As with any project there are various risks associated with this one. Perhaps first and foremost is that we have just one developer working on this project. If he is unable to complete the project for any reason we will need to hand the work on to someone else within the University’s pool of developers. Most of the developers work on a multitude of different projects simultaneously with different start and end dates and there is often capacity for someone else to pick up work in other projects as and when necessary. Much the same applies to the Project Management post.
As previously mentioned there are certain limits to the technology currently available in smart phones. This is not necessarily a threat to the project but a limitation which needs to be understood in terms of directing effort in the project. One of the elements of the project we were keen to investigate is whether Near Field Communication (RFID) can be used to facilitate the generation of bibliographic references within a library context. However, the technology for detecting this form of code is not widely available currently. There are several devices which can facilitate working with RFID codes on certain mobile phone platforms and we will investigate those but it is likely that the core element of the project will need to focus on other forms of object identification such as bar codes and QR codes.
Advisory Group – a small risk associated with the Advisory Group is the amount of time people have available for supporting the work of the project. This is something the project manager is currently looking into and efforts are being made to ensure that sufficient time is allocated by advisory group members throughout the duration of the project.
We have also taken action to recruit several other advisory group members partly due to the above but also due to certain gaps that we identified in terms of knowledge and/or expertise. The “time” risk stated above largely relates to the ability of people to attend physical meetings. However, we have also established a wiki and an e-mail list which means that any information required can be garnered as and when required without impinging on staff time to any substantial level.