Managing Risk in Information Systems, 3rd Edition

Critical Components of a Risk Assessment

Three critical steps should be completed early in the risk assessment process. These steps identify major components of the risk assessment and will directly impact its success. These steps are:

• Identifying scope
• Identifying critical areas
• Identifying team members

The following sections explore each of these steps in depth.

Identifying Scope

The scope identifies the boundary of the risk assessment. When participants understand the scope, they are less likely to change it. Identifying the scope of the risk assessment helps keep it on track. In contrast, uncontrolled changes result in scope creep. Scope creep causes cost overruns and missed deadlines.

For example, FIGURE 5-1 shows a web server configured ...