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150 PART TWO MANAGING SOFTWARE PROJECTS

performance, cost, support, and schedule. In the context of this discussion, the risk
components are defined in the following manner:

• Performance risk—the degree of uncertainty that the product will meet its
requirements and be fit for its intended use.

• Cost risk—the degree of uncertainty that the project budget will be
maintained.
• Support risk—the degree of uncertainty that the resultant software will be
easy to correct, adapt, and enhance.
• Schedule risk—the degree of uncertainty that the project schedule will be
maintained and that the product will be delivered on time.
The impact of each risk driver on the risk component is divided into one of four impact
categories—negligible, marginal, critical, or catastrophic. Referring to Figure 6.1 [BOE89],

Components
Performance Support Cost Schedule
Category
Failure to meet the requirement Failure results in increased costs
1 would result in mission failure and schedule delays with expected
values in excess of $500K
Catastrophic Significant Nonresponsive or Significant financial Unachievable
degradation to unsupportable shortages, budget IOC
2 nonachievement software overrun likely
of technical
performance
Failure to meet the requirement would Failure results in operational delays
1 degrade system performance to a point and/or increased costs with expected
where mission success is questionable value of $100K to $500K
Critical
Some reduction Minor delays in Some shortage of Possible
2 in technical software financial resources, slippage
performance modifications possible overruns in IOC
Failure to meet the requirement would Costs, impacts, and/or recoverable
1 result in degradation of secondary schedule slips with expected value
mission of $1K to $100K
Marginal Minimal to small Responsive Sufficient financial Realistic,
reduction in software resources achievable
2 technical support schedule
performance
Failure to meet the requirement would Error results in minor cost and/or
1 create inconvenience or nonoperational schedule impact with expected value
impact of less than $1K
Negligible
No reduction in Easily supportable Possible budget Early
2 technical software underrun achievable
performance IOC
Note: (1) The potential consequence of undetected software errors or faults.
(2) The potential consequence if the desired outcome is not achieved.
FIGURE 6.1 Impact assessment [BOE89]