a good idea of how risks surface in business and project planning and what companies do about it. Consider that you are the Risk Manager as you look at this case, as it will be a good exercise for the time when you will be that Risk Manager!

Stages are groups of activities that can be performed in series or parallel. Stage gates are structured decision points at the end of each state. They are needed between phases in order to make a decision of whether the project should continue with original objectives, should be terminated or should continue with revised objectives. The purpose of stage gates is also to allow sponsors to identify any failures and help in taking decisions for better utilization of resources. Stage gates make way for a standard and structured decision making process. However, good project management also suggests that too many gates can lead to excessive time getting spent on preparing gate reviews as opposed to actually managing the

Risks management is an important step during the process of a project. Failing to manage a risk may result in unforeseen event happening and a project’s failure. For example, with limited budget, an unforeseen event or an accident occurs in the middle of a project and this matter has not been considered and needs a big sum of expense, then the project may be stopped because of this unexpected event. We should know it is necessary to understand how to identify risks and assumptions based on the information. After identifying risks, it is important for project managers to set contingency plans to prevent and deal with these risks when they occur. Of course, several problems may happen during considering

It is used as a means of input to the risk management plan processes (Heldman, 2005). It usually helps the project managers and the project team to recognize the components of a project that are at risk or certain risks that are unique to a specific area of the project than compared to a risk that is commonly found throughout the project. There also various qualitative analysis that can be used to in identifying and analyzing risk in a project. The method of qualitative risk analysis involves the assignment of a numeric value to the scales. This risk analysis is normally used for projects that are larger and that risks have a greater and more significant impact (Heldman, 2005). There are various software tools and methods that can be used, an example would be the use of Monte Carlo analysis for calculating values for projects that are large and difficult. There are various values that are assigned to the magnitude or intensity of the risk, for example, High-.80, Medimum-.50, Low-.10; these are used to rate and prioritize the risks (Heldman, 2005). A risk registry is also an essential documentation that can be used analyze the quantitative aspect related to risk and threats that are found throughout the project. The Risk Breakdown Structure is created to identify the various risks categories in the project so that they can be in the prioritized response plan (Heldman,

Good risk assessment requires an elaborate plan. A risk management plan is a project management type that helps ensure that an organization reaches desired goals in a given project (Gibson, 2010). Like every plan, caution should be taken to make sure that goals of the assessment are achievable given the best accommodation of time and cost. This calls for organization to have a risk scope. Risk scope simply identifies the boundaries of a given risk assessment. This is

We are all familiar with risk. In fact, it is a key component in our everyday material life and we often manage it automatically either when dealing with mundane tasks or major hazards.

Identifying risks is an essential component of planning a large project. A thorough risk analysis is necessary to identify potential issues to the endeavor and assess the probability of therisk occurring, along with the impact on the project if the risk occurs (PMI, 2013). A thorough assessment of the impact that the project will have on the organization should be completed to evaluate the risk of the project, in addition to the impact the project will have on the organization. The risk assessment tool used in Appendix C illustrates the impact this expansion project will have to stakeholders and the organization.

Risk management is an ongoing process that must continue through the life of a project. It includes processes for risk management planning, identification, analysis, monitoring, and control. These processes need to be reviewed throughout the project’s lifecycle as new risks arise throughout the implementation of the project. It is the objective of risk management to decrease the probability and impact of events adverse to the project. On the other hand, any event that could have a positive impact should be exploited.

There were several conditions that lead up to the end of the cold war, not the least of which was the Soviet Union’s respect for the economic impact of Strategic Defense System that President Reagan was proposing at the time (Shultz, 2013). When Mikhail Gorbachev took over as Soviet Premier, he and President Reagan were able to come to agreements to reduce nuclear weapons and for the Soviet to pull out of Afghanistan. This lead to the eventual dissolution of the Soviet Union, which was a good thing. However, like everything in life, there are alway unintended consequences. In this case, the void that the pullout of the Soviet Union left in the Middle East became a breeding ground for Hezbollah and for what we now know of as ISIS.

The Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) Customer-centric, Service Oriented, State-of-the-art, Secure, Intelligent (CSI) systems redesign project would benefit from the application and use of an enterprise architecture program. The enterprise architecture team will work with many stakeholders within the DMV organization to outline the goals of the organization in terms of requirements, values, and ideal solutions that will help reach their objectives. The blueprinted solution needs to be customer focused and service oriented while addressing all of the DMV CSI redesign properties which includes system security, and state-of-the-art methods to support the new processes. Some more applicable benefits of having an Enterprise

The Department of Defense needed an architecture model to address growing complex systems where integration and interoperability were posing problems. February 1996, the Information Technology Management Reform Act, more commonly known as the Clinger-Cohen Act, was to reform and improve the ways that Federal agencies managed and acquired information technology resources with specific guidance in the United States Office of Management and Budget Circular (OMB). “The Clinger-Cohen Act supplements the information resources management policies by establishing a comprehensive approach for executive agencies to improve the acquisitions and management of their information resources by; focusing information resource planning to support strategic missions,

Risk management needs to be an ongoing process, occurring throughout the project, because of the ever-changing aspect of risk. ATOM process includes both major and minor reviews to maintain the vigilance required when dealing with project risk. Major reviews are designed to occur at key points in the project to review the status of the risks and to evaluate the actions taken. Reviews evaluate the effectiveness of the risk plan and make changes to that plan to keep up with the changes in the risks. The major review is scheduled for major milestone points in the project, identified as part of the risk. management plan. The risk register should have all the current information about the risks when the review begins. In addition, the project manager will provide information with regards to the project status and the review point. The risks will be reviewed with regards to their status, changes in probability or impact, and the actions described for the risks. Any new risks will be assessed and actions will be identified. Because risk needs to be monitored throughout the project and not just at major points, our process would contain provisions for minor reviews too. Minor reviews are designed to fill the gap between the initial risk assessment and the major review and to be ongoing throughout the project. It carries out the reviews of the major review on a less-detailed scale. After a review of both, an updated risk register is produced. Updates to the project plan to better manage potential risks may also be an outcome of the review. We will have risk review meetings also. Performance measurement system for our project would track the following metrics:

For example, in the building alterations, the tasks and the cost could be outlined with a quantitative modeling method. As well as a qualitative method, that includes a matrix, which will assist in developing risk responses that will be effective in mitigating possible risk. When a part was needed for a project deciding if it would be more economical to purchase or make the part. When presented with numerical data with cost, life cycle, and maintenance cost for up keep on two or more products that achieve the same goal. A risk management plan could be used to help access and handle project related risks. As for the risk tree, it could be used to help the project team decide on what the best option is for a task by giving a visual representation of the if then relationships in terms of

There is a cross section of projects ranging from a few weeks to a few years. There are also a wide cross section of customers, those capable of articulating clearly their requirements and the ones that are not clear on their requirements and the overall outcome to be achieved. The level of programmers within the Information Technology Department, where development work is executed, range from intermediate to advance or above average programming competence. The Waterfall approach is easier to manage and can be utilized for projects where there are clear requirements and the project is determined to be a long term one. Also, this method may be best suited given the organization’s requirements for thorough documentation and project accountability, when it comes to budget and cost. The Agile methodology can be used for projects where the requirements as well as the expectation from the end product are not as clear. The developers that are above average in terms of their competence can also use this method. In addition, the Agile method is also best suited for the projects that would require rapid