ARCHIVED - A Strategy for Implementing Risk Management in the Federal Government

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1. Introduction

This section introduces the reader to the Risk Management component of the Enhanced Management Framework initiative within the federal government.

1.1 Background

The government is committed to delivering its programs and services more efficiently and effectively through the use of Information Technology (IT). Reviews of government IT projects conducted by the Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS), and the Auditor General (AG) have identified issues in the government's management and delivery of IT projects.

To address these issues and improve the management and delivery of IT projects, a TBS Project Management Office (PMO) was formed. The purpose of the PMO is to provide guidance such that government IT projects satisfy the requirements of the program functions or services they are designed to support, deliver all expected benefits, and are completed on time and within budget.

In May 1996 the PMO, in conjunction with other federal departments, published a document of guiding principles and best practices which addressed project management concerns experienced in the federal government. Referred to as the Enhanced Framework, this document set out a plan to develop improvements to the IT project management regimes currently found within departments.

Risk management was highlighted as an area requiring particular attention. Throughout the past year, the PMO has discovered that, in general, the practice of risk management has now evolved to a point where it is benefiting from all the essential elements including:

• Principles;
• A process;
• Methods; and
• Tools

As a result, the groundwork has been laid for action in departments. Pilots have been conducted, assessments have been made, lessons have been learned, goals have been defined, priorities have been established and plans have been formulated for the government-wide implementation of an improved risk management regime for IT projects.

1.2 Purpose

The purpose of this document is to outline the strategy and plan to facilitate the implementation of risk management within IT projects across the federal government in support of the Enhanced Framework.

1.3 Benefits

Most people would agree that risk management, if done properly, could be beneficial to organizations. Who wouldn't want to identify potential problems early enough to make a difference in the ultimate quality of the product? Sound risk management regimes "help people avoid disasters, avoid rework, avoid overkill, and stimulate win-win situations on software projects" [Boehm 89].

State-of-the-art in risk management for IT projects is reflected in the work carried out by the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh in partnership with private and public sector organizations. The SEI has put in place a risk program that has for its mission to improve the management of risk in programs involving software-intensive systems.

The SEI risk program has the merit of being supported by industry and government as well as being focused on software-intensive IT projects, the main PMO concern. Some of the benefits resulting from implementing risk management include:

• Preventing problems before they occur;
• Improving product quality;
• Enabling better use of resources; and
• Promoting teamwork.

1.4 Relationship to Other Documents

This document is one of a series of documents that will be produced as part of the government-wide implementation of the Enhanced Framework. It updates the previous strategy document on risk management dated April 18, 1996 and embodies the recommendations and principles detailed in the Enhanced Management Framework document dated May 28, 1996. It also supports the policies of the federal government regarding the management and delivery of IT projects.

1.5 Audience

This document is intended for two distinct and important groups within the federal government IT community:

• The departments that must manage and deliver IT projects; and
• The agents such as PWGSC which must ensure that the acquisition vehicles used for IT goods and services embody the principles and enforce their implementation with the private sector suppliers.

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