HOW TO CREATE A RISK
REGISTER
By Alexander Meissner
IVT Quality Risk Conference
2015-Jan-20
Orlando, FL
1
© Alexander Meissner, 2015
Learn About
Risk Register
Inputs
Learn About the Risk
Management Process
Interactive
Activity: How
to Create Your
Risk Register
How to Prepare Your
Risk Register
Template
What to do
With Your Risk
Register
Outputs
How to Monitor and
Control Your Risk
Register
Hypothetical
Application
(interactive)
Material
presented
How to Present Your
Risk Register to
Leadership
Q and A
Examples
covered
Adding Risk Inputs to
Your Register
How to Find, Identify
and Report Risk
Learn Effective Tools
To Organize Gathered
Risks
How to Prioritize Risks
Using Analysis
Introduction to an
FMEA (Optional Risk
Tool)
How to Risk Registers
Differ from FMEA
How Risk Registers
Enable Effective
Decision Making
Risk Management Cycle
Establish
Context
Identify
Risks
Assess
Mitigate /
Prevent
Monitor /
Control
Risk Register Synergy
None
Logging
Risk
Categorize
and RPN
Mitigation
Strategy
Deploy
Sources
Identification
Reporting
Stakeholders
Documentation (vendor or otherwise)
Internet
Inputs from meetings
What context are you working
in?
Lesson’s Learned
Formal (using forms)
Your experience and Transferable Knowledge
Mentors
Certification bodies
People in your career network
Case studies
Change controls (projects or otherwise)
What kind of categories could
your collected risks fall under
Informal: in person, calls,
emails etc.
Let people know how you
work best
Affinitizing
Prioritization Matrix
• Collect like minded ideas under 1
topic.
• Reduces duplicate risks collected
during brainstorming
• Post Its & a wall, boardroom
table, etc.
• Easily displays risks visually
• Great for presenting, poor for
analysis.
• Chart paper when collaborating;
Excel can automate.
Risk Register
• Workhorse of risk analysis
• Great for analysis, poor for
communication.
• Excel or other computerised
method
Name and
Description
Owner
Resources
aren’t
available
Manager
Machine
Breakdown /
Failure
Engineer /
Vendor
Audience
loses interest
in
presentation
?
Type
Impact
Types
Risk
Priority /
Analysis
Trigger
Date or
Range (if
apl)
Schedule
Categorizeation varies
across
industries
and projects.
Examples
can be
names of
depts.,
equipment,
etc.
Cost
Schedule
Performance
A qualified
(grouped) or
quantified
(counted or
numbered)
indicator used
to rank or
compare one
risk to another
We'll cover
some analysis
methods in the
following slides
?
Mitigation
Strategy
Mitigation
Action(s)
Mitigate Ad
Hoc
PM analyzes
resource
time.
Enter a date
you believe
this risk could
trigger
Accountable
stakeholders
may be
interested in
following up
with these
dates.
Mitigate /
Prevent
?
Vendor SLA
Training
Prev. Maint.
?
Date
Mitigated
(if
triggered)
Enter the date
it was
mitigated or
triggered.
Simple
Math
Focused
Custom
Matrix
FMEA
Fast method; easiest to use
Great 10K foot view
spanning multiple risks
important to a broad scope
Used in large corporations
where processes are
measurable and failure
points known
Easy to communicate
method; use during
projects with the same
scope
Great for deep dive
analysis of complex
functional systems; slow to
execute
Probability and severity
rated from 1 to 9
Probability and multiple
severities critical to subject
matter
?
Probability and severity
ranked low, medium, or
high
Probability, severity and
detection chance
Probability x severity
Probability x
Median(severity)
?
Covered in next slide
Probability x Severity
(+Detection) = Risk Level
Probability
/ Severity
Low
Low
Medium
High
Probability
/ Severity
1
A
Low
3
4
Medium
B
C
Medium
D
High
2
E
F
Mediumhigh
High
5
Monitoring and
controlling risks
• Review during status
meetings
• Follow up on triggered
assigned mitigation
tasks
• Circulate for new risks
periodically
• Add and analyze
unplanned risks right
away
Presenting to Leadership
• Keep it simple; graphs
are better than
spreadsheets
• Have experts present if
your not an expert on
the risk / material
Effective Decision
Making
• The methods discussed
provide a very effective
way to decide what
risks are important
• Ask questions and
challenge risks as other
options may come up
QUESTIONS?
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© Alexander Meissner, 2015