Risk management tools for complex project organizations

Abstract

With the continually evolving project environments., NASA has moved from a monolithic to a decentralized project structure. Risk management is an integral part to the success to any project. To accommodate the challenges in this evolving team environment, new and innovative ways to communicate problems and concerns that would affect a project have to be developed quickly and effectively. These problems are compounded when the project teams have partners that are not collocated. New ways need to be developed to handle NASA's missions with smaller budgets and shorter design and development cycles. NASA's Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF) project recently developed and implemented a Web-based risk management system. This implementation has been further refined to accommodate the needs of other projects. This paper describes the approach used in designing and adapting the SIRTF prototype tool, discusses some of the lessons learned in developing the SIRTF prototype tool, and explains the adaptability of the risk management tool to varying levels project complexity. The overall strategy of developing a risk management system is also discussed.