Risks and Mitigations:
|
ITEM |
RISKS |
MITIGATION |
|
FINANCIAL RISKS |
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|
F1 |
Development Cost |
Secure stable funding, efficient use of funding. |
|
F2 |
Product Cost |
Set product cost to be competitive with the existing market. |
|
F3 |
Lack of Funding |
Secure development grants/investors. |
|
CUSTOMER RISKS |
||
|
C1 |
University Politics (Institutional Inertia) |
Work with the university to resolve issues. |
|
C2 |
Unable to force students to make a profile |
Tie the profile with the advising hold. |
|
C3 |
Unable to force faculty to make a profile |
Faculty teaches previous semester courses unless profile updated. |
|
TECHNICAL RISKS |
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|
T1 |
Various ODU systems do not implement well |
Beta Testing |
|
SCHEDULE RISKS |
||
|
S1-C1 |
University Politics |
Work with the university to resolve any issues. |
|
SECURITY RISKS |
||
|
SEC1 |
PCI Compliance |
Use of best practices. |
|
SEC2 |
Secure handling of data |
Use of best practices. |
Financial Risks
F1. Development Cost – (Probability: 2, Impact: 4)
Development cost of this project has the potential to be high due to the complexity of the software suite. This risk is one that may not be encountered until the project is in mid-development thus it is appropriate to plan for this risk early so that the project does not stall. As with any project, funding is important in providing all the necessary equipment and people needed for the development of this project.
Mitigation: Secure stable funding/efficient use of funding.
By securing a stable funding source we can guarantee that we will have the necessary capital to move the project forward and start making a profit. Stable funding sources can include government grants, that do not need to be paid back, or business loans. Also, the efficient use of resources will help mitigate any risk of exhausting funding during development. By efficiently using the funding we receive, we can help eliminate wasteful spending; which will help our dollar last longer.
F2. Product Price– (Probability: 1, Impact: 4)
The final cost of our product is an important risk for two reasons. One, the cost of the product needs to be able to turn a profit for the business. Secondly the product still needs to be competitive in the market in order to attract potential customers. If the product cost is too low we may not generate enough revenue to sustain the business; if the cost is too high, we may not attract enough customers to buy the product, which, in turn, hurts our revenue stream.
Mitigation: Set product cost to be competitive with the existing market.
By setting our price to be in line with our competition, in a competitive way, we are mitigating the risk of lost revenue by aligning ourselves with the established market. This is to both gain market share and also generate sufficient revenue to sustain the business and future developments.
F3. Lack of Funding – (Probability: 2, Impact: 4)
The lack of funding is another important risk that differs from the lack of stable funding for one main reason. We can secure a source of stable funding, but if that one source does not provide enough funding for our needs, we may run into trouble. The acquisition of multiple funding sources is paramount in our development process to better secure the financial aspect of the project.
Mitigation: Secure development grants/investors.
By securing various development grants and potential investors, we can mitigate this risk by broadening our funding through various channels. By combining this with the practice of securing stable sources of funding, we will have a solid funding base to which we can develop the project, release it, and generate income to be less dependent on foreign sources of funding.
Customer Risks
C1. University Politics (Institutional Inertia) - (Probability: 3, Impact: 4)
This is the biggest risk associated with this project. The various universities have their own policies when it comes to course scheduling that SAGA may not be able to work around; which may hinder the ability of SAGA to make accurate recommendations. Depending on the type of policy in place, the university may not be willing to adjust or bend the rules to allow SAGA to run at its full potential.
By working with the universities to come to a compromise on any policy issues, we can mitigate this risk and allow SAGA to run at its full potential to better serve the universities scheduling needs.
C2. Unable to force students to make a profile – (Probability: 3, Impact: 3)
An important feature of SAGA is the student profile, which will allow the program to track trends in student interests for courses. The student profile is a major source of important data for the system. Without the student profiles, we cannot accurately track current student trends, robbing SAGA of an important feature.
Mitigation: Tie the student profile with the advising hold.
By making the student profile creation a requirement for the lifting of the student’s advising hold, we can mitigate this risk and still obtain the crucial data that SAGA needs. This will ensure that we can get accurate data on every student so that everyone’s interests are accounted for in SAGA.
C3. Unable to force faculty to make a profile – (Probability: 3, Impact: 3)
As with the student profiles, the faculty profile is equally important in order to gain important data on faculty needs and wishes when it comes to teaching the semester’s courses. Without the faculty data, we cannot streamline the process of contacting each faculty member to determine what they want to teach and when they can teach it; which is another important feature of SAGA.
Mitigation: Faculty teaches previous semester courses unless profile updated.
If the faculty do not create a profile and keep it up to date each semester, the faculty will be required to teach the classes of the previous semester at the same times. This mitigates this risk by essentially saying if the faculty do not wish to create/update their profile, the SAGA system will default their teaching preferences to the previous semester.
Technical Risks
T1. Various ODU systems do not implement well – (Probability: 3, Impact: 2)
The SAGA system works by interfacing with the various existing ODU systems such as Banner. If this communication between SAGA and Banner breaks down for any reason, then the SAGA system cannot extract the data it needs to perform its functions.
Mitigation: Beta Testing
Through beta testing we will be able to mitigate this risk by discovering any issues or glitches with how SAGA interfaces with the ODU systems early. That way, we will be able to fix any inconsistencies with the SAGA system before the final release is made to the public.
Schedule Risks
S1-C1. University Politics (Institutional Inertia) – (Probability: 3, Impact: 4)
University politics is not only a customer risk, but also a schedule risk for an important reason. While any issues may arise with the university as a customer risk, these issues may also delay the development of SAGA and it then becomes a schedule risk. If SAGA is delayed for too long, investors may begin to back out, which will hurt our funding. Additionally, our competitors may develop and release similar features as SAGA, undercutting our product.
Mitigation: Work with the university to resolve any issues
By working with the university to resolve any issues, we can mitigate the schedule risk by reducing any down time in development and releasing the product on time, or with minimal delay.
Security Risks
SEC1. PCI Compliance – (Probability: 2, Impact: 3)
Universities which accept credit cards are subject to keeping PCI Compliance requirements by the Security Standards Council, and any external attempt to interface with the existing structure may be required to also fall under these compliance standards.
Mitigation: Use of best practices.
This risk can be mitigated by working with the current IT infrastructure and protocols in place with the university to ensure compliance.
SEC2: Secure handling of data – (Probability: 2, Impact: 3)
The student data requires extreme care in handling, and may be subject to privacy laws. The same is true for faculty data as both sets of data may contain sensitive information that needs to be secured within the SAGA system.
Mitigation: Use of best practices.
We will mitigate this risk by following proper data integrity and confidentiality practices, including but not limited to encryption, hashing, and access control to hardware locations.