One of the important aspects of managing a project is the project risk management which involves identification, analysis, planning and controlling any risk present within the project. One element of risk management is to identify the risk. It is a process of determining the types of risks that can affect the project. It also involves the documentation of the characteristics of the risks.
The benefits of this particular process are that the existing documentation, as well as the knowledge of the project team members, provides everyone the ability to anticipate different types of events including risk. To identify the risks, it is important to use information from the cost management plan, quality management plan, schedule management plan, scope baseline and other project documents to name a few to create a risk register.
Risk identification is often carried out by the project manager with the help of the team members, customers and even subject matter experts. This process is iterative since new risks can evolve during the middle of the project life cycle thus may not be included in the risk register.
This term is defined in the 5th edition of the PMBOK.