Start as you mean to go on: with a clear objective and a plan of how you\u2019re going to get there<\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n <\/p>\n Start as you mean to go on: with a clear objective and a plan of how you\u2019re going to get there<\/em><\/p>\n Planning your assessment requires you to answer two big questions: where are you going and why. Alternately, what kind of risk assessment are you trying to produce and what\u2019s it going to be used for?<\/p>\n This kind of clarity is going to ensure that you deliver the results required and it will help to get (and keep) everyone onto the same page as you progress. Without this kind of understanding, it\u2019s very unlikely that you will complete the assessment in the time available. Even if you do, you might not have answered the original question.<\/p>\n So you need to plan your assessment properly before you ask the first question or open up a spreadsheet. I\u2019ve broken that down into five steps.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This begins with answering the big question: what\u2019s the assessment for? Ensure that you are clear about the overall objective of the assessment and its scope. Know what it\u2019s for, what you need to cover, what you need to omit and who the client is (even if that’s someone internally). This stage is going to set the scene for the whole assessment and any inaccuracies or misunderstandings here could doom the project before you start.<\/p>\n At this stage, you also need to confirm the project manager, the budget and the timeframe. The project manager may well be you but there might be someone else overseeing the whole project that you need to report to.<\/p>\n As far as budget and timeframe are concerned, you need to look at these in the context of the scope of the assessment. Might travel be required to allow you to interview key people? If so, is that feasible? Do you need to use a consultant?<\/p>\n And what about time? Two months might be sufficient for a risk assessment but what if a major event is going to dominate the first month and the whole executive team will be unavailable? What about holidays? Think about both the total amount of time available and the amount of usable time you have.<\/p>\n You will have time to review and revise the project plan later but start to think about these issues of time and budget now.<\/p>\n Know who will be able to assist you throughout the process and who you can call on for specific support. This group will break down into permanent team members and occasional team members.<\/p>\n Permanent members are those who are going to participate in each step of the assessment even though they probably conduct other work activities in-between. This group is your core assessment team.<\/p>\n Occasional members are those you only need from time-to-time. For example, you might want a particular specialist to help with a set of technical interviews or someone to help with administration or to compile the final report.<\/p>\n Make sure that you have the authority and permission to use these people\u2019s time and also check that there aren’t any scheduling conflicts during the assessment timeframe.<\/p>\n You won\u2019t need to apply the assessment structure for a while yet but start to have this conversation now.<\/p>\n Working this out now will make designing the final framework easier when you get to that stage. This also makes sure that everyone is on the same page before you start. Don\u2019t worry if you don\u2019t have answers to these questions yet, the point is to begin the conversation.<\/p>\n A good place to start is at the top: the annual report or ‘About Us’ page, and then work down. Compile a list of the documents that are relevant to the assessment. Annual reports and strategy documents are useful to set the scene before you get into the specific policies and plans that are relevant to the assessment. You don\u2019t need to gather the documents now, just work out what you need and start to think about where you can get these.<\/p>\n One point: I would avoid reading old risk assessment at this stage as these might influence your thought process.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Interviews are a great way to really understand the organization and are key to a good assessment. Plan to interview as many people as time allows but you need to prioritize these. Focus on the key leadership positions, subject-matter experts and the owners of the parts of the organization that the risk assessment touches. If you have time, speak to people involved in the activity you are considering or those with a lot of experience in the business as they will give you additional insights.<\/p>\n The last step is to pull all of this together into a project plan. This doesn\u2019t need to be complicated, just a summary of what\u2019s laid out above will be sufficient. If you use a specific project-management process or tool in your organization, take all the info you have and apply it there.<\/p>\n So if you’re tempted to jump right into the assessment without planning, don\u2019t. Assessments are hard enough to get right as it is and delivering on time and within scope can be even harder. Not having a plan up front is just going to make your life more difficult, so spend 45 minutes or an hour now planning things out.<\/p>\n And remember, even if you have a plan in your head, there’s a team and a sponsor who are also part of this project. Writing things down gets everyone on the same page and will avoid a lot of heartache later on.<\/p>\n Keep in mind, a detailed risk assessment is a large piece of work that can be difficult to pull off and there are some significant challenges you face from the get-go (take a look back at the \u2018Challenges\u2019 chapter if you\u2019ve forgotten). However, you will increase your chances of success significantly if you can put aside a little time before you start to plan the project out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":253,"menu_order":8,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[47],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-74","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry","chapter-type-standard"],"part":42,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/authorlab.pro\/layout\/beyondthespreadsheet\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/74","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/authorlab.pro\/layout\/beyondthespreadsheet\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/authorlab.pro\/layout\/beyondthespreadsheet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/authorlab.pro\/layout\/beyondthespreadsheet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/253"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/authorlab.pro\/layout\/beyondthespreadsheet\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/74\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":308,"href":"https:\/\/authorlab.pro\/layout\/beyondthespreadsheet\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/74\/revisions\/308"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/authorlab.pro\/layout\/beyondthespreadsheet\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/42"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/authorlab.pro\/layout\/beyondthespreadsheet\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/74\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/authorlab.pro\/layout\/beyondthespreadsheet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/authorlab.pro\/layout\/beyondthespreadsheet\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=74"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/authorlab.pro\/layout\/beyondthespreadsheet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=74"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/authorlab.pro\/layout\/beyondthespreadsheet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=74"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\r\n\r\nPlanning your assessment requires you to answer two big questions: where are you going and why. Alternately, what kind of risk assessment are you trying to produce and what\u2019s it going to be used for?\r\n\r\nThis kind of clarity is going to ensure that you deliver the results required and it will help to get (and keep) everyone onto the same page as you progress. Without this kind of understanding, it\u2019s very unlikely that you will complete the assessment in the time available. Even if you do, you might not have answered the original question.\r\n\r\nSo you need to plan your assessment properly before you ask the first question or open up a spreadsheet. I\u2019ve broken that down into five steps.\r\nFive steps to planning your project<\/h1>\r\n
\r\n \t
Establish the objectives, scope and parameters<\/h1>\r\nThis begins with answering the big question: what\u2019s the assessment for? Ensure that you are clear about the overall objective of the assessment and its scope. Know what it\u2019s for, what you need to cover, what you need to omit and who the client is (even if that's someone internally). This stage is going to set the scene for the whole assessment and any inaccuracies or misunderstandings here could doom the project before you start.\r\n\r\nAt this stage, you also need to confirm the project manager, the budget and the timeframe. The project manager may well be you but there might be someone else overseeing the whole project that you need to report to.\r\n\r\nAs far as budget and timeframe are concerned, you need to look at these in the context of the scope of the assessment. Might travel be required to allow you to interview key people? If so, is that feasible? Do you need to use a consultant?\r\n\r\nAnd what about time? Two months might be sufficient for a risk assessment but what if a major event is going to dominate the first month and the whole executive team will be unavailable? What about holidays? Think about both the total amount of time available and the amount of usable time you have.\r\n\r\nYou will have time to review and revise the project plan later but start to think about these issues of time and budget now.\r\n
Confirm your project team and the assistance available<\/h1>\r\nKnow who will be able to assist you throughout the process and who you can call on for specific support. This group will break down into permanent team members and occasional team members.\r\n\r\nPermanent members are those who are going to participate in each step of the assessment even though they probably conduct other work activities in-between. This group is your core assessment team.\r\n\r\nOccasional members are those you only need from time-to-time. For example, you might want a particular specialist to help with a set of technical interviews or someone to help with administration or to compile the final report.\r\n\r\nMake sure that you have the authority and permission to use these people\u2019s time and also check that there aren't any scheduling conflicts during the assessment timeframe.\r\n
Think about the assessment structure<\/h1>\r\nYou won\u2019t need to apply the assessment structure for a while yet but start to have this conversation now.\r\n
\r\n \t
Consider your information sources<\/h1>\r\n
Documents<\/h2>\r\nA good place to start is at the top: the annual report or 'About Us' page, and then work down. Compile a list of the documents that are relevant to the assessment. Annual reports and strategy documents are useful to set the scene before you get into the specific policies and plans that are relevant to the assessment. You don\u2019t need to gather the documents now, just work out what you need and start to think about where you can get these.\r\n\r\nOne point: I would avoid reading old risk assessment at this stage as these might influence your thought process.\r\n\r\n \r\n
People<\/h2>\r\nInterviews are a great way to really understand the organization and are key to a good assessment. Plan to interview as many people as time allows but you need to prioritize these. Focus on the key leadership positions, subject-matter experts and the owners of the parts of the organization that the risk assessment touches. If you have time, speak to people involved in the activity you are considering or those with a lot of experience in the business as they will give you additional insights.\r\n
Write up your project plan<\/h1>\r\nThe last step is to pull all of this together into a project plan. This doesn\u2019t need to be complicated, just a summary of what\u2019s laid out above will be sufficient. If you use a specific project-management process or tool in your organization, take all the info you have and apply it there.\r\n\r\nSo if you're tempted to jump right into the assessment without planning, don\u2019t. Assessments are hard enough to get right as it is and delivering on time and within scope can be even harder. Not having a plan up front is just going to make your life more difficult, so spend 45 minutes or an hour now planning things out.\r\n\r\nAnd remember, even if you have a plan in your head, there's a team and a sponsor who are also part of this project. Writing things down gets everyone on the same page and will avoid a lot of heartache later on.\r\n\r\nKeep in mind, a detailed risk assessment is a large piece of work that can be difficult to pull off and there are some significant challenges you face from the get-go (take a look back at the \u2018Challenges\u2019 chapter if you\u2019ve forgotten). However, you will increase your chances of success significantly if you can put aside a little time before you start to plan the project out.","rendered":"
\n
\nFive steps to planning your project<\/h1>\n
\n
Establish the objectives, scope and parameters<\/h1>\n
Confirm your project team and the assistance available<\/h1>\n
Think about the assessment structure<\/h1>\n
\n
Consider your information sources<\/h1>\n
Documents<\/h2>\n
People<\/h2>\n
Write up your project plan<\/h1>\n