FAIZY MANSOURY wrote: So what would constitute an issue?
Is it only when identified risks become problematic or is it really any obstacle the project faces?
Issues
An issue is anything that does occur and negatively impacts the project is some way - be it a negative impact to your schedule, your budget, your product scope, or anything that detracts from the goals of your project. You log issues to ensure they are followed up on and resolved. Each issue should have an owner - the main person assigned to drive the resolution of the issue. Logging issues is also important to keep a record of what happened on the project so that you can add them to the Lessons Learned Repository. This information may benefit future similar projects on the potential pitfalls that could occur, and they can use this information to plan their risk management accordingly.
Risks
A negative risk (or threat) is a potential issue that may or may not occur. When a negative risk (a threat) occurs, it then becomes an issue. Risk management is all about mitigating or a avoiding risks so that the issue is avoided entirely, or that the probability and impacts are reduced if it does in fact materialize.