Case Study - Applying Risk Techniques on the Remote Agent Implementation Project

Visa 2009 Project Management Symposium

Terry Startzel, M.S., PMP

14 January 2009

January 14, 2009 2

• Remote Agent Implementation Project

• Risk Assessment Workshop Overview and Participants

• Risk Assessment Process and Techniques

• Remote Agent Implementation Risk Management Plan• Decision Risk Assessments Website

Presentation Overview

January 14, 2009 3

• Project’s objective was to deliver a technical solution encompassing telephony, network connectivity, and remote administrative software tools to enable contact center agents to work remotely

• Project scope included a proof of concept and a limited pilot program for a select group of 15 senior contact center agents

• A SOW GS was approved in late June 2008 and it provided funding for a 2-day work session

• The Remote Agent Implementation: 2-Day July Work Session was conducted at OCC on July 10th and 11th

• The July 10th agenda included a morning facilitated Joint Requirements Planning Session and an afternoon facilitated Risk Assessment Workshop

• This case study focuses on the Risk Assessment Workshop

Remote Agent Implementation Project

January 14, 2009 4

• As noted previously, the workshop was conducted during the afternoon session in the Executive Board Room at OCC

• Workshop participants included staff from both the Requesting Organization and the Performing Organization:

– Global Visa Customer Care Services (GCCS)– Global IT PMO and Corporate Systems

• GCCS participants included Jon Tholen, the project’s Executive Business Sponsor, CSS project management, and a variety of GCCS subject matter experts who had conducted a significant amount of research and information gathering in preparation for the project

• IT participants include staff representation from a variety of organizations including the CTO, IP WAN & Engineering, Voice and Video Engineering, Call Center Technology Support, ISO, and Technology Solutions

Risk Assessment Workshop

January 14, 2009 5

Risk Assessment Workshop Participants

Risk Assessment Workshop Participants

Participant Department Participant Department

Ernesto Boada Technology Solutions Marc Parkent Call Center Services

Anwar Chohaan Technology Solutions Frank Schulz Technology & Operations

Steve Crow Call Center Technology Support

Terry Startzel Corporate Systems PMO

Donald Hill ISO PMO Jon Tholen Global Visa Customer Care Services

Johanna MacDonald Voice & Video Engineering

Catherine Tonne Technology & Operations

Vicki McCutchan Business Support Services

Scott Wilson Infrastructure PMO

Aileen Miranda Call Center Services Thea Winn Voice & Video Engineering

Agapios Panagiotides IP & WAN Engineering Elizabeth Yarbrough Corporate Systems PMO

Alex Pham Enterprise Architecture

January 14, 2009 6

• A facilitated workshop has many advantages including the following:

– Encourages Participation and Collaboration– Builds Consensus, Trust, and a Shared Sense of Ownership– Promotes Quality Decision Making – Fosters Team Work and Team Building– Cultivates Productivity and Synergy Among Workshop Participants

• The Risk Assessment Workshop was organized into three separate efforts:

– Risk Assessment– Risk Management Planning– Risk Response Planning

Risk Assessment Workshop

January 14, 2009 7

• A risk assessment is the process of reviewing and considering all potential risks in making a change, whether it is a business decision or a new project

• A risk assessment allows a project team to consider the extent to which potential events may have an impact on the achievement of the proposed project and/or enterprise objectives

• Generally, risk assessments seek to answer 3 questions so that the risks and benefits can be compared:

– What are the risks to the project itself and the plans to mitigate them?

– What are the risks that the project will not achieve its objective, and the plans to mitigate them?

– If the project is executed as planned and achieves its objective, what risks could that create to the rest of the enterprise and what are the plans to mitigate them?

Risk Assessment - Overview

January 14, 2009 8

• The workshop used a facilitated brainstorming session assess and identify Remote Agent Implementation project risks

• As the brainstorming session progressed, identified risks were captured on a flip chart

• Filled flip charts were moved to the meeting room’s walls for ease of review by the meeting Participants

• The Orville Redenbacher's Popcorn brainstorming technique was followed:

– Stick the popcorn in the microwave– Listen for the popping to begin– When the popping stops, take the popcorn out immediately– Leaving the popcorn in the microwave for the suggested full 5

minutes will almost certainly burn the popcorn

Risk Assessment - Brainstorming

January 14, 2009 9

Risk Assessment – Sample Risks

Risk Impact Area Risk Description

System Remote access technologies will require identification of new Visa technology standards

System Lack of compliance with enterprise architecture standards

System Implementation of remote access technologies results in new costs to maintain and support enabling technologies

Operational / Product Opportunities to improve remote agents’ proficiencies will decrease due to less access to communication, help, mentoring, knowledge transfer, and coaching

Operational / Product Competition for selection to participate in remote access opportunities may imbalance staff harmony

Financial Business goals/forecasts/growth cannot be met without expanding call center

Financial Visa’s members/clients cannot be supported without expanding call center

Financial Cost of service delivery will continue to increase and profits decrease without the implementation of remote access technologies

Financial Peak season call volumes will no longer be supportable by the business

Financial Seasoned staff may be lost to competition from other call centers that offer remote access

January 14, 2009 10

• Risk Management is a process to proactively monitor and control risks by taking active measures to reduce the probability that a given risk will occur and/or to decrease its impact or consequences if it did.

• Risk Management Planning enables the project team to identify the project’s “Top-10” Risks based upon as assessment of each risk’s overall risk factor

• To assist the planning effort, workshop participants were asked to asses each risk’s:

– Probability – Impact/Consequence

• Each risk’s overall risk factor was then calculated: Probability * Impact/Consequence

Risk Management Planning - Overview

January 14, 2009 11

• During a workshop break, risks previously captured on the brainstorming flip charts were copied to a new flip chart organized into a grid comprised of the following sections:

– Risk Description– Probability– Impact/Consequence– Overall Risk Factor

Risk Management Planning - Process

Risk Description Probability Impact /Consequence

Overall RiskFactor

Risk # 1

Description

Risk # 2

Description

January 14, 2009 12

• As the various risk descriptions were copied to the new flip charts, the charts were moved to the wall for ease of access

• After the break, workshop participants were provided with pads containing an equal number of sticky dots, colored blued and red

• Participants were directed move freely around the room and ‘vote’ on each risk’s probability and impact/consequence using their allotted dots

Risk Management Planning - Process

Risk Description Probability Impact /Consequence

Overall RiskFactor

Risk # 1

Description

Risk # 2

Description

January 14, 2009 13

• Voting was based upon each participant’s personal, subject assessment of each risk’s probability and impact/consequence

• The higher their probability assessment, the more votes cast using the blue dots for a given risk; the same for impact/consequence using the red dots

• Participant could cast their votes on any number of risks, one or more depending upon their own personal assessments

Risk Management Planning - Process

Risk Description Probability Impact /Consequence

Overall RiskFactor

Risk # 1

Description

Risk # 2

Description

January 14, 2009 14

• With the voting complete, each risk’s overall risk factor was calculated using the dots (Probability * Impact/Consequence)

• The overall risk factor was then printed on the flip charts

• Using the calculated risk factor, the project’s “Top-10” Risks were identified

Risk Management Planning - Process

Risk Description Probability Impact /Consequence

Overall RiskFactor

Risk # 1

Description

Risk # 2

Description

32

28

January 14, 2009 15

Risk Assessment – “Top-10” Risks

Risk Impact Area

Risk Description Prob Imp / Consq

OverallRisk

FactorFinancial Business goals/forecasts/growth cannot be met without expanding call

center19 17 323

System Remote access technologies will require identification of new Visa technology standards

16 13 208

System Lack of compliance with enterprise architecture standards 13 12 156

System Implementation of remote access technologies results in new costs to maintain and support enabling technologies

10 14 140

Financial Visa’s members/clients cannot be supported without expanding call center 10 13 130

Operational / Product

Opportunities to improve remote agents’ proficiencies will decrease due to less access to communication, help, mentoring, knowledge transfer, and coaching

13 9 117

Financial Cost of service delivery will continue to increase and profits decrease without the implementation of remote access technologies

8 12 96

Financial Peak season call volumes will no longer be supportable by the business 6 8 48

Operational / Product

Competition for selection to participate in remote access opportunities may imbalance staff harmony

5 7 35

Financial Seasoned staff may be lost to competition from other call centers that offer remote access

5 7 35

January 14, 2009 16

• With the project’s “Top-10” Risks identified, the workshop participants were then asked to participate in another brainstorming session

• For each risk, participants discussed and collaboratively identified each risk’s:

– Risk Impact Area – Risk Tolerance Level (Avoid, Control, Focus, Seek)– Risk Trigger– Risk Mitigation Strategies

Strategies for preventing or lowering the probability that a risk will occur

– Contingency Plans Actions to be taken if a risk were to occur

• As the brainstorming progressed, this information was captured on flip charts

Risk Response Planning

January 14, 2009 17

Risk Assessment – “Top-10” Risks

Risk Impact Area

Risk Description Prob Imp / Cons

Ovl Risk

Factor

Toler Trigger Mitigation Contingency Assigned To

Financial Business goals/forecasts/growth cannot be met without expanding call center

19 17 323 Avoid Unable to accept or pursue new business opportunities

Loss of senior staff

Increased turnover rates

Implement enabling remote agent technologies via project

Pursue new business opportunities with expanded capacity/capabilities

Think ‘outside the box’ Research / identify new

business models Support new business

models through technology initiatives

Expand debit capability

Embrace / implement new business models

Implement enabling remote agent technologies that reduce business costs

Spend more to expand ‘brick & mortar’ capacity

Close GCCS Outsource the business

to 3rd party vendor Define/enforce mandated

customer support service levels for members who must provide service

GCCS

Financial Visa’s members/clients cannot be supported without expanding call center

10 13 130 Avoid Unable to hire new agents for peak season

Unable to accept new business opportunities

Think ‘outside the box’ Research / identify new

business models Identify business models

that provide increase flexibility

Support new business models through technology initiatives

Implement enabling remote agent technologies via project

New IVR capabilities Block certain types of

calls from reaching customer service agents

Expand ‘brick & mortar’ capacity

GCCS

January 14, 2009 18

Following the conclusion of the Risk Assessment Workshop, information gathered during the workshop was formalized into a Remote Agent Implementation Risk Management Plan

Risk Management Plan

January 14, 2009 19

Appendix

Decision Risk Assessments

January 14, 2009 20

Decision Risk Assessment focus on the following Risk Impact Areas:

Decision Risk Assessments

• Brand• Reputation• Financial• Regulatory / Legal• Operational / Product• Personal Security / Welfare• Strategic• Third Party• Competitive / External• System

January 14, 2009 21

Risk responses should be selected for each risk in alignment with the organization’s risk tolerances and risk appetite. Common risk tolerance levels include:

Decision Risk Assessments

• AvoidExit, reduce aggressively, mitigate fully wherever possible

• ControlEmploy standard corporate approaches: Allow for management

discretion within established policies and limits• Focus

Executive and governance attention: Combine highly structured controls with escalated and expedited approvals

• SeekRisk/reward advantages, efficient controls, monitor for change, cross-

impact, and contribution to "perfect storms"