To summarise, there are two approaches in the literature that describe risk management in projects: the evaluation approach and the management approach. The evaluation approach considers risk management as an analysis process aimed at determining risk factors. Information about project
failure and its causes is collected ex-post and ideally this information is used in checklists for risk identification, or to set up the structure of future projects and manage their risks. The contribution of risk management to project success is indirect, because the information collected is used
in future projects. The management approach considers risk management to be a management instrument by which information is collected and analysed to support the decision making process in a particular project. This approach does not look for generic risks, but instead focuses on managing the risks that are relevant in the project in question. During risk identification, checklists may be used, but the focus is on project specific risks. Therefore, free-format information generation techniques like e.g. brainstorm sessions are used often. The eventual contribution of the risk management approach to project success is direct. We have used these two approaches to categorise the various research publications. Table 1 presents an overview of the typical characteristics of both approaches.