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Project Risk Analysis: Tools, Templates & Techniques

There are many project risks that can affect your project and, as a project manager, you’re responsible for the risk analysis process. Risk analysis, or risk assessment is essential because it allows project managers to classify project risks and determine which of them should be tracked closely.

What Is Project Risk Analysis?

Risk analysis consists of using tools and techniques to determine the likelihood and impact of project risks that have been previously identified. Therefore, risk analysis helps project managers decipher the uncertainty of potential risks and how they would impact the project in terms of schedule, quality and costs if, in fact, they were to show up. Risk analysis isn’t exclusive to project management and it’s used in other disciplines such as business administration, construction or manufacturing.

No matter what industry you’re in, you’ll always have projects and so, you should use project management software for risk analysis. ProjectManager , for instance, has risk management tools that let you track risks in real time. Keep track of individual risk events and mark their impact, likelihood and overall risk level with a risk matrix. Then assign that risk to a team member and use project dashboards to monitor. Get started with ProjectManager today for free.

How to Analyze Project Risks

At a basic level, there are three things you should consider when assessing project risks : risk probability, risk impact and risk exposure. These three things can be estimated through qualitative and quantitative risk analysis.

Risk Probability

All risks have a certain probability of occurrence, which means they might or might not happen. Estimating risk probability isn’t an exact science, but there are several techniques you can use, such as examining data from past projects. By analyzing similar projects from the past, you can better determine whether there’s a high or low chance of project risk.

Risk Impact

Consider the type of risk and its potential impact on the project. Some risks will bring financial stress, while others might involve resource management issues or delays to the project schedule. To make things simple, you can simply assign levels of impact for your project risks, such as low, medium or high depending on how critical they are.

Risk Exposure

Risk exposure combines risk probability and risk impact in one formula that’s used by businesses to determine whether they’re ready to assume a potential risk or not. This technique can only be used when you can measure the potential losses associated with risk. The risk exposure formula is:

Risk Exposure = Risk impact * Risk probability

So, if a given risk had an impact of $1 million and the probability of that risk was 50%, your risk exposure would equal $500,000.

What Is Qualitative Risk Analysis?

Qualitative risk analysis refers to the risk analysis tools and techniques that rely on expert subject matter opinions, subjective and non-statistical means to assess the likelihood and impact of project risks. A risk matrix is a typical example of a qualitative risk analysis tool.

What Is Quantitative Risk Analysis?

By contrast, quantitative risk analysis is a statistical analysis of project risks. While it takes longer than qualitative analysis, quantitative risk analysis tends to be more accurate as it relies on data. Some examples of quantitative risk analysis tools are linear regression models or the Monte Carlo simulation, both statistical techniques that simulate scenarios and their different outcomes so that managers can better understand how risk can affect their business or project. Let’s take a closer look at some risk analysis tools and techniques you can use.

8 Project Risk Analysis Tools & Techniques

There are several risk analysis methods and tools that help managers through the analysis and decision-making process. Some of these involve the use of risk analysis tools such as project management charts and documents. Let’s dive into these risk analysis methods and how they can help you.

1. Team Brainstorming Sessions

Estimating risk probability and impact is a huge part of risk analysis. As stated, this can be done subjectively, which might lead to error, especially if you do it by yourself as the project manager. To avoid this, you can involve all the team members you consider relevant to get their input on risk likelihood and potential negative consequences.

2. Delphi Technique

The Delphi technique involves a panel of experts on topics that are critical to your project risk. It could be financial experts, lawyers, project management consultants or any other type of professional. This risk analysis method consists of promoting a debate among these experts who ultimately need to reach a consensus on a particular topic, such as estimating the business impact of a risk.

3. SWOT Analysis

SWOT analysis allows managers to understand the current situation of their business or project by looking at its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. As a risk analysis tool, it lets you note which of your weaknesses might be exploited by others and which external threats might affect your projects, such as economic conditions or the threat of new competitors.

4. Risk Analysis Matrix

The risk analysis matrix assesses the likelihood and the severity of risks, classifying them by order of importance. It’s main purpose is to help managers prioritize risks and create a risk management plan that has the right resources and strategies to properly mitigate risks. Risk likelihood is measured on a relative scale, not a statistical one, which makes it a qualitative risk analysis tool. This tool is also called the probability/consequence matrix by some project managers.

5. Risk Register

A risk register is a crucial project management tool to document project risks. It’s a document that lists all the potential risks that could occur during the project execution phase, as well as critical information about them. It’s meant to be used as input for the risk management plan, which describes who’s responsible for those risks, the risk mitigation strategies and the resources needed. Creating a risk register usually involves several reliable information sources such as the project team, subject matter experts and historical data.

6. Decision Tree Analysis

A decision tree analysis consists of mapping out the potential outcomes that might occur after a decision is made. This is a great method to analyze risks in new projects. Create decision trees as you go through your project planning process so you can identify potential risks and their probability and impact along the way.

7. Bow Tie Analysis

This qualitative risk analysis method is used to identify causes and consequences for all potential project risks. The project management team must first identify risks that might affect the project and then think about causes, consequences and more importantly, a risk mitigation strategy for them. It’s a versatile method that can be used in any industry.

8. SWIFT Analysis

SWIFT stands for Structured What If Technique. It’s a risk analysis method that focuses on identifying potential risks associated with changes made to a project plan. As its name suggests, team members have to come up with any “what if” questions they can to find out all the potential risks that could arise.

What Is Risk Analysis?

Risk analysis is the process that determines how likely it is that risk will arise in a project. It studies the uncertainty of potential risks and how they would impact the project in terms of schedule, quality and costs if, in fact, they were to show up. Two ways to analyze risk are quantitative and qualitative. But it’s important to know that risk analysis is not an exact science, so it’s important to track risks throughout the project life cycle.

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Types of Risk Analysis

There are two main types of risk analysis: qualitative and quantitative risk analysis. Let’s learn about these two approaches.

Qualitative Risk Analysis

The qualitative risk analysis is a risk assessment done by experts on the project teams  who use data from past projects and their expertise to estimate the impact and probability value for each risk on a scale or a risk matrix.

The scale used is commonly ranked from zero to one. That is, if the likelihood of the risk happening in your project is .5, then there is a 50 percent chance it’ll occur. There is also an impact scale, which is measured from one to fine, with five being the most impact on the project. The risk will then be categorized as either source- or effect-based.

Once risks are identified and analyzed, a project team member is designated as a risk owner for each risk. They’re responsible for planning a risk response and implementing it.

Qualitative risk analysis is the base for quantitative risk analysis and reduces project uncertainty while focusing on high-impact risks. This allows you to assign a risk owner and plan out an appropriate risk response. Get started with qualitative risk analysis with our free risk assessment template.

Quantitative Risk Analysis

By contrast, quantitative risk analysis is a statistical analysis of the effect of those identified risks on the overall project. This helps project managers and team leaders to make decisions with reduced uncertainty and supports the process of controlling risks.

Quantitative risk analysis counts the possible outcomes for the project and figures out the probability of still meeting project objectives . This helps with decision-making, especially when there is uncertainty during the project planning phase. It helps project managers create cost, schedule or scope targets that are realistic.

The Monte Carlo simulation is an example of a quantitative risk analysis tool. It’s a probability technique that uses a computerized method to estimate the likelihood of a risk. It’s used as input for project management decision-making.

Risk Analysis Methods

There are several risk analysis methods that are meant to help managers through the analysis and decision-making process. Some of these involve the use of risk analysis tools such as charts and documents. Let’s dive into these risk analysis methods and how they can help you.

Bow Tie Analysis

This qualitative risk analysis method is used to identify causes and consequences for all potential project risks. The project management team must first identify risks that might affect the project and then think about causes, consequences and more importantly, a risk mitigation strategy for them. It’s a very versatile method that can be used in any industry.

Risk Analysis Matrix

The risk analysis matrix assesses the likelihood and the severity of risks, classifying them by order of importance. It’s main purpose is to help managers prioritize risks and create a risk management plan that has the right resources and strategies to properly mitigate risks. Risk likelihood is measured on a relative scale, not a statistical one, which makes it a qualitative risk analysis tool.

Related: Free Risk Analysis Matrix Template

Risk Register

A risk register is a crucial project management tool to document project risks. It’s a document that lists all the potential risks that could occur during the project execution phase, as well as critical information about them.

It’s meant to be used as input for the risk management plan, which describes who’s responsible for those risks, the risk mitigation strategies and the resources needed. Creating a risk register usually involves several, reliable information sources such as the project team, subject matter experts and historical data.

SWIFT Analysis

SWIFT stands for Structured What If Technique. It’s a risk analysis method that focuses on identifying potential risks associated with changes made to a project plan. As its name suggests, team members have to come up with any “what if” questions they can to find out all the potential risks that could arise.

Benefits of Risk Analysis

There are many benefits to using risk analysis in your projects. Here are some of the most common ones.

• Avoid potential litigation
• Address regulatory issues
• Comply with new legislation
• Reduce exposure
• Minimize impact

Risk analysis is an important input for decision-making during all the stages of the project life cycle . Project managers who have some experience with risk management are a great resource. We culled some advice from them, such as:

• There’s no lack of information on risk
• Much of that information is complex
• Most industries have best practices
• Many companies have risk management framework

Project Risk Analysis Templates

There are several quantitative and qualitative risk analysis methods. There are several tools that can be used for different purposes. To help, we’ve prepared some free risk analysis templates to help you through the risk analysis process.

Risk Register Template

This risk register template has everything you need to keep track of the potential risks that might affect your project as well as their probability, impact, status and more.

Risk Analysis Matrix Template

This risk matrix template lets you visualize your project risks in one color-coded graph to classify them by likelihood and severity. This allows you to better understand the most critical risks for your project.

Risk Analysis In Project Management

Risk analysis is a fundamental step in the project risk management process, which consists of four main stages.

• Risk identification: First, identify your potential project risks and list them using a risk register.
• Risk analysis: Now, estimate the impact, likelihood and exposure for each risk and assign a priority level based on this information. The higher the priority level, the more resources are allocated to mitigate the risk.
• Create a risk management plan: Create risk mitigation strategies, or contingency plans to alleviate the impact of each project risk you’ve previously analyzed. These details are usually included in a risk management plan.
• Track risks until project completion: Implementing your risk management plan is as important as creating one. Set up project controls to keep track of risk at all times.

Risk Analysis Video

If we’ve caught your attention when it comes to discussing risk analysis on a project, don’t worry. Watch project management guru Jennifer Bridges, PMP, as she helps visualize how to analyze risks on your project.

Thanks for watching!

How ProjectManager Helps Your Risk Analysis

ProjectManager is online work and project management software that allows you to manage risks alongside your project. Activate the Risk View to create a running list of all of your project risks. Then add descriptions, mark likelihood, impact and level with an embedded risk matrix. Work towards resolutions with your team and add comments along the way.

Project Tracking You Can Trust

It’s hard to recognize risk without a proper project tracking system in place. Across all of ProjectManager’s views, you can monitor progress and communicate with your team as you work together. But, to take it even further, leverage our built-in dashboards and project reports to stay on top of all aspects of your projects, so you’re ready to identify risks as soon as they appear.

Analyzing and resolving risk is a team effort and our software is collaborative to the core. Teams can comment, share files and get updates from email notifications and in-app alerts. There’s one source of truth and you’re always getting real-time data so everyone is on the same page. Get started with ProjectManager today for free.

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To read this content please select one of the options below:

Please note you do not have access to teaching notes, risk management in a multi‐project environment: an approach to manage portfolio risks.

International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management

ISSN : 0265-671X

Article publication date: 11 January 2008

The purpose of this paper is to identify differences in managing a single project compared with that of a project portfolio, where focus and requirements are expanded, and where clear links to organizational objectives exist. Further, the aim is to propose a methodology for the management of risk within the context of a project portfolio.

Design/methodology/approach

The concepts and framework described in this paper have emerged primarily from an in‐depth action research study in a major provider of transport solutions. The work has been conducted within one division, with presence in most of mainland Europe, Scandinavia, and the UK.

The paper finds that the proposed methodology would manage portfolio risk in two ways. First, it provides a means for single projects to gain experiences from other projects within the portfolio. Second, portfolio common risks and trends of issues can be identified. Such risks can become risks for succeeding projects, or require action from outside the single project.

Research limitations/implications

The paper shows that the pilot study consisted of 16 projects within one project portfolio. Other project portfolios, with other prerequisites, might result in different findings, since some factors not included in this research such as cultural aspects or organizational factors could affect the findings.

Practical implications

In this paper the identification and analysis of commonalities and risk trends between projects provide the possibility to manage risks from a portfolio perspective.

Originality/value

The paper sees that existing risk management processes do not support projects in managing risk within a project portfolio. Instead, the proposed methodology provides the project portfolio manager with a consolidated view of the total risk exposure within the portfolio. Additionally, this methodology finds risks and trends not otherwise possible to identify.

• Risk management
• Project management
• Portfolio investment

Olsson, R. (2008), "Risk management in a multi‐project environment: An approach to manage portfolio risks", International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management , Vol. 25 No. 1, pp. 60-71. https://doi.org/10.1108/02656710810843586

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2008, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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11 Common Project Risks: Types, Examples & How To Avoid

Struggling with keeping your project on track? Are deadlines constantly being pushed back? Are your project profits slowly evaporating?

We often plan a project with this overly optimistic mindset — never considering the myriad of project risks out there.

Before you know it, you’re mid-project and starting to feel the heat.

Most projects “fail” for similar reasons. So we’ll explore the most common project risks (and how to prevent them) in this guide.

11 common types of project risks

It’s important to remember that risks don’t always appear as a dark, foreboding catastrophes. 

The most common types of risks can be filed under the label:

“$#!% happens!”

(particularly if you don’t pay attention).

Here’s a quick summary of project risk examples for you skimmers out there:

And here they are in full…

1. Scope creep 

68%of poorly managed projects experience scope creep — so there’s a good chance you’ve felt it, too.

Scope creep refers to the tendency for the scope of a project to expand beyond its original objectives and requirements. 

It tends to happen when you agree to sign off on additional client requests outside the project’s scope — without adjusting the timeline or budget.

But this often leads to late projects, a stressed team, and project profit margins sailing off into the sunset.

How can you avoid it?

Here are a few steps you can take to banish scope creep for good:

• Define the project scope 
• Gather all project requirements
• Create a detailed project timeline  
• Sign off on a detailed statement of work
• Regularly track and monitor project progress  

Check out the guides linked above to learn more about each tip.

2. Blowing your budget

The cost risk of blowing the project budget is all too common when it comes to client work.

But it’s usually down to poor project cost estimating and scoping.

Many service providers get into the habit of skimming over this step to get the client (money) onto the books.

Which tends to lead to scenarios like the one below. 😢

How can you avoid this?

Create a detailed list of every project task (and what they cost) using a  Work Breakdown Structure . It will help you create a far more accurate  project budget .

3. Project delays 

The risk of a project being delayed is hard (impossible) to avoid. You’re not alone here, by the way. A lot of people share your pain…

Why do they happen? Hard to pinpoint, to be honest.

But I 100% agree with some of the reasons the Reddit user listed above.

• Someone didn’t do their part or took too long
• The original project time estimate was waaaay too aggressive
• External risks you can’t control — aka a client not completing their task on time
• Overestimate the time you need for tasks to give yourself some healthy wiggle room
• Add contingency time for anything unexpected and out of your control (like a client not doing what they were asked)
• Manage multiple project timelines by creating project schedules with a Gantt chart

With a high-level view of all timelines and how they impact each other, you can anticipate delays and move affected timelines so your project can continue.

Here’s what a free online Gantt chart looks like from Toggl Plan:

A Gantt chart helps to prevent project delays by visually representing the planned schedule of tasks and the dependencies between them.

Perfect for project managers who need to identify potential bottlenecks or scheduling conflicts and make necessary adjustments to keep the project on track.

4. Not enough resources

Resource risk happens when you’ve underestimated how many resources you’ll need to get a project over the line. It can include people, materials, or budget.

A lack of resources can result in delays, cost overruns, and a drop in overall project quality. It can also cause you to make difficult decisions about what to prioritize and what to cut to stay on track.

You can evaluate this as poor resource planning and management — i.e. when a project’s resources aren’t properly handled or anticipated.

Create a resource allocation plan which makes the best use of team resources while supporting overall goals.

You may want to consider a project resource planning template .

But templates are typically designed for specific tasks and may have a different level of functionality than dedicated resource management tools.

Instead, you can use resource management tools alongside your task, project, or portfolio management software.

Consider using a visual resource planning tool such as  Toggl Plan .

Generally, resource planning should be done in the project planning phase .

And if you need more resources to deliver by the deadline?

Ask your client for an extension. They’ll appreciate the transparency and extend your deadline.

5. Lack of clarity 

A lack of clarity can happen in many ways:

• Miscommunication among project stakeholders
• Unclear goals and deadlines 
• A vague project scope

The worst part is that lack of clarity is usually based on assumptions, so nobody knows it’s happened until it’s too late.

For example, the client assumes you’re hard at work on that custom animation they wanted on their landing page because you never clearly said “no.”

And the statement of work says nothing but “build landing page.”

The meeting where that gets brought up won’t be comfortable. 😬

Double-check all  project requirements  during the planning stage and create a  statement of work  that your client is happy with.

This centralized information will keep everyone in the loop. Even if misunderstandings happen, you have a clearly defined document to refer to if anyone needs clarification.

6. Client issues

Can’t live with ‘em, can’t live without ‘em.

Project clients can contribute their share of project risks, like miscommunication and false expectations. 

There’s also the dreaded “helicopter client.”

They tend to hover over you and the project — constantly questioning your every move.

This isn’t all their fault. The leading cause of a “helicopter client” usually is down to the following:

• A poorly scoped project
• An ill-defined statement of work
• A lack of communication and project updates

Most client issues can be avoided by:

• Fully scoping out the project by gathering project requirements
• Clearly defining the scope of work and deliverables in a statement of work
• Regularly updating the client with project status reports
• Creating a project communication plan to set expectations

Your best bet to satisfy clients (which translates to project success!) is clarity, transparency, and communication.

As a project manager, you must manage client expectations from the start. A project communication plan helps you with better client management  and smoother project management.

7. Contractor delays

Many service providers work with freelancers and contractors (you might even be one).

But that also means we deal with the delays and challenges of having contractors on our teams.

Freelancers typically lead themselves, so you won’t directly be in charge of when/how they accomplish their tasks.

Freelancers can drop off for several reasons, but common reasons include:

• Your projects are a nightmare to work on
• Your expectations aren’t clear from the get-go

Plus, some contractors leave mid-project — or drop off the face of the planet.

Freelancers will drop off projects. You can’t control that. But you can control how you operate internally. 

Ask yourself the following questions:

• Is your project planning up to scratch? 
• Do you fully understand the project’s requirements? 
• Have you accurately estimated what resources you need?

Once you have your internal processes nailed down, then you should work on how you communicate with freelancers.

• Communicate expected workloads beforehand
• Encourage freelancers to communicate delays early
• Open synchronous communication channels

8. Unrealistic deadlines

Deadlines, deadlines, what a joke…

But seriously…

Unrealistic deadlines are set for many reasons. But one of my favorites?

We get too optimistic and think work can be done in a flash. It’s called the human planning fallacy , which happens to all of us.

For example, you might tell yourself that a blog post can be completed in three days: one day for drafting, one for editing, and one for shipping.

But you forget that your writer, editor, account manager, and PM are all in four different countries…

Make project time estimation a part of your process. Use your historical data from past projects to the fullest, then sprinkle some contingency time on top.

Lay this time estimate in a project management software to visualize the work ahead. Here’s a schedule laid out in Toggl Plan .

Planning tools help you to visualize the impact of your estimated deadlines better. Allowing you to re-adjust and push back work where necessary.

9. Low performance 

It doesn’t matter how well you plan a project. The project will likely be de-railed if your project team isn’t at its best.

It’s not always easy to identify the  why  here. But, in my experience, it typically results from poorly planned projects and a lack of consideration regarding resource planning .

Correctly set deliverables and communicate goals. This comes down to good workload management and a clear work schedule.

After the project starts, keep in contact with your team. If someone says they’re struggling with motivation, be intuitive with their workload and lower their capacity in the future.

10. Inexperienced workers 

Putting new or inexperienced team members on high-stakes projects can be tempting. Perhaps you’re short on resources, or maybe you’re eager to give them a chance.

But projects that carry a lot of weight require an experienced touch. 

New team members lack context — maybe this client has a particular way, or your team member just isn’t ready for this huge responsibility.

How can we avoid it?

Thoughtful resource management will mitigate this risk. Make sure you put experienced team members on your highest-priority tasks. 

This sort of risk also applies to projects already underway. If team member A has spent a lot of time working on client B’s project, don’t switch them out unless necessary.

They have the context and experience that new team members don’t.

11. Poor risk management 

Poor risk management.

The reason many of the above project risks are happening in the first place!

27% of failed projects cited undefined risks as their primary cause of failure — and that’s just counting the projects surveyed.

Project risk management is identifying, assessing, and controlling risks that may impact the success of a project. 

What does poor risk management mean for project managers?

• The possibility of being caught in an avoidable risk
• Having clients know you hit a roadblock you should’ve accounted for
• Sheer chaos (joking, of course. But really…)

Do a thorough risk assessment and establish a solid risk management process. 

Risk mitigation involves brainstorming possible situations with your team and asking experts what risks to expect — including assessing their effects and damage.

Once you have identified risks, you have to ask yourself: “What’s our risk appetite? Should we carry on, or should we play it safe?”

You’ll be glad you were a little pessimistic initially if you have a healthy, pre-prepared backup plan to refer to when encountering a problem that could lead to project failure.

Learn how to assess and analyze project risks in our complete project risk assessment and management guide.

Hope for the best, plan for the worst

Considering the most common types of project risks and creating mitigation strategies will help guard your next project against the worst — or at least soften the blow if your budget trickles over or you miss a deadline. 

Mistakes happen, but there’s nothing wrong with that as long as you let them fuel your expertise and improve your processes.

It’s all about risk identification and continuous improvement. You’ve got this. 🙂

Sean is a Content Marketer at Toggl. He's been involved in SEO and Content Marketing since 2017. Before working for Toggl, Sean ran SEO at a digital marketing agency—so he's all too familiar with time tracking and project management.

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The Essentials of Effective Project Risk Assessments

By Kate Eby | September 19, 2022

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Performing risk assessments is vital to a project’s success. We’ve gathered tips from experts on doing effective risk assessments and compiled a free, downloadable risk assessment starter kit. 

Included on this page, you’ll find details on the five primary elements of risk , a comprehensive step-by-step process for assessing risk , tips on creating a risk assessment report , and editable templates and checklists to help you perform your own risk assessments.

What Is a Project Risk Assessment?

A project risk assessment is a formal effort to identify and analyze risks that a project faces. First, teams identify all possible project risks. Next, they determine the likelihood and potential impact of each risk.

During a project risk assessment, teams analyze both positive and negative risks. Negative risks are events that can derail a project or significantly hurt its chances of success. Negative risks become more dangerous when teams haven’t identified them or created a plan to deal with them.

A project risk assessment also looks at positive risks. Also called opportunities, positive risks are events that stand to benefit the project or organization. Your project team should assess those risks so they can seize on opportunities when they arise.

Your team will want to perform a project risk assessment before the project begins. They should also continually monitor for risks and update the assessment throughout the life of the project.

Some experts use the term project risk analysis to describe a project risk assessment. However, a risk analysis typically refers to the more detailed analysis of a single risk within your broader risk assessment. For expert tips and information, see this comprehensive guide to performing a project risk analysis. 

Project risk assessments are an important part of project risk management. Learn more from experts about best practices in this article on project risk management . For even more tips and resources, see this guide to creating a project risk management plan .

How Do You Assess Risk in a Project?

Teams begin project risk assessments by brainstorming possible project risks. Avoid missing important risks by reviewing events from similar past projects. Finally, analyze each risk to understand its time frame, probability, factors, and impact.  

Your team should also gather input from stakeholders and others who might have thoughts on possible risks. 

In general terms, consider these five important elements when analyzing risks:

• Risk Event: Identify circumstances or events that might have an impact on your project. 
• Risk Time Frame: Determine when these events are most likely to happen. This might mean when they happen in the lifecycle of a project or during a sales season or calendar year. 
• Probability: Estimate the likelihood of an event happening. 
• Impact: Determine the impact on the project and your organization if the event happens. 
• Factors: Determine the events that might happen before a risk event or that might trigger the event.

Project Risk Assessment Tools

Project leaders can use various tools and methodologies to help measure risks. One option is a failure mode and effects analysis. Other options include a finite element analysis or a factor analysis and information risk.

These are some common risk assessment tools:

• Process Steps: Identify all steps in a process.
• Potential Problems: Identify what could go wrong with each step.
• Problem Sources: Identify the causes of the problem.
• Potential Consequences: Identify the consequences of the problem or failure.
• Solutions: Identify ways to prevent the problem from happening.
• Finite Element Analysis (FEA): This is a computerized method for simulating and analyzing the forces on a structure and the ways that a structure could break. The method can account for many, sometimes thousands, of elements. Computer analysis then determines how each of those elements works and how often the elements won’t work. The analysis for each element is then added together to determine all possible failures and the rate of failure for the entire product.
• Factor Analysis of Information Risk (FAIR): This framework helps teams analyze risks to information data or cybersecurity risk.

How to Conduct a Project Risk Assessment

The project manager and team members will want to continually perform risk assessments for a project. Doing good risk assessments involves a number of steps. These steps include identifying all possible risks and assessing the probability of each.

Most importantly, team members must fully explore and assess all possible risks, including risks that at first might not be obvious.

“The best thing that a risk assessment process can do for any project, over time, is to be a way of bringing unrecognized assumptions to light,” says Mike Wills , a certified mentor and coach and an assistant professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s College of Business. “We carry so many assumptions without realizing how they constrain our thinking.”

Steps in a Project Risk Assessment

Experts recommend several important steps in an effective project risk assessment. These steps include identifying potential risks, assessing their possible impact, and formulating a plan to prevent or respond to those risks.

Here are 10 important steps in a project risk assessment:

Step 1: Identify Potential Risks

Bring your team together to identify all potential risks to your project. Here are some common ways to help identify risks, with tips from experts:

• Review Documents: Review all documents associated with the project.
• Consider Industry-Specific Risks: Use risk prompt lists for your industry. Risk prompt lists are broad categories of risks, such as environmental or legal, that can occur in a project.
• Revisit Previous Projects: Use checklists from similar projects your organization has done in the past. 

• “What I like to do for specific types of projects is put together a checklist, a taxonomy of old risks that you've identified in other projects from lessons learned,” says Wendy Romeu, President and CEO of Alluvionic . “Say you have a software development program. You would pull up your template that includes all the risks that you realized in other projects and go through that list of questions. Then you would ask: ‘Do these risks apply to our project?’ That's kind of a starting point.” “You do that with your core project team,” Romeu says, “and it gets their juices flowing.” Learn more about properly assessing lessons learned at the end of a project in this comprehensive guide to project management lessons learned .
• Consult Experts: Conduct interviews with experts within and, in some cases, outside your organization.
• Brainstorm: Brainstorm ideas with your team. “The best scenario, which doesn't usually happen, is the whole team comes together and identifies the risks,” says Romeu.
• Stick to Major Risks: Don’t try to identify an unrealistic or unwieldy number of risks. “You want to identify possible risks, but you want to keep the numbers manageable,” says Wills. “The more risks you identify, the longer you spend analyzing them. And the longer you’re in analysis, the fewer decisions you make.”
• Look for Positive Risks: Identify both positive risks and negative ones. It’s easy to forget that risks aren’t all negative. There can be unexpected positive events as well. Some people call these opportunities , but in a risk assessment, experts call them positive risks. 

• “A risk is a future event that has a likelihood of occurrence and an impact,” says Alan Zucker, founding principal of Project Management Essentials , who has more than two decades of experience managing projects in Fortune 100 companies. “Risks can both be opportunities — good things — and threats. Most people, when they think about risk assessment, they always think about the negatives. I really try to stress on people to think about the opportunities as well.” Opportunities, or positive risks, might include your team doing great work on a project and a client wanting the team to do more work. Positive risks might include a project moving forward more quickly than planned or costing less money than planned. You’ll want to know how to respond in those situations, Zucker says. Learn more about project risk identification and find more tips from experts in this guide to project risk identification .

Step 2: Determine the Probability of Each Risk

After your team has identified possible risks, you will want to determine the probability of each risk happening. Your team can make educated guesses using some of the same methods it used to identify those risks.

Determine the probability of each identified risk with these tactics:

• Brainstorm with your team.
• Interview experts.
• Review similar past projects.
• Review other projects in the same industry.

Step 3: Determine the Impact of Each Risk

Your team will then determine the impact of each risk should it occur. Would the risk stop the project entirely or stop the development of a product? Or would the risk occurring have a relatively minor impact?

Assessing impact is important because if it’s a positive risk, Romeu says, “You want to make sure you’re doing the things to make it happen. Whereas if it's a high risk and a negative situation, you want to do the things to make sure it doesn't happen.”

There are two ways to measure impact: qualitative and quantitative. “Are we going to do just a qualitative risk assessment, where we're talking about the likelihood and the probability or the urgency of that risk?” asks Zucker. “Or are we going to do a quantitative risk assessment, where we're putting a dollar figure or a time figure to those risks?”

Most often, a team will analyze and measure risk based on qualitative impact. The team will analyze risk based on a qualitative description of what could happen, such as a project being delayed or failing. The team may judge that impact as significant but won’t put a dollar figure on it.

A quantitative risk assessment, on the other hand, estimates the impact in numbers, often measured in dollars or profits lost, should a risk happen. “Typically, for most projects, we don’t do a quantitative risk assessment,” Zucker says. “It’s usually when we’re doing engineering projects  or big, federal projects. That’s where we're doing the quantitative.”

Step 4: Determine the Risk Score of Each Event

Once your team assesses possible risks, along with the risk probability and impact, it’s time to determine a risk score for each potential event. This score allows your organization to understand the risks that need the most attention.

Often, teams will use a simple risk matrix to determine that risk score. Your team will assign a score based on the probability of each risk event. It will then assign a second score based on the impact that event would have on the organization. Those two figures multiplied will give you each event or risk a risk score.

Zucker says he prefers to assign the numbers 1, 5, and 10 — for low, medium, and high — to both the likelihood of an event happening and its impact. In that scenario, an event with a low likelihood of happening (level of 1) and low impact (level of 1) would have a total risk score of 1 (1 multiplied by 1). An event with a high likelihood of happening (level of 10) and a large impact (level of 10) would have a total risk score of 100.

Zucker says he prefers using those numbers because a scale as small as one to three doesn't convey the importance of high-probability and high-impact risks. “A nine doesn't feel that bad,” he says. “But if it's 100, it's like, ‘Whoa, I really need to worry about that thing.’”

While these risk matrices use numbers, they are not really quantitative. Your teams are making qualitative judgments on events and assigning a rough score. In some cases, however, teams can determine a quantitative risk score.

Your team might determine, based on past projects or other information, that an event has a 10 percent chance of happening. For example, if that event will diminish your manufacturing plant’s production capacity by 50 percent for one month, your team might determine that it will cost your company $400,000. In that case, the risk would have a risk score of $40,000.

At the same time, another event might have a 40 percent chance of happening. Your team might determine the cost to the business would be $10,000. In that case, the risk score is $4,000.

“Just simple counts start to give you a quantifiable way of looking at risk,” says Wills. “A risk that is going to delay 10 percent of your production capacity is a different kind of risk than one that will delay 50 percent of it. Because you have a number, you can gather real operational data for a week or two and see how things support the argument. You can start to compare apples to apples, not apples to fish.”

Wills adds, “Humans, being very optimistic and terrible at predicting the future, will say, ‘Oh, I don't think it'll happen very often.’ Quantitative techniques help to get you away from this gambler fallacy kind of approach. They can make or break your argument to a stakeholder that says, ‘I've looked at this, and I can explain mechanically, count by the numbers like an accountant, what's going on and what might go wrong.’”

Step 5: Understand Your Risk Tolerance

As your team considers risks, it must understand the organization’s risk tolerance. Your team should know what kinds of risks that organizational leaders and stakeholders are willing to take to see a project through.

Understanding that tolerance will also help your team decide how and where to invest time and resources in order to prevent certain negative events.

Step 6: Decide How to Prioritize Risks

Once your team has determined the risk score for each risk, it will see which potential risks need the most attention. These are risks that are high impact and that your organization will want to work hard to prevent.

“You want to attack the ones that are high impact and high likelihood first,” says Romeu. 

“Some projects are just so vital to what you do and how you do it that you cannot tolerate the risk of derailment or major failure,” says Wills. “So you're willing to spend money, time, and effort to contain that risk. On other projects, you're taking a flier. You're willing to lose a little money, lose a little effort.”

“You have to decide, based on your project, based on your organization, the markets you're in, is that an ‘oh my gosh, it's gonna keep me up every night’ kind of strategic risk? Or is it one you can deal with?” he says.

Step 7: Develop Risk Response Strategies

Once your team has assessed all possible risks and ranked them by importance, you will want to dive deeper into risk response strategies. That plan should include ways to respond to both positive and negative risks.

These are the main strategies for responding to threats or negative risks:

• Mitigate: These are actions you will take to reduce the likelihood of a risk event happening or that will reduce the impact if it does happen. “For example, if you’re building a datacenter, we might have backup power generators to mitigate the likelihood or the impact of a power loss,” says Zucker. You can learn more, including more tips from experts, about project risk mitigation .
• Avoid: If a certain action, new product, or new service carries an unacceptably high risk, you might want to avoid it entirely. 
• Transfer: The most common way that organizations transfer risk is by buying insurance. A common example is fire insurance for a building. Another is cybersecurity insurance that would cover your company in the event of a data breach. An additional option is to transfer certain risks to other companies that can do the work and assume its risks for your company. “It could be if you didn't want to have the risk of running a datacenter anymore, you transfer that risk to Jeff Bezos (Amazon Web Services) or to Google or whoever,” Zucker says.

These are the main strategies for responding to opportunities or positive risks:

• Share: Your company might partner with another company to work together on achieving an opportunity, and then share in the benefits.
• Exploit: Your company and team work hard to make sure an event happens because it will benefit your company.
• Enhance: Your company works to improve the likelihood of something happening, with the understanding that it might not happen.

These are the main strategies for responding to both threats and opportunities, or negative and positive risks:

• Accept: Your company simply accepts that a risk might happen but continues on because the benefits of the action are significant. “You're not ignoring the risks, but you're saying, ‘I can't do anything practical about them,’” says Wills. “So they're there. But I'm not going to spend gray matter driving myself crazy thinking about them.”
• Escalate: This is when a project manager sees a risk as exceptionally high, impactful, and beyond their purview. The project manager should then escalate information about the risk to company leaders. They can then help decide what needs to happen. “Some project managers seem almost fearful about communicating risks to organization leaders,” Romeu says. “It drives me nuts. It's about communicating at the right level to the right people. At the executive level, it’s about communicating what risks are happening and what the impact of those risks are. If they happen, everybody knows what the plan is. And people aren't taken by surprise.”

Step 8: Monitor Your Risk Plans

Your team will want to understand how viable your organization’s risk plans are. That means you might want to monitor how they might work or how to test them.

A common example might be all-hands desktop exercises on a disaster plan. For example, how will a hospital respond to a power failure or earthquake? It’s like a fire drill, Zucker says. “Did we have a plan? Do people know what to do when the risk event occurs?”

Step 9: Perform Risk Assessments Continually

Your team will want to continually assess risks to the project. This step should happen throughout your project, from project planning to execution to closeout. 

Zucker explains that the biggest mistake teams tend to make with project risk assessment: “People think it's a one-and-done event. They say, ‘I’ve put together my risk register, we’ve filed it into the documents that we needed to file, and I'm not worrying about it.’ I think that is probably the most common issue: that people don't keep it up. They don't think about it.”

Not thinking about how risks change and evolve throughout a project means project leaders won’t be ready for something when it happens. That’s why doing continual risk assessment as a primary part of risk management is vital, says Wills.

“Risk management is a process that should start before you start doing that activity. As you have that second dream about doing that project, start thinking about risk management,” he says. “And when you have completely retired that thing — you've shut down the business, you've pensioned everybody off, you’re clipping your coupons and working on your backstroke — that's when you're done with risk management. It's just a living, breathing, ongoing thing.”

Experts say project managers must learn to develop a sense for always assessing and monitoring risk. “As a PM, you should, in every single meeting you have, listen for risks,” Romeu says. “A technical person might say, ‘Well, this is going to be difficult because of X or Y or Z.’ That's a risk. They don't understand that's a risk, but as a PM, you should be aware of that.”

Step 10: Identify Lessons Learned

After your project is finished, your team should come together to identify the lessons learned during the project. Create a lessons learned document for future use. Include information about project risks in the discussion and the final document.

By keeping track of risks in a lessons learned document, you allow future leaders of similar projects to learn from your successes and failures. As a result, they can better understand the risks that could affect their project.

“Those lessons learned should feed back into the system — back into that original risk checklist,” Romeu says. “So the next software development project knows to look at these risks that you found.”

How to Write a Project Risk Assessment Report

Teams will often track risks in an online document that is accessible to all team members and organization leaders. Sometimes, a project manager will also create a separate project risk assessment report for top leaders or stakeholders.

Here are some tips for creating that report:

• Find an Appropriate Template for Your Organization, Industry, and Project: You can find a number of templates that will help guide you in creating a risk assessment report. Find a project risk assessment report template in our project risk assessment starter kit.
• Consider Your Audience: As you create the report, remember your audience. For example, a report for a technical team will be more detailed than a report for the CEO of your company. Some more detailed reports for project team members might include a full list of risks, which would be 100 or more. “But don't show executives that list; they will lose their mind,” says Romeu.

Project Risk Assessment Starter Kit

Download Project Risk Assessment Starter Kit

This starter kit includes a checklist on assessing possible project risks, a risk register template, a template for a risk impact matrix, a quantitative risk impact matrix, a project risk assessment report template, and a project risk response table. The kit will help your team better understand how to assess and continually monitor risks to a project.

In this kit, you’ll find: 

• A risk assessment checklist PDF document and Microsoft Word to help you identify potential risks for your project. The checklist included in the starter kit is based on a document from Alluvionic Project Management Services.
• A project risk register template for Microsoft Excel to help you identify, analyze, and track project risks.
• A project risk impact assessment matrix for Microsoft Excel to assess the probability and impact of various risks.
• A quantitative project risk impact matrix for Microsoft Excel to quantify the probability and impact of various risks. 
• A project risk assessment report template for Microsoft Excel to help you communicate your risk assessment findings and risk mitigation plans to company leadership.
• A project risk response diagram PDF document and Microsoft Word to better understand how to respond to various positive and negative risks.

Expertly Assess and Manage Project Risks with Real-Time Work Management in Smartsheet 

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• 7 common project risks and how to preve ...

7 common project risks and how to prevent them

Analyzing risk is an important part of the project planning process. Having a clear sense of the project risks you face, can help you prevent or prepare for upcoming risks. In this article, learn about seven of the most common project risks. Then, empower your team to find solutions before these issues derail important initiatives.

As a project manager, knowing what could go wrong during your project can help you set your team members up for success. For example, what if project stakeholders propose a new app and you don’t consider the time and resources it will take to create it? When the app heads to the development team, the project is at risk of falling apart before it starts.

1. Scope creep

Scope risk, also known as scope creep , occurs when the initial project objectives aren’t well-defined. It’s important to communicate your project roadmap with stakeholders from the beginning and hold firm to those parameters. If you don’t communicate your project scope effectively, stakeholders may try to change requirements mid-project.

How to mitigate scope creep: Creating clear project parameters from the start will strengthen your project scope. Agreeing upon the project scope and communicating that vision with stakeholders from the beginning will leave less room for scope creep. Scheduling regular progress check-ins can also ensure the project stays in line with the original project scope. 

2. Low performance

Performance risk occurs when the project doesn’t perform as well as initially expected. While you can’t always identify the root cause of low performance, you can identify project risks that may lead to low performance and look for ways to prevent those risks. Examples of these risks include a time crunch and miscommunication among team members. 

How to mitigate low performance: Anticipating potential performance risks early on in the planning process can help you prepare. Using project management software lets you follow your processes in real time, plan your project thoroughly, and promote open communication between team members.

3. High costs

Cost risk occurs when your project goes over the budget you initially set. Cost risk can occur because of unrealistic or lack of detailed budgeting in the project planning phase. For example, you may feel confident that your project will be completed under-budget. However, creating a detailed list of every project element and what they cost can help you anticipate project needs.

How to mitigate high costs: To mitigate cost risk, estimate each element of your project accurately and stick closely to your budget. The best way to stick to your budget is to create a project plan template to align on deliverables, scope, and schedule. When your project goes into development, consider scheduling regular check-ins to review your budget and how you’re pacing.  

4. Time crunch

Time risk, also known as project schedule risk, is the risk that tasks in your project will take longer than expected. Delayed timelines might impact other things like your budget, delivery date, or overall performance. This is a common risk that you may run into as project manager. When you’re not doing the work yourself across lots of moving pieces, it’s easy to underestimate the time it’ll take team members to complete a project during the initial planning phase.

How to mitigate a time crunch: To mitigate time risk, a rule of thumb is to overestimate the time needed to complete tasks in the planning phase and build in time contingency. That way, you’ll have wiggle room for scheduling later on. You can also create a project schedule using a Timeline or Gantt chart . Having clarity into work, dependencies between work, and any delays can help project managers dynamically adapt to time risk as it crops up. Understanding your project lifecycle can also help you determine how long each task will take. 

5. Stretched resources

Resource risk occurs if you don’t have enough resources to complete the project. Resources may include time, skills, money, or tools. As a project manager, you’re responsible for the procurement of resources for your team and communicating with your team about the status of resources. Resource allocation should happen early in the project planning process, typically 1-2 months before project execution, depending on project size.

How to mitigate stretched resources: The best way to mitigate resource risk is to create a resource allocation plan . A resource allocation plan makes the best use of team resources while maximizing resource impact and supporting team goals. When you know what resources you need from the beginning, you minimize the chance of running out of resources later.

6. Operational changes

Operational risk involves changes in company or team processes, like an unexpected shift in team roles, changes in management, or new processes that your team must adjust to. These things can create distractions, require adjustments in workflows, and may impact project timelines.

How to mitigate operational mishaps: You can’t predict or prevent all operational risks, but if you know a team shift or process change is coming, you can mitigate the effects of the transition. Make sure your team is prepared for the change and has time to adjust through team meetings, scheduling tools, or additional trainings. 

7. Lack of clarity

Lack of clarity may come in the form of miscommunication from stakeholders, vague project scopes, or unclear deadlines. The result can be a lack of visibility due to siloed work, going over budget, falling behind project deadlines, changing project requirements, having to pivot project direction, or disappointing project outcomes.

How to mitigate lack of clarity: When planning your project, check and recheck your requirements to ensure everything is in place. Is everyone involved on the same page? Are developers prepared for the next phase? Is the scope clearly defined? It's also important to make sure project information is accessible to all. By keeping information in a central tool, you can ensure everyone stays updated as the project progresses.

How to use risk management to prepare your team

Risk management involves identifying what risk categories are most likely to affect your project and making a plan to mitigate those risks. 

Project management tools make risk management easier because they allow you to organize your projects from start to finish. You can also use work management software to collaborate across teams, which will make the most common risks less likely. 

Using the following four steps, you can anticipate risk and keep your projects running smoothly. 

1. Risk identification

The first step in the risk analysis process is identifying risks you think could affect your project. We mentioned the seven most common risk events above, but other project risks could include contractor failure, unexpected life events, data transfer issues, shifting priorities, legal risk, market risk, and project deferral. 

Ask yourself these questions below to begin the risk identification process:

What is the likelihood of this risk event?

What are the impact and severity if the risk occurs?

What is our risk response plan?

Given the likelihood and impact, what is the priority level?

Who owns this risk?

Once you have an answer to these questions, you’ll continue the risk management process through prioritization of risks, actionable solutions, and regular monitoring. 

2. Determine the likelihood and impact

You can sort through your list of risks by determining which ones are most likely to occur. Placing the risks in order of likelihood will give you a better idea of which risks to prioritize as you prepare a plan of action. 

Not only is the likelihood of occurrence important when prioritizing risks, but assessing the business impact of each risk matters as well. You should plan more carefully for the risks that have the potential to cause significant business impact.

3. Find solutions for each risk

Creating a game plan on how your team will deal with each risk is the goal when conducting risk assessments. Sorting risks based on likelihood and business impact will give you a starting point for finding solutions. Conducting a risk assessment will make your projects more successful because you can prevent risk along the way. 

You can meet with relevant project stakeholders to proactively identify reasonable solutions for project risks that might be top of mind for them. Take a look at lessons learned from past projects to gauge how risks were handled.

4. Monitor your risk assessment regularly

Once you’ve developed your risk assessment, it’s important to monitor it regularly because circumstances can change. The likelihood of risk can shift and so can the business impact. 

It’s also possible that new risks can come into play or risks that were once possible may become less likely. Monitoring your risk assessment regularly can make you feel the most prepared for uncertain events. 

Project risk management tools

The right tools can make the risk assessment process easier because they allow you to analyze and prioritize risk. With real-time tracking and shared information in one place, everyone on your team can have instant access to project materials and you can monitor team progress. 

Project management tools can also help your team develop strong project planning skills. Knowing your process and the project management phases can prevent risks before they occur. 

Risk register

A risk register is the ultimate tool for identifying and prioritizing risk. A risk register should include the likelihood of each risk, the business impact, how you hope to prevent the risk, how you plan to respond to the risk if it occurs, and who will take action.

Below is an example of what a risk register might look like. The left side shows the type of risk followed by the likelihood of the risk, the level of business impact, the person responsible for taking action, and the mitigating action.

After completing a risk register, you’ll have a living document to use when working through projects. You can reference this information as you encounter risks and use it to reduce long-term damage. 

SWOT analysis

SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. A SWOT analysis goes beyond identifying the risks for a project because it also identifies the strong points in your project. You can use your project’s strong points to stand out among competitors.

To complete a SWOT analysis, go through each letter of the acronym and ask questions like the ones below to uncover new ways to improve your project and prepare your team. 

Strength: What do we do well?

Weakness: What could be improved?

Opportunity: What are our goals for the year? 

Threat: Where are our competitors outperforming us? 

After creating a SWOT analysis, you can feel confident moving forward with projects because you’ll have a better understanding of where you stand in relation to competitors. You’ll also know your strengths and weaknesses, which can help you improve future projects and mitigate risk. 

Brainstorming

Brainstorming is a powerful way to come up with ideas, but its effectiveness can often get overlooked. When you have a team with different perspectives, brainstorming is a great way to spark creativity and assess risk. 

Brainstorming is often the first step in creating a risk register because to identify risk, you must start somewhere. Learning new brainstorming techniques can help your team identify risk, keep your team agile, and potentially prevent risk from occurring. 

Plan ahead to mitigate project risk

The project planning phase is the most important part of any project. You may think that the development phase is where the magic happens, but planning for your project is what prevents project risks and leads your team to success.

There are various types of project management software out there that allow you to automate processes, streamline communication, share information, and provide real-time tracking. With these tools in tow, you can transform your projects from good to great. 

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Sep 19, 2024

Californians can now store driver’s licenses, state IDs in Apple Wallet

What you need to know: Apple Wallet provides an easy, secure and private way for Californians to present their IDs using their iPhone or Apple Watch.

Governor Gavin Newsom today announced that California will begin offering residents the option to securely add their California driver’s license or state ID to Apple Wallet on their iPhone and Apple Watch. Californians will be able to use this new feature in person at select businesses and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) security checkpoints, including at San Francisco International Airport and Los Angeles International Airport. 

Californians now have the option of adding their driver’s license or state ID to their iPhone or Apple Watch in Apple Wallet. With this new integration, we’re working to better serve the people of California in the 21st Century.

Governor Gavin Newsom

Today’s announcement is part of California’s mobile driver’s license (mDL) pilot program, which is limited to 1.5 million participants. Last month, Governor Newsom announced Californians can add their mobile driver’s license to Google Wallet.

“Enabling California residents to seamlessly add and present their IDs with their iPhone or Apple Watch represents a significant step in replacing the physical wallet with a more secure and private digital wallet,” said Jennifer Bailey, Apple’s vice president of Apple Pay and Apple Wallet. “The launch also represents an important milestone in the rollout of IDs in Apple Wallet. Not only is California one of the largest states in the U.S., but it’s also our own backyard, and we’re excited to bring an easy and transparent way to present IDs in our home state.

“We are happy to be working with Apple to bring California driver’s licenses and state IDs in Apple Wallet to our customers, providing them with an easy, secure and private way to present their ID using their iPhone or Apple Watch,” said DMV Director Steve Gordon . “The DMV continues to grow as a mobile-first organization, and this is one more opportunity to provide a safe and secure option for Californians.”

“I am pleased to see the continued momentum of the mDL pilot project,” said State Chief Information Officer and Department of Technology Director Liana Bailey-Crimmins . “California continues to lead the nation in testing and leveraging technology to connect State services to residents’ mobile phones making it easier for Californians to safely access information like their identification and other state credentials.”

Adding a California driver’s license or state ID in Apple Wallet

Adding a license or ID to the Apple Wallet can be done in a few easy steps . Californians can tap the + button at the top of the screen in Wallet on their iPhone, select “Driver’s License or State ID,” and follow the on-screen instructions to start the setup and verification process.

To help ensure that the person adding the identity card to Apple Wallet is the same person to whom the identity card belongs, the user will be asked to take a selfie and scan the front and back of their driver’s license or state ID card, which will be securely provided to the DMV for verification.

A secure and private way to present your California ID

Once added, Californians can present their driver’s license or state ID by simply holding their iPhone or Apple Watch near an identity reader . Upon holding their iPhone or Apple Watch near the reader, only the information needed for the transaction is presented, and users will have the opportunity to review and authorize the information being requested before it is shared. Users do not need to unlock, show, or hand over their device to present their ID.

A user’s information is encrypted on a user’s device, so others – including Apple – cannot access it unless a user chooses to present it. Apple does not retain any presentment information that can be tied back to a user. Apple and the DMV do not know when or to whom you present your driver’s license or state ID.

Offering a California ID or mDL in Apple Wallet does not replace the requirement for individuals to carry a physical card while driving, but it does provide Californians another convenient option for identity verification and more control over how they share their information.

This new capability is part of the DMV’s broader mDL pilot , launched in August 2023 as part of the statewide Digital Identity Framework that allows the state to securely and conveniently verify people’s identity. To date, more than 625,000 Californians have added an mDL in the DMV Wallet.

More information about California IDs in Apple Wallet as well as other California-issued mDLs can be found at dmv.ca.gov/mDL .

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This post was written by Beth Trask, Vice President for Global Energy Transition, EDF, and Leslie Labruto, Managing Director of Sustainable Finance, EDF.

A steelworker. Low-emissions hydrogen could be an important climate solution in sectors like steel ... [+] production that are hard to decarbonize.

The hydrogen economy is rapidly emerging as a cornerstone of global decarbonization.

Hydrogen’s potential to deliver clean, versatile energy across key industries has generated significant investor interest, with over $680 billion in projects announced around the globe.

That comes to more than 1,500 projects worldwide , with Europe leading the way with 617 projects and North America following with 280. End-use applications for these projects vary from fertilizer production and steelmaking to transportation and electricity generation.

However, as this market matures, understanding the nuances of both the climate science and investment trends driving the hydrogen economy becomes increasingly crucial. It’s important for investors to be asking the right questions.

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Hydrogen is carbon-free, but it is not inherently climate-neutral nor environmentally friendly.

Producing hydrogen is a complex, highly energy-intensive, and potentially polluting process — even when it’s labeled as “clean.” And hydrogen itself is an indirect greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming when it leaks.

Depending on many factors, hydrogen can deliver a range of outcomes , from significantly better for the climate to even worse than the fossil fuel status quo.

Environmental Defense Fund’s recent report, Hydrogen Beyond the Hype , shares the following guiding principles for decision-makers considering hydrogen projects:

• We have an opportunity to get hydrogen right — before new systems are built at scale globally. Now is the time to establish the practices needed to maximize hydrogen’s benefits for the climate, ecosystems and human society, while minimizing its risks.
• Hydrogen should be used where it can cost-effectively reduce the most climate warming at the lowest possible risk. Deployment of hydrogen should be evaluated against non-hydrogen alternatives (such as electrification or improving energy efficiency) to guide limited resources to applications where hydrogen provides the greatest benefits (such as maritime shipping, where there is currently no solution other than hydrogen-derived fuels to achieve sector-wide decarbonization).
• Hydrogen must be evaluated based on a full system-level assessment. Assessments by investors, developers and third parties should consider the climate impact of all gases emitted while producing, moving, storing and using hydrogen. This includes methane, carbon dioxide and hydrogen itself. Assessments should also examine hydrogen’s other potential risks and benefits, including air quality and ecosystem impacts, and economic and social factors on local and global levels.
• Hydrogen systems should be designed to minimize leaks and other emissions. Emissions of all climate-warming gases throughout the hydrogen value chain — from production to handling to use — must be minimized to avoid compromising the intended climate benefits. And these emissions need to be monitored, reported and verified.

Why this is a critical moment in hydrogen’s rollout

The hydrogen economy is moving fast, but there is still time to make sure new projects are evaluated according to their actual benefits and risks — rather than just the hype.

According to the Hydrogen Council, as of May 2024, just over a quarter of announced projects had progressed past what’s known as a “final investment decision,” a major milestone that marks the decision to move forward with construction.

So what does the investment landscape look like now, and how can the investors fueling the hydrogen economy incorporate the guiding principles above?

Private investors serve a key role in driving innovation, expansion and growth. Venture capital firms fund early-stage startups developing groundbreaking hydrogen technologies and business models. At this stage, investors can ask developers and startups how climate benefits — or harms — affect the business case for their projects.

Private equity firms often invest in more mature companies with established technologies and revenue streams. These firms should also evaluate projects, companies and developers with both a financial and climate lens.

More specifically, during the due diligence process, investors can ask about ways companies and projects are tracking and minimizing leaks and emissions, while also evaluating whether hydrogen is the most appropriate technology compared with other clean energy solutions.

Complementing private capital, institutional investors such as pension funds, insurance companies and sovereign wealth funds are increasingly recognizing the long-term potential of hydrogen.

Their substantial capital and risk management expertise contribute to the market's stability and growth. So it is essential that they build their own internal knowledge, and build on the work of venture capital and private equity companies to ensure these even larger influxes of capital are guided by the principles listed above.

This is our chance to get hydrogen right

As governments and corporations set aggressive climate targets, the demand for clean energy solutions is escalating.

In particular, green hydrogen, produced using renewable energy, is capturing global attention because it presents a fossil-free pathway to decarbonize industries that are hard to electrify.

Improving due diligence — making sure investors take climate impacts into account — is essential for supporting the hydrogen market, achieving decarbonization goals, preventing investments with poor returns, and avoiding unintended consequences for the climate.

As the hydrogen market continues to evolve, we anticipate even greater investor interest and a wider array of investment opportunities — but these must be taken with eyes wide open, alternatives considered and critical climate risks mitigated.

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Updated Deadlines for Graduate Thesis, Dissertation, and Capstone Project for SY 2024-2025

18 Sep 2024 | Office of the Assistant Vice President for Graduate Education

In line with the updated graduation dates announced by the Office of the University Registrar on 11 September 2024 ( Academic Calendar ), kindly note the revised deadlines related to Thesis, Dissertation, and Capstone Projects:

Please refer to the following documents for the most recent TDCP policies and procedures:

1.  OAVPGE memo released last 5 September 2024

2.  2024 Graduate Student Handbook

Kindly disseminate this to your faculty advisers, panel members, style readers, and graduate students. 

Thank you very much.

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