Risk register

A schedule dependency may threaten a delivery date before any task is late. The Project Manager opens the project, and the Risk Owner records the concern against that project. The description states the event the team is concerned about; the owner is the person who will keep the response moving. Keep the project connection current so a portfolio review can distinguish this exposure from a similar concern on another engagement.

• Identify. Give the risk a clear description, category, identified date and project.
• Assess. Set likelihood and impact using the available Low, Medium and High values, then review the displayed score and rating.
• Respond. Write the mitigation, name an owner and follow the status from Open through Monitoring to Mitigated or Closed.

The risk record is the center of this module. A task can carry delivery work, but its status does not silently change the risk assessment. The Project Manager reviews both when deciding whether the response is sufficient. The same principle applies to an escalation: a delivery issue may change urgency without replacing the risk owner’s explanation of exposure.

Agree what Low, Medium and High mean for likelihood and impact in the team’s operating language. Decide who may change an assessment, who owns the mitigation and when the project manager expects a review. Use the category values already present in the register so a Schedule risk is not filed as a Technical risk merely because a technical task addresses it.

Choose a consistent way to describe the mitigation: action, responsible person and the signal that would make the risk worth reassessing. A statement such as “monitor vendor” is hard to review. A useful description says what the owner will check at the next project review and which delivery record will show progress.

Suppose a vendor’s delayed input threatens a project’s planned end date. The Risk Owner records a Vendor risk, selects High likelihood and Medium impact, and writes a mitigation to obtain an alternative input before the next checkpoint. The Project Manager can inspect the project end date and review checkpoint beside the risk. The Delivery Lead assigns the related task to a team member.

At review, the owner checks whether the alternative input arrived. If the exposure remains, the record stays open or monitored with a revised mitigation. If the response succeeds, the owner can mark it Mitigated. Closing the risk is a distinct decision after the team agrees the exposure has ended. Keep the earlier identified date and original project connection so the history remains understandable.

• Risk Exception Triage — Open the leading risks and follow each item to its register record.
• Active Projects — Open the project before discussing its exposure.

Follow risk review and delivery response for the next decision.