Process: Identify Risks
Process Group: Planning
Knowledge Area: Project Risk Management
Purpose
The Identify Risks process involves identifying individual project risks and sources of overall project risk, documenting their characteristics, and creating a foundation for qualitative and quantitative analysis. It is a continuous, collaborative effort involving the full project team and key stakeholders.
Inputs
- Project Management Plan – Especially the risk management, schedule, cost, and stakeholder plans.
- Project Documents – Includes assumption log, issue log, lessons learned register, requirements documentation, and stakeholder register.
- Agreements – Contractual terms that may introduce or mitigate risk.
- Procurement Documentation – Risk considerations related to suppliers or third-party services.
- Enterprise Environmental Factors (EEFs) – Industry risk factors, regulatory environment, and risk tolerance.
- Organizational Process Assets (OPAs) – Historical risk data, checklists, templates, and prior project files.
Tools and Techniques
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Expert Judgment – Sourced from stakeholders, team members, and subject matter experts.
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Data Gathering
- Brainstorming
- Interviews
- Checklists
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Data Analysis
- Root cause analysis
- Assumption and constraint analysis
- SWOT analysis
- Document analysis
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Interpersonal and Team Skills – Facilitation and collaboration to surface diverse perspectives on risk.
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Prompt Lists – Structured lists of potential risk categories (e.g., PESTLE, TECOP).
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Meetings – Used to engage the project team and stakeholders in identifying and cataloging risks.
Outputs
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Risk Register – A comprehensive list of identified risks with key details such as:
- Description
- Risk owner
- Category
- Potential response
- Trigger conditions
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Risk Report – A high-level summary of overall project risk exposure and key identified risks.
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Project Document Updates – Changes to the assumption log, issue log, and lessons learned register.
Role in the Process Group and Knowledge Area
- Within the Planning Process Group, Identify Risks provides the raw input for further risk analysis and planning.
- As part of Project Risk Management, it ensures a comprehensive view of threats and opportunities that could affect objectives.
Why It Matters
- Informs Analysis and Response Planning – Provides the foundation for all subsequent risk processes.
- Improves Preparedness – Increases awareness of what could go wrong—or right—so the team can be proactive.
- Promotes Shared Understanding – Encourages team participation and ownership of risk management.
- Reduces Surprises – Helps uncover hidden risks early, avoiding costly disruptions later.