Potential Problem Analysis (PPA) is a process of examining your existing plans to identify what can go wrong with them, so that preventive action can be taken and/or recovery plans can be developed before any problems occur. Apply the potential problem solving technique to identify at least five potential problems that could occur, what the potential consequences would be, what the potential cause might be, and what you could do to either
(1) prevent the problem from occurring in the first place or
(2) recover from the adverse consequences.
Scenario: You have secured the responsibility to develop an eCommerce store for Exhaust Pros of Aurora in the city of Aurora. The owner of the business, Ron Moench, is planning to sell part of his inventory to general public but geared specially to a group call 'do it yourselfers'. However as the owner considers the implementation, he is overwhelmed by the challenges of the task having very little experience with any online technology. In addition, faces opposition from his employees, who believe their jobs will be in jeopardy. The owner lists his challenges as follows
1. The business does not have a qualified IT person to manage the eCommerce once it is operational
2. No current employee is willing to train because they feel they are betraying themselves and their fellow workers because the online store will eliminate some if not all their jobs.
3. Owner is concern about the security of the customer's information and online financial transactions.
4. Potential law suits from the consumers because of violation of privacy
5. Is the large investment involved in setting up the eCommerce store by worth it in the end?
If you identify a bad thing that could happen that cannot be avoided, what could you do as a “work-around” or to recover from the consequences? Use the template below to help you perform the analysis. List at least 4 things that could go wrong and then complete the rest of the columns.
Template:
Potential Problem Analysis Worksheet:
Anticipate Potential Problems
Anticipate Likely Causes
Select Preventive Actions
Select Contingent Actions
Identify Triggers