Software Development Risk Factors

Software Development Risk Factors

Software development is a large and complex process in which various risk involves in development of software such as: budget overrun, late delivery, and low-quality product. To maintain a balanced relationship between cost, time, and quality; well and accurate risk management are used by software organization. By using that organizations prevent the occurrence of risks that might affect a project.

Numbers of research papers have been publish to identify risk in software development known as: i) Risk Framework, ii) Risk Assessment, iii) Risk Management, and iv) Risk Model. 

Risk framework is used to identify the risk factors which are associated with projects. A risk categorization framework which is divided into four quadrants such as: Customer mandate, Scope and requirements, Execution, and Environment. There are 53 project risk factors which are mapped into the each quadrant to categorize the risk factor.  There are various situational factors which affect the risk framework such as Lack of top management commitment, Lack of adequate user involvement, Execution risks, Undefined project success criteria, and Poor project planning. 

Risk assessment tools such as: checklists or surveys are the simplest form to quickly identify and assess risk. Boehm describes top ten risk checklists which are necessary to resolve. There are various situational factors which affect risk assessment such as: Unrealistic schedules and budgets, Wrong functions and properties, Corporate environmental risk, and Decision-making problem. 

Risk management used to manage risk which is related to development success and reduce the chance of project failure. To manage risks through tailoring processes Octopus Situational Method Engineering (SME) Risk Management Approach (OSRiMA), implemented by using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) technique. There are various situational factors which affect risk management such as: Environmental factors, Requirement Management, Technology, and External dependencies.

Risk model developed by Wallace, Keil, and Rai find out the weak area for correction and improve the process to recover from risk. There are various situational factors which affect risk model such as: Project planning, Project complexity, Constraints of process, and Maintenance policies .

Software development cost overrun is another risk factor for software development. Appari and Benaroch have developed a method for pricing the risk factors for software development in 2010. They also identified a list of software development risk factors. There are various situational factors which affect software development cost such as: Extra cost incurred per unit exposure, Project sensitivity, and Variability in project cost.

Situational factors that affect software development risk are shown in Table I. Table I shows the summary of situational factors that affect software development risk. 

Table I: situational factors that affect software development risk

Software Development Risk	Situational Factors
Risk Framework	Lack of top management commitment, Lack of adequate user involvement, Execution risks, Undefined project success criteria, and Poor project planning
Risk Assessment	Unrealistic schedules and budgets, Wrong functions and properties, Corporate environmental risk, and Decision making problem
Risk Management	Environmental factors, Requirement management, Technology, and External dependencies
Risk Model	Project planning, Project complexity, Constraints of process, and Maintenance policies
Software Development Cost	Extra cost incurred per unit exposure, Project sensitivity, and Variability in project cost

There are various risk factors for software development specified in Table I which is affected by various situational factors. Risk framework is used to identify and categorize the risk factors. Risk assessment is used to assess risk factors. Risk management is used to manage the risk involve in software development and risk model is used for correction in process. Software development cost is used to develop a software product. We conclude that risk management is most important than other because using effective and efficient risk management we can minimize the risk which is associated with software projects.