Tips for an improved Risk Register

1. Is the risk register the ultimate tool for
Project risk management ?
What is a Risk Register ?
• A structured database, usually a simple table supported by a spreadsheet, that records risks &
opportunities identified by project stakeholders, whatever their nature, origin and impact. It is
clearly an extension of FME(C)A tables (late 1940s!)
• Not a tool as such for risk management processes as you need to master many other tools
and techniques to populate it with data. As the PMBOK®, consider it as a result, an output of
risk management processes.
What benefits from a risk register?
• It is a repository of knowledge for project members… provided they use the proper ID syntax
• As any project register, it facilitates monitoring and control
• It provides the raw material for upgrading lessons learned
• It is the necessary base to build statistical models and develop probability density functions to
be used in Monte Carlo simulations (schedule or cost)
Issues:
• Linking risk register and Risk breakdown structures is necessary but not that easy
• There is usually no space available for supporting documents (e.g. claim
management)
• Risks described by the RR are supposed to be linearly structured:
1cause-1event-1consequence-1action. Unfortunately the project event structure looks more
like a butterfly: many causes, one event, many consequences. Major flaw in many RR!
• The spreadsheet approach is usually preferred because you can make P x I calculations on
each line and ΣPxI rather easily.
• Integrate the action register inside the risk register? Pros & cons. If project large and complex,
build 2 different registers and link them by the coding of numbers.
Therefore:
• Make the difference between risk data sheet and risk register
• Do not over-simplify the risk register structure for the sake of easy computation. Remember
FME(C)A uses:
o fault trees to take into account that many causes contribute to a single event
o component-subsystem(s)-system approach to structure the assessment. The failure
mode of a component is a cause of failure of the sub-system There is no such natural
link in Project Risks…unless you build one RR for each system and assume they are
unrelated.
• Know the limits of your RR. Plan tools, methods or specific effort to address risk linkage in a
proper way
© Marc Desrumaux www.d-rix.fr 3 mars 2010

2. © Marc Desrumaux www.d-rix.fr 3 mars 2010