Explanation
The project manager should have ensured the risk of not acquiring full funding for the project was adequately assessed and mitigated by the appropriate stakeholders to prevent this from happening. According to the PMBOK Guide, a risk is an uncertain event or condition that, if it occurs, has a positive or negative effect on one or more project objectives1. In this case, the risk of not acquiring full funding for the project is a negative risk that could affect the project scope, schedule, cost, and quality. Therefore, the project manager should have performed the following risk management processes1:
Identify Risks: The process of identifying individual project risks and sources of overall project risk, and documenting their characteristics. The project manager should have identified the riskof not acquiring full funding for the project as a potential source of overall project risk, and documented its characteristics, such as causes, triggers, probability, impact, and priority.
Perform Qualitative Risk Analysis: The process of prioritizing individual project risks for further analysis or action by assessing their probability of occurrence and impact, as well as other characteristics. The project manager should have prioritized the risk of not acquiring full funding for the project based on its probability and impact, and determined if it required further analysis or action.
Perform Quantitative Risk Analysis: The process of analyzing the effect of identified individual project risks and other sources of uncertainty on the project objectives, and presenting the results in quantitative terms. The project manager should have analyzed the effect of the risk of not acquiring full funding for the project on the project objectives, such as the expected monetary value, the cost of risk, the schedule reserve, and the contingency reserve.
Plan Risk Responses: The process of developing options and actions to enhance opportunities and reduce threats to the project objectives. The project manager should have developed options and actions to reduce the threat of the risk of not acquiring full funding for the project, such as avoiding, mitigating, transferring, or accepting the risk, and implementing contingency plans or fallback plans if the risk occurs.
Implement Risk Responses: The process of implementing the agreed-upon risk response plans. The project manager should have implemented the risk response plans for the risk of not acquiring full funding for the project, such as securing alternative sources of funding, negotiating with the stakeholders, or adjusting the project scope, schedule, or cost.
Monitor Risks: The process of tracking the implementation of risk response plans, identifying and analyzing new risks, and evaluating risk process effectiveness. The project manager should have monitored the risk of not acquiring full funding for the project, and tracked the implementation of the risk response plans, identified and analyzed any new risks, and evaluated the effectiveness of the risk process.
By performing these risk management processes, the project manager could have prevented the risk of not acquiring full funding for the project from occurring, or minimized its impact on the project performance. The other options are not sufficient or appropriate for this situation, as they do not address the need to assess and mitigate the risk.
Ensuring the stakeholder anticipated obstacles to achieving financial closure on the remaining funds is a passive and vague action that does not specify how the project manager will help the stakeholder overcome the obstacles or secure the funds.
Ensuring the stakeholder who was providing additional funds remained interested in the project is an important but not sufficient action that does not guarantee the availability or timeliness of the funds.
Ensuring the project team monitored and reviewed the project risk register periodically is a necessary but not sufficient action that does not involve developing and implementing risk response plans.
References: 1: PMBOK Guide, 7th edition, pages 97-99.