Risk Planning

Risk planning involves the thoughtful development, implementation, and monitoring of appropriate risk response strategies. The DOE's Office of Engineering and Construction Management defines risk planning as the detailed formulation of a plan of action for the management of risk.(4) It is the process to do the following:
Develop and document an organized, comprehensive, and interactive risk management strategy.
Determine the methods to be used to execute a risk management strategy.
Plan for adequate resources.

Risk planning is iterative and includes describing and scheduling the activities and processes to assess (identify and analyze), mitigate, monitor, and document the risk associated with a project. For large projects or projects with a high degree of uncertainty, the result should be a formal risk management plan.

Planning begins by developing and documenting a risk management strategy. Early efforts establish the purpose and objective, assign responsibilities for specific areas, identify additional technical expertise needed, describe the assessment process and areas to consider, delineate procedures for consideration of mitigation and allocation options, dictate the reporting and documentation needs, and establish report requirements and monitoring metrics. This planning should also address evaluation of the capabilities of potential sources as well as early industry involvement.