The risk review and the risk audit are included by the project managers in their outright risk management procedure with large or complex projects. Often questions are designed in the PMP exam regarding the benefits of the risk review and the risk audit to evaluate one’s knowledge to assure that the various purposes are understood.

Above all these, a project manager has to understand that the risk review and the risk audit guarantee a productive risk management strategy for the duration of the project. It is a slighter example of risk review vs risk audit PMP and how within the vast project risk management strategy, the risk review, and the risk audit complement each other.

Risk audit and risk review PMP

The focus of risk audit is mainly on ensuring that the strategy for managing risk happens. But the risk review focuses on ensuring that for all recognized risks proper actions are taken besides looking ahead to any emerging or new risks. The risk review and the risk audit fit within the plan of Risk Management. Both are factors of the processes, documentation, and tools approved by the PMI (Project Management Institute).

Risk Audit

For a project, a risk audit is just like an audit that happens in any software system or financial system which is a line-by-line analysis of each process stage and the outcome. You must learn that a risk audit evaluates all the policies of risk management, risk mitigation strategies, guidelines, and the outcomes of the activities of risk management when you are preparing for the Project Management Professional (PMP) certification.

Project managers should determine risks, responses, analysis results, and results of mitigation within the work of risk management. A risk audit can be conducted using that data.

When Risk Audit should be used

Risk Audits’ frequency is determined by the project’s size. One risk audit may be conducted in small projects while a series of audits are conducted in big or extended projects. The performance of a project process and how risk management works are determined in a detailed risk audit. For any organization, a risk audit helps in becoming more prescient in handling risks.

Significant points to be assessed in a Risk Audit

● It is a risk-by-risk, task-by-task analysis portion of the process of Monitor Risk.
● Determining a Risk Management Plan’s overall effectiveness and the caused risk reaction strategies is the main purpose of a risk audit so that it is easy to make adjustments for the rest of the project.
● The audit and resulting conclusions are to be documented.
● The scope of the project determines the quantity and the frequency of audits. Projects that are moderate and large have risk audits conducted at substantial junctures throughout the project while smaller projects have an audit performed at the rim of all work.

How a risk audit should be used

From the risk audit, the team and the project manager gain intuition into the usefulness of management of risk efforts that are already performed to pertain to the work of the project ahead. A project stays within the budget and on track if you perform an accurate risk audit at regular intervals of time. Risk audit results must be documented along with the other documents of the project because it should be a portion of the project’s post mortem or final lesson learned activities.

Risk Review

When you are preparing for the exam for PMP certification, you must know that the risk review is conducted by the project team as a part of project status meetings that are scheduled. Risk review ensures that when changes happen in the environment of the project, proposed strategies and identified risks in the risk management strategy remain feasible and relevant.

From the perspective of a risk review vs risk audit PMP certification exam extents, you must know that the risk review prepares for forthcoming changes by looking forward while the risk audit glances back to define what worked. Both the review and the audit must be used to maximize the efficacy of all the works of risk management.

Change is a part of every project. The risk review helps in identifying shifts within the environment of the project and altering the risk management strategies to protect and benefit the project from occurring changes.

When a risk review should be used

The risk review has to be scheduled in such a way that it happens periodically and involves information from the project committee, particularly the risk owners. It has to be lined up when there are changes designed for the project. Every single change may not need a risk review but those risks that affect the overall project must need it.

How a risk review should be used

A structure should be followed by each risk review. It helps the risk owners to understand how to formulate and hence there will be rarer chances to lose an impactful change. Below are a few questions that can be asked by the project team, risk owners, and the project manager in the review:

● In each category, what can be the new risks?
● What will be the possibility of occurrence for every new risk?
● What will be the impact of every new risk?
● For every existing risk, will the possibility of occurrence be the same?
● Will the effect be exact as before for every existing risk?
● Will any unique risks that arise together intensify the impact?
● Are there any subsisting risks that should be closed as they are no longer valid?
● Are there any lessons to be learned after the risk audit so that they can be applied in the future?

All the works of risk review must be included with other documents of the project.

Risk Review vs Risk Audit

When you are comparing a risk review vs risk audit PMP, note that there are similarities and differences.

Similarities

Risk Audit and Risk Review are tools of project management and are used to assure a proper risk management process and plan for the life cycle of the project. Both are led by the project manager and should involve the input from the project team and emerge in data stored with the documentation of the project.

Differences

The project’s size determines the quantity and the frequency of risk audits. Complex and large projects need more risk audits. But risk review is embedded in standing, recurring project status meetings. It can be used in projects of any size.

Risk Audit generally looks back and sees if efforts taken had a constructive outcome on the project and risk. In contrast, the risk review looks forward to altering risk plans to analyze shifts in the project.

Risk Review And Risk Audit for PMP

The PMP exam includes questions to define the purpose of the tools and when to utilize those in a given scenario. It is useful to understand both Risk Review and Risk Audit:

● Definition
● Purpose
● When it has to be conducted
● What is its use of it for the project
● How it is different from other tools of risk management

Risk audits fall under audit strategies whereas risk reviews come under “meetings” strategies in a Monitor Risk Process.

Conclusion

Project managers often glance behind to apprehend lessons learned and also look forward to organizing for the future. Risk Audit and Risk Review are performing the same.

Your first project is calling—will you answer? Join the ShriLearning Community Connect with fellow PMP aspirants and expert instructors.