RiskRegister

Abstract

Identifying risk in a project is always important in order to understand potential consequences related to given tasks and/or decision made within a project. Uncertainty and opportunities will always be present, and hence it is important to accommodate and grasp important factors, that might influence the outcome of a project and hence its success.

The risk register used in both Project Management Institute Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) and PRINCE2 standard is a document that contains relevant information on located risks and or possibilities. It enables the project manager to record and register risks and opportunities within a given project. As it is included in both of these standards, it is a widely recognised tool. It is a way of documenting and registering risk and builds on other methods in order to locate more cryptic risks as well as how to deal with them. Hence the risk register is used as a risk management tool. However, more straight forward and easily identified risk are potentially discovered once using the risk register and hence also added to the risk register. This is done by the project manager, once updating or maintaining the document. In this document the risks are summarized, creating an overview of potential threats, risks and also opportunities. The project manager can find assistance for this within the project support group, but the document should be kept in a secure place and only be accessed by certain people in order to secure its quality.

Once risks are identified, the project manager can use the risk register tool to establish an overview of risk and potential threats or opportunities to the projects in a structured way. By filling in important information on the impact of the risk, the probability of the risk, how to handle the risk, amongst others, the project manager can locate and assign scores, indicating the importance of that risk being handled. Here manages should keep in mind, that assigned scores are based on the perception of the risk when added to the document and hence the quality of the risk register relies on an iterative and ongoing evaluation of registered risks. Noting down whether a risk has been handled or not is also an ongoing process that likewise is important in order to assure the quality of the risk register. Because of its simple structure the risk register can be reevaluated and adjusted on a day-to-day basis, by filling in the relevant information in the risk register document. This therefore makes it a simple yet effective tool in order to handle risks in a project.

Big Idea

The risk register is both a part of the Project Management Institute Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) as well as PRINCE2 and hence a widely recognised tool to manage risk . The purpose of including a risk register in a project, as described in PRINCE2, is to record identified risks, that might have occurred in the beginning or during the undertaking of the project. Here, the risks history along with relevant information, such as its impact and probability are reported and stored in a document by the project managers choice. By doing so the project manager can use the risk register as identification of potential threats and opportunities related to the project.

This tool is a tool that the project manager can use in the beginning, as well as, throughout the lifetime of a project. As uncertainty will inevitably be bigger at the beginning of a project, as explained in “the paradox of project planning”