Contingency Planning: Understanding the Importance and Implementation

What is a Contingency Plan?

Question

You are the project manager of the NNQ Project for your company and are working youre your project team to define contingency plans for the risks within your project.

Mary, one of your project team members, asks what a contingency plan is.

Which of the following statements best defines what a contingency response is?

Answers

Explanations

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A. B. C. D.

A.

A contingency plan is a predetermined course of action to be taken when a potential risk event occurs. It is developed in advance to ensure that the project team can quickly and effectively respond to an unexpected event that may threaten the successful completion of the project.

In the context of risk management, a contingency response is a specific action taken when a risk event occurs. It is designed to minimize the negative impact of the risk event on the project, and may involve a variety of strategies such as transferring the risk, avoiding the risk, mitigating the risk, or accepting the risk.

Option A: "Some responses are designed for use only if certain events occur" is not an accurate definition of contingency response, as all contingency responses are designed to be used when a specific risk event occurs.

Option B: "Some responses have a cost and a time factor to consider for each risk event" is partially correct, as cost and time are important considerations in developing a contingency plan. However, it does not fully define what a contingency response is.

Option C: "Some responses must counteract pending risk events" is also partially correct, as contingency responses are designed to mitigate or reduce the negative impact of risk events. However, it does not fully define what a contingency response is.

Option D: "Quantified risks should always have contingency responses" is not an accurate definition of contingency response, as not all risks will require a contingency response. The need for a contingency response will depend on the severity and likelihood of the risk event occurring.

Therefore, the best definition of a contingency response is that it is a specific course of action taken when a risk event occurs, which is designed to minimize the negative impact of the risk on the project.