Risk management is a process that helps businesses identify, assess, and mitigate risks before they become problems. It involves analyzing risks and assessing their impact, determining how to deal with them, and developing a feasible plan to address them. A risk management plan defines how the risk management process will be executed, including the funds, tools, and approaches used to carry out risk identification, assessment, mitigation, and monitoring activities. Risk identification occurs early in the project planning phase and throughout the project life cycle.
While some risks are known, others may require additional research to discover them. In the next phase, you will analyze the qualitative and quantitative impact of the risk, such as the probability that the risk will occur compared to the impact it would have on your project. You can map this into a risk assessment matrix and assign an overall risk score by multiplying your impact level score by your risk probability score. Once the worst risks come to light, submit your treatment plan.
While you can't anticipate all risks, following these steps should set you up for success. Starting with the highest priority risk, instruct your team to resolve or mitigate the risk so that it no longer poses a threat to the project. Reassess the root causes of any risk events that have occurred to identify the faulty system and classify risks correctly during the next round of risk identification. Taking the time to set up and implement a risk management process is like setting up a fire alarm: you expect it to never go off, but you're willing to deal with small inconveniences up front in exchange for protection in the future.
BCS has the equipment and technology needed to ensure that your business is well protected. A risk management plan, also called a “risk mitigation plan”, is a well-defined document that indicates how to address specific risks and what management measures should be taken against those risks in order to mitigate or eliminate threats to project tasks and results. For an effective risk management plan, it's essential to have a good understanding of how communication works and how it can help you manage risk. As time goes by and a larger database of previous projects and their risk records is created, you can anticipate potential risks and take a more proactive rather than reactive approach to more effective treatment.
SafetyCulture provides a mobile application to access and store your risk management plan, automatically generate reports after an inspection, and share them with the right people. Some project risks are likely to become problem areas, such as running a project during the holidays and having to plan the project schedule based on them. For this reason, risk management must be a proactive and reactive process that is constant throughout the life cycle of the project. If a risk that has exceeded your threshold meets its conditions, it can jeopardize your entire project.
When a risk becomes a problem, it is usually not the result of a single mistake but rather the culmination of a series of errors that could have been avoided if basic principles of effective risk management planning had been followed. A clear policy with defined roles, responsibilities, and templates is essential for an effective risk management strategy. Project risk management, on the other hand, is inherently preventive and proactive in order to minimize or eliminate reactive solutions generated by panic to risk-related problems that would otherwise be avoidable. To ensure success in any business venture, managers must create an effective risk management plan.
This plan should include steps for identifying potential risks, assessing their impact on operations, developing strategies for mitigating those risks, monitoring progress towards goals related to those strategies, and responding quickly when necessary.
