Software Risk Management

Since there could be various risks associated with the software development projects, the key to identify and manage those risks is to know about the concepts of software risk management. Many concepts about software risk management could be identified but the most important are:-

• Risk Index
• Risk Analysis
• Risk Assessment

Risk Index: Generally risks are categorized into two factors namely impact of risk events and probability of occurrence. Risk index is the multiplication of impact and probability of occurrence. Risk index can be characterized as high,medium, or low depending upon the product of impact and occurrence. Risk index is very important and necessary for prioritization of risk.

Risk Analysis:
           There are quite different types of risk analysis that can be used. Basically, risk analysis is used to identify the high risk elements of a project in software engineering.
Also, it provides ways of detailing the impact of risk mitigation strategies.
Risk analysis has also been found to be most important in the software design phase to evaluate criticality of the system, where risks are analyzed and necessary counter measures are introduced .
The main purpose of risk analysis is to understand risks in better ways and to verify and correct attributes.
A successful risk analysis includes important elements like problem definition, problem formulation, data collection .

Risk Assessment:
               Risk assessment is another important case that integrates risk management and risk analysis. There are many risk assessment methodologies that focus on different types of risks.
Risk assessment requires correct explanations of the target system and all security features. It is important that a risk referent levels like performance, cost, support and schedule must be defined properly for risk assessment to be useful.