2. Identify the areas of the plan which need to be examined in order to meet the objectives. If it is a large plan, then attempting to examine all elements of it will result in a practical limitation on the effort that can be put into each element. It is usually better to use PDPC only on the higher risk areas of the plan.
3. Gather the people to work on the PDPC. Between them, they should have as wide a view as possible of the situation, so that diverse risks may be identified. These may include:
• High-level managers who can see the 'big picture' and relationships with other people and events.
• Experts in specific elements of the plan who can see potential problems with planned actions.
• People experienced in planning and using PDPC, who may have discovered other problems in similar situations.
4. Identify the criteria for making decisions during construction of the PDPC. These include:
• How to identify a risk (step 5). For example, 'Something that has a significant effect on the schedule completion time'.
• How to select risks that need countermeasures to be identified (step 6). For example, 'The top 10% of identified risks and also those for which simple countermeasures are obvious'.
• How to identify countermeasures (step 7). For example, 'A measure that has a good chance of reducing the identified risk'.
• How to select countermeasures to implement (step 8). For example, 'Those which cost less than the savings they would make if they were implemented'.
Factors to consider when identifying selection criteria include:
• Time. How much time would a risk cost? Is it on the critical path of the schedule? How much time could countermeasures save?
• Cost. What would be the overall cost of a risk occurring? What would be the cost of a countermeasure? Would it be worth it?
• Control. How much control do you have for preventing the risk? What control would you have should it occur? How could you change that?
• Information. How much do you know about the risk? What warning would you have of its impending occurrence?