Business

Understanding Risk Analysis in Software Engineering

The importance of risk analysis in software projects can be judged by the fact that no software development life cycle is considered complete unless it has gone through an active consideration of areas that have various types of associated risks.

The vulnerable areas covered by the risk analysis process are

1) Risk assessment

2) Risk characterization

3) Risk communication

4) Risk management

5) Definition of risk-related policies

The following terms related to risk analysis should be clearly understood

Let’s try to understand what risk analysis is.

It is a technique used to identify and evaluate various factors that can jeopardize the success of a project or the achievement of a goal. These factors may represent some kind of threat to the project. Therefore, risk analysis covers the process of scientific evaluation of such threats vulnerable to the achievement of organizational goals.

The risk analysis technique is useful to define preventive measures to reduce the probability of the appearance of such threatening factors. It includes the identification of various countermeasures to successfully deal with such limitations in order to avoid devastating effects on the competitiveness of the organization in trade.

One of the risk analysis techniques that is gaining popularity in the IT industry is known as FRAP – (Facilitated Risk Analysis Process)

What is risk assessment?

Risk assessment involves finding out the quantity and quality of risk associated with a known threat situation. It covers a comprehensive assessment of existing safety and environmental issues in order to assess the likelihood of damaging effects of threats to the organization. Risk assessment is the first and most important step in a risk management process.

What is business impact analysis or BIA?

Business impact analysis refers to the process of discovering the critical functions for the organization’s operations. The result of the business impact analysis effort is to differentiate between critical and non-critical functions in the organization. A function is considered critical when its implications are unacceptable to the organization, or when it is dictated by law or required by the customer or has internal operations restrictions or has unacceptable financial implications.

What is risk management?

Risk management is a structured methodology for managing the uncertainty associated with a threat. Risk management includes the development of strategies to manage risk either by

– Transfer of risk to another party

– Take actions to completely avoid risk.

– Adoption of measures aimed at reducing the damaging effects of the unavoidable risk

– Make the decision to accept some or all of the consequences of a particular risk.

Some of the risks associated with the software product are described below:

1) Risks related to product size:

The size of the software product can also pose a threat when it is subjected to an unexpectedly high deviation compared to expectations. As a best practice, product expectations are compared to similar situations encountered in the past and learning from past events.

Some of the risks associated with the size of the software product can be:

– The judgment on the size of the product can be a threat.

– The judgment on the number of users who use the product can be a threat.

– Judgment on the size of the associated database can be a threat.

– Uncontrolled changes in product requirements can be a threat to product size.

2) Risks that have an impact on the business:

There are certain types of threats or risks that can affect business performance. Such risks are like:

– Quality of the software product that affects the company’s income.

– Product delivery dates that have an impact on the business of the company, including delayed delivery costs.

– Inconsistent needs of customers that have an impact on the business of the company.

– Drastic change in the number of users who are expected to use the product that has an impact on the business of the company.

– Insufficiency of the help / documentation expected by the client.

3) Risks related to Clients:

Each client has a different personality, as do their needs. We can classify customers as follows according to their behavior and reaction to the product delivered to them.

– Type of customers who happily accept a product as it is when it is delivered

– Type of customers who complain and often complain about the quality of the product that is delivered to them. Such clients pose a reasonable amount of threat to the project manager managing the project.

– Type of customers who have been associated with the product development company in the past.

– Type of customers who have a good technical knowledge of the product.

– Type of customers who know the use of the product quite well.

– Type of clients who have a good knowledge of the software engineering process.

– Type of clients that are ready to participate in the review process during the SDLC

– Type of customers who do not know much about the product and start using it as and when it arrives

– Type of clients who are technically clear about their requirements / expectations of the product and are able to clearly define the scope of the project.

4) Risks related to the software engineering process:

Clear definition of the entire software engineering process is of utmost importance to the success of the product. A poorly planned process will result in a software product that poses great threats to itself and to the organization.

Following the guidelines / checklists can be helpful in identifying threats related to software engineering and planning your countermeasures.

– Ensure the availability of a planned documented process for the development of the software product.

– Ensure that all participants in the product development team (whether internal or external) religiously follow the documented process.

– Ensure the availability of a mechanism to monitor the activities and performance of third-party developers and evaluators, if any.

– Ensure the active participation of someone who can regularly monitor technical reviews performed by development teams as well as test teams.

– Ensure adequate documentation of the results of technical reviews that detail the resources implemented to discover what type of software errors.

– Ensure the availability of a configuration management mechanism to ensure adequate consistency in the design, development and testing of the product in accordance with the basic requirements already defined.

– Ensure the availability of a mechanism to handle changes in product requirements raised by the client from time to time. Such a system must be able to analyze the impact of such changes on the software product.

5) Risks related to Development Technology:

Often times, technological factors also pose a great threat to the success of the software product. Following the guidelines / checklists can be helpful in identifying technology-related threats and planning your countermeasures.

– An absolutely new technology that is used to build the software application can be a threat to the organization.

– Unless a proper interface is developed between the software and hardware of some new configurations, there may be a cause of threat.

– Unless the function, performance, and interface of the database system have been tested in the application area in question, there may be a cause of threat.

– The requirement for a completely new or highly specialized interface, as the product expects, can also pose a threat.

– The demand for some specialized requirements for a particular type of design and testing tools and techniques may be a cause for concern or risk.

– Too many structured requirements imposed by the customer can put a lot of pressure on product performance.

– Insufficient productivity-related metrics and quality-related metrics available to product development teams can pose the risk of poor quality products emerging.

6) Risks associated with development and test tools:

Different types of development and testing tools can also be a concern many times during SDLC.

– The use of some typical methods of analysis may be a cause for concern.

– The use of some typical documentation methodologies may be cause for concern.

– The use of some typical methods to design the test cases may be of concern.

– The use of typical tools to manage project activities may be of concern.

– The use of particular tools for configuration management during SDLC may be of concern.

– The use of specific tools for prototyping can be a cause for concern.

– The use of particular tools to support the software testing process may be of concern.

– The use of particular tools for document management can be a cause for concern.

7) Risks related to the development environment:

The environment provided for product development also plays a key role in the success of the product. Some of the factors or situations described below may pose some risk.

– Availability of a suitable tool for the management of the software product and its development processes.

– Availability of a suitable tool to carry out design and analysis activities.

– Adequacy of the performance of the tools implemented for the design and analysis of the product that is being created.

– Availability of suitable code generators or compiler compatible with the product being created

– Availability of suitable testing tools compatible with the product being created.

– Availability of adequate configuration management tools compatible with the product being created.

– Compatibility of the databases with the environment in which they are deployed.

– Compatibility or proper integration of all software tools with each other

– Adequacy of the skills / training of all interested team members regarding the application of the tools.

8) Risks related to the quality of personal development:

A product that gets out of the hands of less skilled personnel must certainly be a cause of risk for the organization. The following checklist will be helpful in closing the gaps in this area.

– Deployment of personnel with the best possible skills appropriate to the project.

– When on a team, the right mix of several staff members with different levels of temperament and ability is important.

– The availability of designated personnel throughout the duration of the project is of vital importance. The project will be seriously affected if people go in the way, for whatever reason.

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