Understanding of Risk Analysis in Software Engineering

Importance of risk analysis in software projects can be judged from the fact that, no Software Development Life Cycle is viewed as complete unless it has passed through active consideration to areas having several types of risks associated with them.

The vulnerable areas covered under the process of risk analysis are

1) Assessment of Risk

2) Characterization of Risk

3) Communication of the Risk

4) Risk Management

5) Defining the Risk Related Policies

Following terms related to Risk Analysis need to be understood clearly

Let us try to understand as to what is Risk Analysis?
It is a technique employed to identify and assess various factors, which may jeopardize the success of a project or achieving a goal. These factors can pose some sort of threat to the project. Thus risk analysis covers the process of scientific assessment of such threats vulnerable to the attainment of the organizational goals.

Risk analysis technique is helpful in defining preventive measures to reduce the probability occurrence of such threatening factors. It includes identification of various countermeasures to successfully deal with such constraints with an objective to avoid devastating effects on the organization’s competitiveness in the trade.

One of the risk analysis technique gaining popularity in IT sector 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 situation of known threat. It covers thorough evaluation of existing security & environment related aspects with a view to assess the probability of harmful effects of the threats to the organization. Risk assessment is the first and foremost step in a risk management process.

What is Business Impact Analysis or BIA?
Business impact analysis refers to the process of finding out the functions critical to the operations of the organization. The outcome of business impact analysis effort is having differentiation between critical and non-critical functions in the organization. A function is viewed as critical when its implications are unacceptable to the organization, or when it is dictated by the law or demanded by the customer or having constraint of internal operations or having unacceptable financial implications.

What is Risk Management?
Risk management is a structured methodology of handling uncertainty associated with a threat. Risk management includes development of strategies to handle the risk either by

- Transfer of the risk to some other party

- Taking actions so as to completely avoid the risk

- Taking measures aimed at reducing the damaging effects of the inevitable risk

- Taking decision to accept some or all of the consequences of a particular risk.

Few of the Risks associated with software product are described as under:

1) Risks related to the Size of the Product:
The size of the software product also can pose threat when it gets subjected to unexpectedly high deviation compared to the expectations. As a best practice, the expectations from the product are compared with similar situations encountered in the past & learning from the past happenings.

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

- Judgement on the size of the product can be a threat

- Judgement on the number of users using the product can be a threat

- Judgement on the size of the associated database can be a threat

- Uncontrolled changes in the product requirements can be a threat to the product size

2) Risks having Impact on the Business:
There are certain types of threats or risks, which can have effect on the performance of the business. Such risks are like:

- Quality of the software product having an impact on revenue of the company.

- Product delivery dates having impact on the company business, including costs of delayed delivery.

- Inconsistent customer needs having impact on the company business.

- Drastic change in number of users expected to use the product having impact on the company business.

- Inadequacy of help / documentation as expected by the customer.

3) Risks related to Customers:
Every customer has a different personality, so are their needs. We can categorize customers in the following way according to their behavior & reaction to the product delivered to them.

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

- Type of customers who are of complaining nature & usually tend to grumble on the quality of the product delivered to them. Such customers pose a reasonable amount of threat to the project manager handling the project

- Type of customers who happen to have past association with the product developing company

- Type of customers who have good technical knowledge of the product

- Type of customers who have fairly good understanding of the usage of the product

- Type of customers who have a good understanding of process of software engineering

- Type of customers who are ready to participate in the process of reviews during the SDLC

- Type of customers who are not much aware of the product & start using it as & when it comes

- Type of customers who are technically clear about their requirements / expectations from the product & are able to define the scope of the project clearly

4) Risks related to Software Engineering Process:
Clear cut definition of the entire process of software engineering is of paramount importance for the success of the product. A badly planned process will result into a software product posing great threats to itself as well as to the organization.

Following guidelines / checklist can be helpful in identifying the software engineering related threats & planning their counter measures.

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

- Ensure that all the participants of the product development team (whether in-house or third party peoples) is religiously following the documented process

- Ensure the availability of a mechanism for monitoring the activities & performance of third party developers & testers, if any.

- Ensure the active participation of someone who can regularly monitor the technical reviews conducted by the development teams as well as the testing teams.

- Ensure the proper documentation of outcome of the technical reviews detailing the resources deployed to unearth what type of software bugs.

- Ensure the availability of a configuration management mechanism for ensuring adequate consistency in design, development and testing of the product in line with the basic requirements already defined.

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

5) Risks related to the Technology of Development:
Many times technological factors also pose great threat to the success of the software product. Following guidelines / checklist can be helpful in identifying the technology related threats & planning their counter measures.

- An absolutely new technology being used for building the software application can be a threat to the organization.

- Unless proper interface is developed between the software & hardware of some new configurations, there can be a cause of threat.

- Unless function, performance and interface of the database system has been proven across the application area in question, there can be a cause of threat.

- Requirement of some absolutely new or highly specialized interface as expected by the product can also pose a threat

- Demand of some specialized requirements of particular type of design and testing tools and techniques can be a cause of concern or risk.

- Too much of structured requirements imposed by the customer can a lot of pressure on the performance of the product

- Inadequacy of productivity-related metrics and quality related metrics available to the product development teams can pose risk of emergence of poor quality product

6) Risks associated with development & Testing Tools:
Different types of development and testing tools can also be a cause of concern many a times during the SDLC.

- Use of some typical methods for analysis can be a cause of concern.

- Use of some typical methodologies for documentation can be a cause of concern.

- Use of some typical methods to design the test cases can be a cause of concern.

- Use of typical tools for managing the project activities can be a cause of concern.

- Use of particular tools for configuration management during the SDLC can be a cause of concern

- Use of particular tools for prototyping purposes can be a cause of concern

- Use of particular tools for providing support to the software testing process can be a cause of concern

- Use of particular tools for managing the documentation can be a cause of concern

7) Risks related to the developmental Environment:
Environment provided for development of the product also plays a key role in the success of the product. Some of the factors or situations described below can pose certain amount of risk.

- Availability of an adequate tool for the management of the software product & its development processes.

- Availability of an adequate tool for performing design and analysis activities.

- Adequacy of performance of tools deployed for design and analysis of the product being created

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

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

- Availability of a suitable configuration management tools compatible with the product being created.

- Compatibility of the databases with the environment under which they are deployed.

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

- Adequacy of skills / training to all concerned team members as regards application of the tools.

8) Risks related to the quality of development personnel:
A product coming out of the hands of personnel of lower skill levels shall be certainly a cause of risk to the organization. Following checklist shall be helpful in bridging the gaps in this area.

- Deployment of personnel having best possible skills appropriate to the project

- When in a team, proper combination of various personnel with different temperament & skill levels is important.

- Availability of the nominated personnel during the complete duration of the project is of key importance. The project will get seriously affected If the persons leave in between, due to any reason.

Is Rain Nutrition a Smart Decision For a Home-Based Business?

Let me first preface this tract letting you know that I have no ties to Rain Nutrition. I do not work for them and I do not distribute for them. I have nonetheless, been watching them for a little while now just to see what they’re all about. Here is what I have found out.

The Company

Rain Nutrition is a wellness company that sells supplements packed full of antioxidants.

The Products

They’re have 5 supplements offered which include Soul, Rush, Storm, Pure and a Free-Radical Test Kit.

Soul is an overall fitness juice which contains 12 free-radical fighting antioxidants and trans-acids.

Rush is an energy drink.

Storm is best used after strenuous activity for recovery.

Pure is a supplement consisting of probiotic pills and

The Free-Radical Test Kit is self-explanatory.

Is The Pay Good??

Fantastic question. The comp plan consists of 7 alternative ways you’re paid and can earn long term, continual income. Weekly, they pay out an assured 50 % of all commissionable volume to active reps in commissions and bonuses. You also earn money by keeping the difference between the wholesale price and the retail price when reselling Rain Nutrition products to a customer. Recruit someone and when they place they’re first order you get a First Order Bonus. When that person also enrolls a distributor you can a 50% match of the First Order Bonus that was received by your personal enrollee. Weekly team commission bonuses are paid out and they also have three other bonuses: a leadership, a generational match, and an approach to life bonus. I find the comp plan to be very sound.

Is Joining Rain Nutrition The Correct Move For You?

The company isn’t a hoax but whether or not to join it’s a personal call on your part. Do you believe in what they sell? Do you like their pay plan?

I did not like the stress they put on chasing your warm market (family, friends, and associates ) to pitch them on your new business. Certainly not wise! You need more than a company produced website and some dead-beatless and over-priced leads, or the 3-foot rule be TRULY prosperous with Rain Nutrition.

If you would like to earn money in this company, or any other MLM company, you MUST REALLY grasp how to produce a never-ending flood of leads through the application of the techniques of ATTRACTION MARKETING!

After you REALLY grasp Attraction Marketing you will have the capability to go out and create a loyal and prosperous team in Rain Nutrition or any MLM company you decide to sign up with.

Skip past the M.L.M rubbish I’m certain you have heard already Go to the link in the Resource Box and get started learning and implementing the systems that enable people to make enormous monthly incomes with Rain Nutrition!

Baby Scrapbook and Family History

Creating a family history with scrapbooks is easy to do and carries love from generation to generation. It tells a story of human creation and family ties for children and gives them a sense of who they are and where they come from. A baby scrapbook album is one of the favorite books of childhood.Scrapbook
A scrapbook is a collection of pictures and memories for a certain person or event. A baby scrapbook is started with its first picture and never ends. It can continue as long as the parent or child would like and contains memories and pieces of the child’s history.Everything from pictures to hair clippings and school papers will brighten your child’s life and provide stories to look back on or pass on to their own child. It is complied of pages, prints, glue, tape, little pictures and decoration. Anything that is a part of the child’s life and your choosing can be placed into the scrapbook.Album
The albums can continue as each one fills to capacity. You can use a different one for each event or hobby a child develops an interest in throughout their lifetime. Each album needs to have a theme so the story can continue from year to year.Family albums are a good way to maintain a family bond through its own history. Using pictures of the family during vacations and of extended family members to help trace linage will provide information for future generation.One album is a complete book and as you collect more album you can include articles of interest or hobby and medical information. If one parent dies at a young age, the child needs the other parent or family to create an album of picture, stories and events so they can learn about the departed parent. This brings a connection they cannot get any other way.Layout
Begin your album by choosing a cover book, a few pages and the pictures you would like to start with. If it is for a child make the theme a baby scrapbook layout with pastel colors and happy decorations. Do not use more than two to three picture for the each page. You want to leave enough room between each picture to include name, date and event.Continue your story on the back of the first page. If you need to add further words, check craft shops for individual words or letters made for scrapbooks. For more of the story, write the information on a computer and print off to add to the page or write it in your own hand for a more personal touch. Be sure to include emotions or funny sayings when writing the story.Add little things like the first clipping of baby’s hair, foot print, all statistics and newspaper clippings. Choose one page or two to list baby gifts and cards from the baby shower. If you have pictures from the baby shower and pictures of yourself while pregnant, the child will see the beginning of their story as a family.Every child will love to look at their own history when they become an adult. They will also love to share it with their own children when the time comes.