The Risk Register
Words on this page that have been underlined and italicized can be found in the glossary on the right-hand side of the page.
Overview
The risk register is an index of all possible threats and opportunities that may impact the schedule, along with their qualitative characteristics.
Risks
In NetRisk, a risk is unique in that its probability of occurrence may occur either individually on each of the activities to which it has been assigned or as a group.
| Behavior | Definition | Use Case | How |
|---|---|---|---|
| Individually | A risk impacting two activities at 80%; OR one activity at 80% and another at 70% will not necessarily occur in the same iterations | Distinct time frames, e.g. an activity in January 2015 and another in June 2020 | Uncheck the box in the "Correlate Probability" column next to each assignment |
| As a group | A risk impacting two activities at 80% will occur in the same 80% of iterations | Activities in close proximity to one another, for example, a labor strike affecting all work in September | Check the box in the "Correlate Probability" column |
Scenarios
Scenarios are for capturing mitigation states or what-if scenarios of a given risk.
- When adding a scenario, all properties of the risk will be copied over
- The probability or impact can then be modified as desired
- During simulation, only one of a risk or its scenarios can be included in analysis
Adding Risks/Scenarios
- Click the Risk
driver. - Click the View button above the top list and choose Risk Register.
- Click the New Risk or New Scenario button in the Risk Properties pane or underneath the list.
- Configure the properties as desired.
The Probability Qualitative, Schedule Impact, or Cost Impact cannot be modified until the Category has been set.
To import a risk register from Excel, see Importing a Risk Register.
Deleting Risks/Scenarios
- Click the Risk driver.
- Click the View button above the top list and choose Risk Register.
- Select the desired risk or scenario in the table.
- Click the Delete button in the Risk Properties pane or underneath the list.
Available Table Columns
Each property in the pane can be displayed as a column, but not each column can be displayed as a property in the pane.
For details on customizing columns, filtering, sorting, and organizing by WBS, see Interface Tour.
| Risk Property/Column | Description |
|---|---|
| Category | A designation of type. A Threat represents a condition or situation that is unfavorable to the project, often having a negative impact or effect on duration. An Opportunity represents a condition or situation that is favorable to the project, often having a positive impact or effect on duration. |
| Comments | Notes for summarizing team discussions or including additional information about a risk. |
| Combined Rating | The average of the schedule rating and the cost rating between 0-100, to prioritize risks in the risk register. For more info, see Probability/Impact Thresholds. |
| Cost Impact | The degree to which the risk could affect activity costs as defined in the Qualitative Thresholds window. This is only used for qualitative purposes and has no role in the actual simulation. This field cannot be modified until the Category has been set. |
| Cost Rating | The product of the probability with the cost impact, mapped from 0-100, to prioritize risks in the risk register. For more info, see Probability/Impact Thresholds. |
| Description | A short description of the risk. This column cannot be removed from the table. |
| ID | The unique reference number for the risk. New risks/scenarios will always inherit the format of the last risk/scenario added. The format can also be modified beforehand by clicking the sprocket |
| Include in Simulation | A checkbox for controlling whether or not the risk and its quantitative impact assignments will be included in the simulation. This column cannot be removed from the table. |
| Owner | The person responsible for tracking a risk, and for ensuring an appropriate response is selected and implemented if it occurs. To add an owner, type in the box. The owner will be saved automatically when the field is deselected. |
| Probability (Qualitative) | The chance that a risk could occur. This field cannot be modified until the Category has been set. When setting this field, the midpoint of the range defined in the Qualitative Thresholds window will be copied over to the quantitative probability, but only if the quantitative probability is empty. Subsequent changes to this field or updating the value in the Qualitative Thresholds window will have no effect. |
| Response | Notes for detailing the approach for handling the risk. |
| Schedule Impact | The degree to which the risk could affect activity durations as defined in the Qualitative Thresholds window. This is only used for qualitative purposes and has no role in the actual simulation. This field cannot be modified until the Category has been set. |
| Schedule Rating | The product of the probability with the schedule impact, mapped from 0-100, to prioritize risks in the risk register. For more info, see Probability/Impact Thresholds. |
| Status | The current state of the risk in the project. These are only used for qualitative purposes and have no role in the simulation. New is used for a risk just entered in the register; Open for a risk chosen for simulation; Risk In Progress for a risk that has been assigned to activities; and Closed for a risk whose activities it has been assigned to have been completed. |
| Strategy | The type of response to a risk, depending on if it's a threat or opportunity. Accept is used for threats or opportunities when other responses are not applicable or feasible, and it involves either taking no action or developing a contingency plan if the risk occurs; Mitigate or Enhance involves attempting to decrease or increase the probability of a threat or opportunity respectively; Transfer or Share involves reassigning a threat or opportunity respectively to an owner better positioned to respond to it; and Avoid or Exploit involves taking the necessary steps to ensure a threat or opportunity respectively will not or will occur. |
For quantitative columns, see Risk Activity Impacts.
