ISSUE MANAGEMENT PROCESS

JUNE, 2022
 Purpose
The Issue Management Process ensures:

 a structured approach for identification, communication,

tracking, escalation and resolution of project issues

 a means to assure all issues are visible to the entire team

and all team members can share accountability in issue
resolution

 a mechanism to ensure consistency and reliability of issue

tracking across the program

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 Definitions
An issue is defined as problem which has occurred that can have
an adverse impact on the success of the project. Any problem that
cannot be resolved quickly and/or during the normal course of
project mechanics should be logged as an issue.

There are several criticalities to issues:

Critical Significant impact on the project; the consequences may affect other projects
or halt the implementation; requires immediate resolution
High Impacts several areas of the project; Leadership intervention required

Medium Cannot complete phase without resolution, but does not need to be addressed
immediately; may or may not require Leadership invention
Low Does not impact resources and schedule but requires resolution; may or may
not require Leadership intervention

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 Definitions
To ensure consistency, it is important to understand issues vs. non-issues. The
Project Manager will provide ongoing guidance.

What is an Issue? Example Disposition

A problem which cannot be resolved
during the normal course of project
activity and for which there is no known
course of action
A problem which requires escalation
and cannot be resolved by the
person(s) raising the issue OR may
impact multiple teams/program as a
whole
A scope decision/question that is being
raised after Blueprinting
What is Not an Issue?
An action item/task/question that arises
throughout the project by which a
course of resolution or action plan is
known
The budget does not Log Issue
appropriately account for the
inclusion of Vertex software for
Phase 1
Need to determine the approach Log & Escalate Issue
for material number format.
Decision needs to be made at an
executive level as it is high
impact, strategic and sensitive.
What is the scope of Treasury for Log Issue
Phase 1
Example Disposition
Need to determine an approach Log as a task within
for the Center of Excellence ; the team workplan
Need a follow up meeting and/or meeting
resulting from a workshop minutes action plan

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 Guiding Principles

To ensure efficiency in the process, the following will serve as guiding

principles:

1) Issues should be proactively entered by all Team Members

2) Team Leads will be responsible for review and acceptance of issues

3) The Project Manager will serve as champion to ensure compliance of

issue management across the project

4) Issues should focus on key project impacts such as process, policy,

technology, data, scope, resources, budget, change/communication

5) Issues should be proactively managed for resolution based on

criticality. Issues opened longer than 14 days should be reviewed as the
validity of the issues

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 Issue Management Process
Track As Workplan
Task/Action Item/
Other and Close
Issue
4
YES
NO

Issue
Identify the Issue Log the Issue Qualify the Issue Issue Exists? YES Manage the Issue Escalation
Reqd?
1 2 3 5
Contact Assignee and
Team Lead

NO

NO

Close Issue &

RESOLVE Issue Execute Key Decision Update the Issue
Resolve Issue YES YES
1 ISSUE Resolved? Resolution Next Resulting? w/ Decision Data
Steps
7 8 11

NO

TRACK AS Scope END

Issue Close Issue & Log
2 CHANGE Management
Disposition Change Request
REQUEST Process
6 9

Legend

Risk Project Team

3 TRACK AS Close Issue & Log
Management
RISK Risk
Process Project
10 Manager

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Ref ID Process Step
1 Identify the Issue
2 Log the Issue
3 Qualify the Issue
4 Track as Workplan
Task/Action Item and
Close Issue
5 Manage the Issue
Process Steps
Description Input/Output Time Horizon Owner
As the project progresses, it will be the responsibility Input: N/A Any time Project Team
of all team members to actively identify issues Output: Identified issue
Once the issue has been identified, it should be Input: Identified Issue Any time Project Team
immediately logged in the issue log (Excel – short term Output: Logged Issue (Coordinatory)
or Document Repository Tool - long term) for tracking.
To minimize access to the log, a coordinator (and
backup) will be designated , per team, to enter issues.
Note: When assigning an issue to another assignee,
particularly from another team, the assignee should be
notified via email of the assignment
The Project Manager will qualify the issue. If it is valid, Input: Logged Issue Any time Project Manager
the issue will continue into management (step 5). If Output: Issue Confirmed
the issue does not qualify as it issue, proceed to step
4
If the issue does not qualify as it issue, it should be Input: Unqualified Issue Any time Project Manager
entered as a workplan task, action item or other, next Output: Closed Issue
steps documented in the issue log and finally, the
issue closed
Once an issue is qualified, it must be “worked” in order Input: Qualified Issue Any time Project Team
to drive to resolution. The proper resolution of an Output: Managed Issue
issue will vary depending on the circumstances of the
issue. It is key that all impacted parties should be
involved in reaching proper closure to an issue. This
involves completing Impact Assessments as
necessary. If at anytime, escalation is required to
resolve an issue, the status of the issue will change to
escalated and issue management will continue. If no
escalation is required, the issue will move forward for
disposition (step 6)
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Ref ID Process Step
6 Issue Disposition
7 Resolve Issue
8 Close Issue &
Execute Resolution
Next Steps
9 Close Issue & Log
Change Request
Process Steps (continue)
Description Deliverable I/O Time Horizon Owner
There are several potential dispositions to an issue: Input: Managed Issue Any time Project Team
Resolution (step 7), Tracking as an Change Request Output: Managed Issue
(step 9), or Track as a Risk (step 10).
In resolving an issue, it is important to involve all Input: Managed Issue Any time Project Team
impacted parties in the resolution process to minimize Output: Resolved Issue
additional problems downstream. The resolution
should be clearly documented in the issue log. The
resolution of an issue typically results in the following
impacts:
• 40%: Functional/Technical development
• 30%: Integration development
• 15%: Hardware
• 15%: Software
Once the resolution has been documented, the issue Input: Resolved Issue Any time Project Team
will be updated with next steps and the status changed Output: Closed Issue
to ‘closed’. The next steps will then be executed
outside of the issue process. Such next steps may
include:
• Update workplan/action item plans
• Conduct follow up meetings/review sessions with
impacted parties (i.e. Technical, Data, etc)
• Identify/update relevant key deliverables based on
resolution
During the management of an issue, the problem may Input: Managed Issue Any time Project Team
escalate to a change request. At this point, the Output: New Change
resolution should be updated (closed and CR opened), Request
the status changed to ‘closed – CR initiated’ and a
new CR opened
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 Process Steps (continue)
Ref ID Process Step Description Deliverable I/O Time Horizon Owner

10 Close Issue & Log During the management of an issue, it may be Input: Managed Issue Any time Project Team
Risk discovered that the problem has not yet occurred and Output: New Risk
is better tracked as a risk. The resolution should be
documented, the issue closed and a new risk logged

11 Update the Issue with If the issue and its resolution is deemed to be a key Input: Managed Issue Any time Project Manager
Decision Data decision that will have a significant impact on the Output: Key Decision
project/implementation, the issue log should be update
to reflect it is a key issue. Additionally, the key
decision makers should be noted at that time. If the
Project Manager wishes to later view all key decisions,
the log will be filtered accordingly.

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 Issue Management Forums
There will be several meetings throughout the week where issues will be
discussed and managed.

Meeting Issue Mgmt Activities

Weekly Project Team • Review/update of ALL CRITICAL and
Meeting HIGH team level issues for accuracy
• Drive resolution
Overdue Issues • Review/update action plans for ALL
Update (exception OVERDUE issues
basis for teams with
Overdue items)

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 Key Roles & Responsibilities
There are several key roles and responsibilities necessary to ensure
effectiveness of the Issue Management Process.

Role Responsibility
Project Manager • Qualify issues
• Ensure proper logging of issues
• Drive tracking and resolution
• Manage issue escalation
Team Members • Identify and log issues
Project Executive • Review Critical/High issues
• Assist in issue escalation where applicable

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 Contact Information

For additional information on this process, please contact…

Contact Name Email Phone

Primary

Secondary

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