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Instructional design/WBT risks/The Risk Plan

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Instructional Design: Homepage > Identifying WBT Risks > Risky Business > Step 1: Identify > Your Turn - Risk Identification > Step 2: Prioritize > Your Turn - Risk Prioritization > Step 3: Mitigate > Your Turn - Risk Mitigation > The Risk Plan > Lesson Conclusion

How Did You Do?

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Compare your risk plan with the expert example below to see how you did. Don't worry too much if your three highest-priority risks don't match the example exactly. Risk planning is somewhat subjective and your past experience will naturally influence the decisions you make. For example, your organization might shuffle resources around constantly, so you decided to give the third risk a higher probability ranking. As long as you can justify your rankings with rationale arguments and you've identified effective mitigation strategies, your risk plan will take you a huge step closer to a successful WBT delivery.

Risk plan for project: USDA Performance Management Course

Assessment team members: David, Lisa, James, and Technical Lead

Risk Probability Impact Priority Actions
Final courseware does not function correctly in client’s LMS. 5 5 25

1. Request that the client provide technical specifications for LMS conformance.
2. Schedule a meeting with the client’s LMS manager to clarify technical specifications and determine client’s most common LMS conformance issues.
3. Develop a prototype and test it in the LMS before major course development begins.

Final courseware does not pass client’s Section 508 compliance testing. 4 4 16

1. Schedule a meeting with the client’s Section 508 compliance team and determine which tools they use for Section 508 testing and what their most common Section 508 compliance issues are.
2. Technical Lead will submit a purchase request for any testing tools the team doesn’t already use.
3. Develop a prototype and schedule time for it to be tested by the client’s Section 508 compliance team before major course development begins.

Multimedia Developer is pulled onto another project. 3 5 15

1. Graphic Designer will work with the Multimedia Developer on the initial audio recording tasks for cross-training.
2. All project team members will receive training in the course development software.

Course development software is buggy. 3 3 9

1. Multimedia Developer will review user forums and identify the most common bugs in the new software before development begins.
2. Develop a prototype before major course development begins.
3. Schedule additional time to complete initial development tasks.

Technical Lead has minimal experience in project management. 2 4 8

1. Technical Lead will have weekly status meetings with the Training Director.
2. Technical Lead will identify an experienced project manager within the organization who can act as a mentor.
3. Technical Lead will complete a Project Management Boot Camp course.

Client does not provide ILT materials on time. 1 3 3 None
Subject matter expert (SME) is not available when needed. 1 1 1 None


Justification for Probability and Impact Rankings

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Here is the rationale that was used to determine the probability and impact rankings in the expert example.

  • "Final courseware does not function correctly in client’s LMS" is the highest-priority risk because the probability is very likely (the team has never developed courseware for the client's LMS and there may be unknown conformance issues) and the impact is very high (the courseware is useless to the client if it doesn't function in the LMS).
  • "Final courseware does not pass client’s Section 508 compliance testing" is a high-priority risk because the probability is likely (there is variation in the way these standards are interpreted) and the impact is high (the client must comply with these standards, so this could delay their training roll-out plans).
  • "Multimedia Developer is pulled onto another project" is a moderate risk because the probability is only possible (the chances of winning the mobile learning proposal are slim) although the impact is very high (the Multimedia Developer is the only team member who can do audio recording and editing).
  • "Course development software is buggy" is a moderate risk because the probability is only possible (the team is using a reputable course authoring tool) and the impact is moderate (while all tools have some bugs, the most serious ones should have been resolved by release 5.5).
  • "Technical Lead has minimal experience in project management" is a moderate risk because although the probability of this affecting the project is unlikely (the Technical Lead is capable and can seek guidance from the Training Director), the impact is high (the Technical Lead ensures that the project is delivered on time, on budget, and within scope).
  • "Client does not provide ILT materials on time" is a low-priority risk because the probability is very unlikely (the materials exist) and the impact is moderate (the team can probably develop a course prototype without the ILT materials although storyboard development might be delayed).
  • "SME is not available when needed" is the lowest-priority risk because the probability is very unlikely (the SME has bandwidth) and the impact is very low (the client can always step in if the SME is unavailable).


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