risk management methodology template

Free Risk Management Plan Templates

By Andy Marker | August 2, 2017

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Risks are not inherently bad - sometimes taking a risk can lead to big rewards. However, risks do represent uncertainty, and if you’re managing an organization or project, having a clear understanding of potential risks can help you move forward and make decisions with confidence. Risk management is the process of identifying risks, analyzing them to assess their likelihood and potential impact on a program, and developing and implementing methods for responding to each risk. To support your risk management planning, this page offers multiple templates that are free to download. Choose from simple matrix templates or more comprehensive risk management plan templates for Excel, Word, and PDF, all of which are fully customizable to meet the needs of your specific enterprise or project.

Risk Management Planning Templates for Excel

Project risk management plan template.

This template allows you to create a project risk management plan for Excel, which may be helpful for adding any numerical data or calculations. You include typical sections in the template, such as risk identification, analysis and monitoring, roles and responsibilities, and a risk register. Add or remove sections to create a customized template for your project.

Download Project Risk Management Plan Template

Excel | Smartsheet

Risk Register Template

On this risk register template, you include project details at the top and list risks below with assigned tracking numbers. The register provides a detailed log of who owns a risk, the level of impact and probability, planned actions, and the response status. This is a spreadsheet template that can be easily edited to include additional columns if needed. 

Download Risk Register Template

Risk Assessment Matrix

This simple matrix template is designed to aid the assessment process, providing a quick view of the relationship between the likelihood of occurrence and the severity of impact, as well as the number of risks that fall into each category. The color scheme makes it easy to distinguish among the different ratings, so you can get an overview of the levels of risk that need to be addressed.

Download Risk Assessment Matrix

Excel | Word | PDF | Smartsheet

Risk Management Matrix

For some smaller projects, you may only need to use a risk management matrix (rather than create a lengthy management plan). You can also use this matrix template, in addition to a detailed plan, to organize vital information in a single spreadsheet. The template includes a risk assessment matrix for getting an overview of risk ratings, plus a management matrix for identifying and assessing risks, describing mitigation strategies, and monitoring control efforts.

Download Risk Management Matrix

Risk Breakdown Structure Diagram

You can use this template to create an RBS diagram based on the risks involved at the different stages of a project’s work breakdown structure. You can also use the RBS template to organize risks by category by breaking down internal risks into subcategories, such as technical or organizational, and distinguishing them from external risks. This is a helpful tool for organizing risks visually and listing them in the risk register.

Download Risk Breakdown Structure Diagram

Other Risk Management Templates

Risk management plan template - word.

This risk management plan sample offers a basic layout that you can develop into a comprehensive plan for project or enterprise risk management. It includes a matrix for viewing probability and impact as well as sections for describing a risk management approach, budgeting, scheduling and reporting protocols, and more. 

Download Risk Management Plan Template

Word | Smartsheet

Risk Action Plan Template

An action plan template allows you to go into detail about proposed actions for a specific risk. This PDF template offers a simple layout with sections for describing the risk and recommended response, defining an action plan, listing required resources, assigning responsibility, and setting a timeline for completion. 

Download Risk Action Plan Template

Excel  |  Word  | PDF

Project Risk Management

The Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide, 5th Edition) defines project risk as “an uncertain event or condition that, if it occurs, has a positive or negative effect on one or more project objectives, such as scope, schedule, cost, or quality.” Notice that these risks can be considered positive or negative depending on their effects. Project risk management seeks to maximize positive risks while avoiding or mitigating negative risks. A risk management plan is typically included as part of a larger project plan, and is initiated early in the project lifecycle; the risk plan then evolves as the project progresses. It is generally the project manager’s role to maintain the plan and update it periodically to ensure ongoing clarity and effectiveness. 

The overall goal of a risk management plan is to manage risk in a way that ensures a successful project outcome. The planning process enables managers to clearly identify risks, and then develop and document risk mitigation strategies and contingency plans. The process also includes identifying both the costs and actions necessary for implementing the plan. Once completed, the plan serves as a guide for everyone involved in a project and is particularly important as a tool to communicate with key stakeholders.

Ways to Handle Risk

Once you’ve identified and evaluated a risk, there are several potential responses. The response you choose will depend on the probability of the risk occurring and the potential severity of its impact on a project. 

• Avoid: Avoiding risks is ideal, and especially important if the risk is high impact and likely to occur. Avoidance tactics may require greater investment (in order to develop alternative strategies), but this additional cost and effort is appropriate for high-impact, high-probability negative risks.
• Transfer: This method refers to transferring risk to another party (for example, the act of purchasing insurance moves the risk to the insurance provider). This response is common for risks that have a high negative impact but a low probability of occurring.
• Mitigate: Mitigation aims to reduce either the likelihood or the level of impact of a risk, and is used for risks that are likely to occur, but also likely to be low-impact.
• Accept: Acceptance is an option when there is no other solution, but would only be used for low-impact risks that have a low probability of occurring. 

Risks can be internal or external, and projects may face a combination of both. Internal risks may include issues with technology, staffing, financial security, and other factors that can be controlled within your organization. External risks can be harder to predict and control, and may include factors such as issues with suppliers, changes in the political climate or economy, or even the weather. The process of analyzing risks and measuring them on a scale of probability and severity can provide the initial framework for determining which of the above methods will be the most effective response to a given risk.

Risk Management and HIPAA Compliance in Healthcare Organizations

Healthcare organizations are under strict regulations when it comes to risk and compliance. That’s why the ability to determine where those risks exist and establish a plan to manage them is extremely important for the business, both legally and functionally.

Risk management for healthcare organizations helps to ensure the all businesses are compliant with HIPAA requirements, and outlines potential risks that could occur in a healthcare organization, such as clinical testing errors, hospital facilities issues, security breaches of protected health information PHI, and more. To ensure that all healthcare data is effectively analyzed for security and protection purposes, you need a tool that is able to quickly identify, mitigate, and prevent risks from coming to fruition, while also offering real-time visibility into all potential risks.

Smartsheet is a work execution platform that enables healthcare companies to view and update risks across the company with real-time dashboards, so you can make the best decisions at the right time. Highlight all identified risks and manage how they are addressed, all while ensuring utmost security and protection of PHI. Set sharing settings to ensure that only authorized users have access to confidential information, so your organization remains compliant with HIPAA regulations.

Interested in learning more about how Smartsheet can help you accurately and securely document healthcare processes and maximize your efforts? Discover Smartsheet for Healthcare .

Example of Risk Management Plan Outline

The length and level of detail included in a risk management plan will vary depending on the scope of a project and the needs of an organization. Here is a risk management plan example outline that describes the information you typically include:

• Introduction: The first section in a risk management plan may focus on an executive summary or project description, including the purpose of the project. It may go into detail about the scope of the project, objectives, and important background information, and provide an overview of risk management approach and strategies. 
• Risk Management Approach: This may be a brief summary or detailed section providing information on the risk management process, the methodology used, and specific tools and techniques to be utilized.
• Roles and Responsibilities: Here you list the project staff members involved in the risk process, along with each of their roles and responsibilities. 
• Risk Identification: This section describes how you will identify risks and/or lists risks that you have already found. Methods for risk identification may include brainstorming, examining the project’s work breakdown structure (WBS) in order to identify risks and create a corresponding risk breakdown structure (RBS), conducting expert interviews, consulting with key stakeholders, or reviewing common risks from similar projects. 
• Risk Analysis and Evaluation: You must analyze risks that you identify to determine what effects they might have on a project, such as a delayed timeline or reduced quality. You must also evaluate these risks for probability and impact. This section may describe how probability of occurrence and impact are calculated and combined to create a numeric score for each risk. Here, you can also define the categories and terms you use to describe the different levels of probability and impact. In addition, if you’ve determined top risks, you can list them here.
• Risk Response Planning: You can explain the process for conducting response planning here, including how a project team will develop actions to address both negative and positive risks. 
• Risk Mitigation: You can list potential risk mitigation strategies here, connecting possible actions to risks based on the level of seriousness. This section may also consider important risks that you have identified, providing detail on what type of mitigation you’ve proposed, ownership for implementing the action, and cost implications.
• Risk Monitoring and Reporting: This section may describe how you will monitor risks, the frequency of reviews, how you will identify new risks, and the method and schedule you will use for reporting. 
• Risk Register: Also called a risk log, the register typically appears at the end of a risk management plan, or as a separate document. The register tracks important details about each risk including probability, impact, overall score, and status. It essentially combines the results from risk analysis and response planning into a spreadsheet or chart for easy reference.

You will need to adjust the content and formatting of this example plan to meet the needs of your business or project. To see how others have handled this process for similar projects, you can search for sample risk management plans online and compare different approaches. Comparing project risk management plan examples may save you time in the long run, especially if you are new to the process. To use the free templates provided below, simply download your chosen file, and make any required edits.

Create a Powerful Risk Management Plan With Smartsheet

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Any articles, templates, or information provided by Smartsheet on the website are for reference only. While we strive to keep the information up to date and correct, we make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability, or availability with respect to the website or the information, articles, templates, or related graphics contained on the website. Any reliance you place on such information is therefore strictly at your own risk. 

These templates are provided as samples only. These templates are in no way meant as legal or compliance advice. Users of these templates must determine what information is necessary and needed to accomplish their objectives.

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Risk Management Plan Template | FREE Download

What is the risk management plan.

The Risk Management Plan is a PMBOK document which sets out how risks will be managed on a project . It is forms the basis for all other risk management activities, including risk strategy, identification, funding and monitoring. It will define the processes followed and the templates that will be used (including the risk register ). stakeholdermap.com

• risk management method
• a model risk management process
• risk report form
• risk assessment method

What's in the Risk Management Plan?

• DOWNLOAD Risk Management Plan Template
• Other Project templates to download

[Project Name] Risk Management Plan

Project reference, document control.

• Document Id
• Document Owner
• Last Saved Date
• Project Sponsor
• Project Review Group
• Project Manager
• ....................

Risk Management Methodology

The risk management method.

• Identify – risks are identified on an ongoing basis, through formal risk identification workshops as well as during day to day activities.
• Assess – once identified a risk is assessed to establish the likelihood of it occurring and the impact it will have if it occurs.
• Respond – there several possible actions that can be taken to reduce the likelihood of a risk occurring or the impact of the risk , for example transferring , avoiding , and mitigating . In this step suitable responses are agreed, and budget approved if needed.
• Monitor - progress of the risk responses needs to be monitored and controlled, with corrective action taken if needed. Typically, progress is assessed via project team meetings.

Risk Identification

How Risks will be expressed

IF xxxx assumption proves incorrect THEN xxxxx will happen

IF shipping takes longer than 10 days THEN the project will face a cost of $500 per day in unused warehouse space.

Risk report form

Risk capture and logging

Risk Assessment Method

• the risk is very unlikely to happen for example it is statistically unlikely, or action has already be taken to reduce the likelihood.
• the risk is unlikely to happen, but is not unheard of, for example a supplier goes unexpectedly into liquidation or a regulatory change forces a change of materials or project approach.
• the risk is likely to happen, for example: rain in September in the UK or scope creep on IT projects (see 20 common project risks ).
• the risk is highly likely to happen, perhaps it is a common occurrence on projects or a common issue with location, environment, materials, equipment or the technology used. For example, projects are often impacted by staff illness.
• the risk will have little impact, perhaps there are plans or procedures in place that will reduce the impact, or there is a simple low-cost alternative. For example, holding a skype or zoom meeting if a key person can’t make it to the office.
• the risk will have some impact, but it can be managed or reduced easily. For example, getting cover for a non-critical staff member who is off sick or a short delay while a contingency plan is put in place.
• the risk will have a significant impact. It is likely to require involvement of senior management and trigger a re-assessment of the business case . For example, equipment failure causing a delay to the go live date.
• if the risk occurs the project will no longer be viable, perhaps the business case can no longer be achieved, the additional costs would make it ruinous or the delay would be so long as to make the project pointless.

Risk Assessment Matrix

Other examples of risk matrices:

Risk responses, timing and frequency of risk management activities, risk funding, risk management plan template, word .docx download - risk management plan, word .doc download - risk management plan, pdf download - risk management plan, more project templates to download.

• Microsoft Project Plans – real world project plans in Microsoft Project.

PMBOK Management Plans

• Change Management Plan
• Communications Management Plan
• Cost Management Plan
• Procurement Management Plan
• Project Management Plan
• Schedule Management Plan
• Scope Management Plan
• 20 Common Project Risks

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8 Free Risk Management Templates for Excel

If there’s one thing you can be certain of when managing a project, it’s change. If only you knew ahead of time what those issues would be, you could better address them. Although it’s impossible to predict the future, with these free risk management templates, you can better prepare for the unexpected and be more apt to keep your project on track.

There are many project management templates that are designed to help you identify, respond to and track those risks. This helps you avoid an issue that becomes a problem that negatively impacts the project’s time, cost and scope. Download these free risk management templates and gain more control over your project.

1. Risk Management Plan

A risk management plan is a document that describes how a project management team will manage risk over a project. Risk management plans consist of several sections that describe the potential risks of a project and the various risk mitigation strategies that will be executed to manage said risks. To provide a clear view of project risks, a risk management plan typically contains a risk register, risk breakdown structure, risk matrix and a risk mitigation plan. Our risk management plan template helps you organize these different risk management documents.

2. Risk Register Template

Planning for risk is how you manage risk. While it’s impossible to know what’ll happen, an experienced project manager will have the resources to predict what might happen. In order to define the potential of the risk from showing up in your project and what the impact could be, you’ll want to use our free risk register template for Excel .

The free risk register gives you space to describe the risk, its impact and what your response will be if it appears in the project. There’s also a column to note if the risk is high, medium or low. Plus, you can assign a team member to that risk so they know to keep an eye out for it. If that risk becomes an issue, then the team member will be responsible for tracking it until the issue has been resolved.

3. Project Dashboard Template

Preparing for risk is essential to risk management, but that’s just the start. Once the project begins, you have to be diligent in monitoring the work to catch issues when they arise. The faster you capture issues, the less impact they’ll have and the quicker you’ll be able to resolve them. Using our free project dashboard template for Excel creates graphs that track your tasks, workload, costs and more.

However, templates can only do so much. They are, after all, static documents that must be manually updated. ProjectManager is online project management software that has real-time dashboards that automatically gather real-time data and display them in colorful graphs and charts that give you a high-level view of your tasks, workload, costs and more.

Unlike the template, there’s no setup required. It’s immediately ready to deliver live data to help you make more insightful decisions. Get started with ProjectManager today for free.

4. Risk Matrix Template

There’s more than one way to manage risk, but regardless of how you choose to do so, you’ll always want to identify, prioritize and assign an owner to be on the lookout for it. Risk isn’t always negative, of course, but if you’re not prepared for risk then you can’t mitigate or take advantage of it. Our free risk matrix template for Excel provides a visual tool to manage risk easily.

A risk matrix is a type of chart that’s used by project managers to map risks. It helps categorize the risk in terms of its likelihood of occurring and how it’ll impact the project. It does this on a colorful grid, which provides you with a visual tool that helps communicate risk to the project team.

5. Issue Tracking Template

Risk is potential, but project issues are real. They could be the manifestation of a risk that you’ve identified and have been monitoring or they could be unique. Whatever they are, you need to address them and our free issue-tracking template for Excel is just the tool you need to make sure issues don’t sidetrack your project.

The issue tracking collects all the data you need to keep an eye on the issue as it moves through its life cycle. You have a column to describe it and its potential impact. Then you can give each issue a priority to know which to deal with first as well as the date it was first identified and who’s responsible for resolving the issue . There’s space to note the department responsible and whether the status is open or closed.

6. Cost-Benefit Analysis Template

Not all risks are created equal. Project managers can get sidetracked trying to resolve a risk that’s trivial when put in the context of the larger project. But how can you tell whether the risk in the project is worth the effort? Simply download our free cost-benefit analysis template for Excel to help you decide if the effort is worth the cost.

The free template helps you collect the quantitative costs (indirect, intangible and opportunity) and compare them to the quantitative benefits (direct, indirect, intangible and competitive). With this data, you can make a cost-benefit analysis to see if the investment is worth the return.

7. Project Status Report Template

We’ve talked about project dashboards as a means to monitor for risk. Reports are another tool that provides a more detailed look at the project’s progress and performance. Use our free project status report template for Excel to view a slice of time in the project to chart its health and progress.

Some of the data a status report captures include a summary of the project, such as key accomplishments, work that has been done, what work is still to come, milestones, deliverables and action items. There’s also information on the budget, schedule, quality and scope of the project . Plus, you can see risks, issues and roadblocks.

8. IT Risk Assessment Template

IT projects have their own unique risks and, therefore, need their own unique risk assessment. There are risks to software and hardware from malware, viruses, scams and more. There are also human errors, security breaches and natural disasters that can take you offline, too. Our free IT risk assessment template for Excel is a great tool to avoid potential loss from downtime.

Everything you need to manage IT risk is included in the free template. You can list the risk by number to track it, note the area where the risk is likely to happen and define the risk. Then there’s a place to set up processes to control the risk, assess it and determine what activities will be required to reduce the risk . You can even monitor the risk if it shows up to make sure it’s properly resolved.

9. Change Log Template

Change is a risk; you don’t know when it’s coming, but you have to be able to deal with it. Whether it’s a request from stakeholders or an issue with equipment or weather, change can impact your project. If you planned correctly, then you’re ready for changes even if you’re not sure what they’ll be. When they come, though, you need our free change lot template for Excel to manage them.

The free template lets you date when the change first came, who owns it and who’s responsible for taking care of the change. There’s a place to note its priority to know what should be done and when. You can also note its status. This way, as changes come into your project (and they always do), you have a way to track them and make sure nothing crucial is overlooked.

More Project Management Templates

Everyone likes free templates. ProjectManager has dozens of free project management templates for Excel and Word that are ready to be downloaded on our site. You can find more than free templates that deal with risk. There are ones that cover every phase of your project and below is only a small sampling.

Gantt Chart Template

The Gantt chart is one of the most popular scheduling tools in project management. Use our free Gantt chart template for Excel to list all your tasks and see them on a visual timeline. It’s a great way to organize your costs and resources.

Project Plan Template

Project plans allow project managers to scope their work and break it down into manageable parts. It’s an essential document in project management. Using our free project plan template for Word will help you organize your tasks, phases, budget and much more.

Project Budget Template

All projects require money to deliver success, and budgets capture those financial details. The more accurate the budget estimates, the more likely you’ll be able to complete the project. Using our free project budget template for Excel will help you accurately forecast costs.

ProjectManager Is a Risk Management Software

There’s no doubt that free project management templates are great. But they’re also status documents that must be manually updated. That’s a lot of time and effort to extend on a limited tool. ProjectManager is online project management software that delivers real-time data to help you better manage project risk.

Track Risk in Real Time

None of the free templates can track risk in real time. Someone on your team has to manually update those templates and there’s always a danger that copies are floating around so no one is aware of their actual status. Our risk management features make it easy to stay informed. You can create a risk just as you would a task and assign an owner, add dates, priorities, tags, attachments and more. Always know the status of your risk in real time.

Manage Risk on Robust Gantt Charts

Having a risk management plan is essential and templates can help but they might not be flexible enough. In some cases, you need something more dynamic. Our online Gantt charts help you schedule and assign as well as monitor the project on a timeline. You can also easily share the Gantt chart with the project team and stakeholders.

Of course, teams and stakeholders aren’t going to need the details of a Gantt chart. That’s why we have multiple project views. Teams can manage and prioritize risk on kanban boards, which visualize the workflow. Stakeholders can be updated by viewing the calendar view or using customized reports to share just the data in which they’re interested.

Related Content

If you’re still hungry to learn more about risk and how to manage it, you’re in luck. ProjectManager isn’t only great software but our site is the premier online destination for all things project management. There are more than templates. We publish weekly blogs and have guides, videos and much more. Here’s some more risk-related reading.

• The Risk Management Process in Project Management
• How to Make a Risk Management Plan
• What Is a Risk Register & How to Create One
• Risk Analysis: Definition, Examples and Methods
• Risk Breakdown Structure for Projects: A Complete Guide to RBS

ProjectManager is award-winning software that helps you plan, manage and track risk in real time. We also empower teams on a collaborative platform with task and resource management features to keep everyone working together more productively. Get onboard with teams from companies as varied as Avis, Nestle and Siemens who use our software to deliver success. Get started with ProjectManager today for free.

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Risk Management 101: Process, Examples, Strategies

Emily Villanueva

August 16, 2023

Effective risk management takes a proactive and preventative stance to risk, aiming to identify and then determine the appropriate response to the business and facilitate better decision-making. Many approaches to risk management focus on risk reduction, but it’s important to remember that risk management practices can also be applied to opportunities, assisting the organization with determining if that possibility is right for it.

Risk management as a discipline has evolved to the point that there are now common subsets and branches of risk management programs, from enterprise risk management (ERM) , to cybersecurity risk management, to operational risk management (ORM) , to  supply chain risk management (SCRM) . With this evolution, standards organizations around the world, like the US’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the International Standards Organization (ISO) have developed and released their own best practice frameworks and guidance for businesses to apply to their risk management plan.

Companies that adopt and continuously improve their risk management programs can reap the benefits of improved decision-making, a higher probability of reaching goals and business objectives, and an augmented security posture. But, with risks proliferating and the many types of risks that face businesses today, how can an organization establish and optimize its risk management processes? This article will walk you through the fundamentals of risk management and offer some thoughts on how you can apply it to your organization.

What Are Risks?

We’ve been talking about risk management and how it has evolved, but it’s important to clearly define the concept of risk. Simply put, risks are the things that could go wrong with a given initiative, function, process, project, and so on. There are potential risks everywhere — when you get out of bed, there’s a risk that you’ll stub your toe and fall over, potentially injuring yourself (and your pride). Traveling often involves taking on some risks, like the chance that your plane will be delayed or your car runs out of gas and leave you stranded. Nevertheless, we choose to take on those risks, and may benefit from doing so. 

Companies should think about risk in a similar way, not seeking simply to avoid risks, but to integrate risk considerations into day-to-day decision-making.

• What are the opportunities available to us?
• What could be gained from those opportunities?
• What is the business’s risk tolerance or risk appetite – that is, how much risk is the company willing to take on?
• How will this relate to or affect the organization’s goals and objectives?
• Are these opportunities aligned with business goals and objectives?

With that in mind, conversations about risks can progress by asking, “What could go wrong?” or “What if?” Within the business environment, identifying risks starts with key stakeholders and management, who first define the organization’s objectives. Then, with a risk management program in place, those objectives can be scrutinized for the risks associated with achieving them. Although many organizations focus their risk analysis around financial risks and risks that can affect a business’s bottom line, there are many types of risks that can affect an organization’s operations, reputation, or other areas.

Remember that risks are hypotheticals — they haven’t occurred or been “realized” yet. When we talk about the impact of risks, we’re always discussing the potential impact. Once a risk has been realized, it usually turns into an incident, problem, or issue that the company must address through their contingency plans and policies. Therefore, many risk management activities focus on risk avoidance, risk mitigation, or risk prevention.

What Different Types of Risks Are There?

There’s a vast landscape of potential risks that face modern organizations. Targeted risk management practices like ORM and SCRM have risen to address emerging areas of risk, with those disciplines focused on mitigating risks associated with operations and the supply chain. Specific risk management strategies designed to address new risks and existing risks have emerged from these facets of risk management, providing organizations and risk professionals with action plans and contingency plans tailored to unique problems and issues.

Common types of risks include: strategic, compliance, financial, operational, reputational, security, and quality risks.

Strategic Risk

Strategic risks are those risks that could have a potential impact on a company’s strategic objectives, business plan, and/or strategy. Adjustments to business objectives and strategy have a trickle-down effect to almost every function in the organization. Some events that could cause strategic risks to be realized are: major technological changes in the company, like switching to a new tech stack; large layoffs or reductions-in-force (RIFs); changes in leadership; competitive pressure; and legal changes.

Compliance Risk

Compliance risks materialize from regulatory and compliance requirements that businesses are subject to, like Sarbanes-Oxley for publicly-traded US companies, or GDPR for companies that handle personal information from the EU. The consequence or impact of noncompliance is generally a fine from the governing body of that regulation. These types of risks are realized when the organization does not maintain compliance with regulatory requirements, whether those requirements are environmental, financial, security-specific, or related to labor and civil laws.

Financial Risk

Financial risks are fairly self-explanatory — they have the possibility of affecting an organization’s profits. These types of risks often receive significant attention due to the potential impact on a company’s bottom line. Financial risks can be realized in many circumstances, like performing a financial transaction, compiling financial statements, developing new partnerships, or making new deals.

Operational Risk

Risks to operations, or operational risks, have the potential to disrupt daily operations involved with running a business. Needless to say, this can be a problematic scenario for organizations with employees unable to do their jobs, and with product delivery possibly delayed. Operational risks can materialize from internal or external sources — employee conduct, retention, technology failures, natural disasters, supply chain breakdowns — and many more.

Reputational Risk

Reputational risks are an interesting category. These risks look at a company’s standing in the public and in the media and identify what could impact its reputation. The advent of social media changed the reputation game quite a bit, giving consumers direct access to brands and businesses. Consumers and investors too are becoming more conscious about the companies they do business with and their impact on the environment, society, and civil rights. Reputational risks are realized when a company receives bad press or experiences a successful cyber attack or security breach; or any situation that causes the public to lose trust in an organization.

Security Risk

Security risks have to do with possible threats to your organization’s physical premises, as well as information systems security. Security breaches, data leaks, and other successful types of cyber attacks threaten the majority of businesses operating today. Security risks have become an area of risk that companies can’t ignore, and must safeguard against.

Quality Risk

Quality risks are specifically associated with the products or services that a company provides. Producing low-quality goods or services can cause an organization to lose customers, ultimately affecting revenue. These risks are realized when product quality drops for any reason — whether that’s technology changes, outages, employee errors, or supply chain disruptions.

Steps in the Risk Management Process

The six risk management process steps that we’ve outlined below will give you and your organization a starting point to implement or improve your risk management practices. In order, the risk management steps are: 

• Risk identification
• Risk analysis or assessment
• Controls implementation
• Resource and budget allocation
• Risk mitigation
• Risk monitoring, reviewing, and reporting

If this is your organization’s first time setting up a risk management program, consider having a formal risk assessment completed by an experienced third party, with the goal of producing a risk register and prioritized recommendations on what activities to focus on first. Annual (or more frequent) risk assessments are usually required when pursuing compliance and security certifications, making them a valuable investment.

Step 1: Risk Identification

The first step in the risk management process is risk identification. This step takes into account the organization’s overarching goals and objectives, ideally through conversations with management and leadership. Identifying risks to company goals involves asking, “What could go wrong?” with the plans and activities aimed at meeting those goals. As an organization moves from macro-level risks to more specific function and process-related risks, risk teams should collaborate with critical stakeholders and process owners, gaining their insight into the risks that they foresee.

As risks are identified, they should be captured in formal documentation — most organizations do this through a risk register, which is a database of risks, risk owners, mitigation plans, and risk scores.

Step 2: Risk Analysis or Assessment

Analyzing risks, or assessing risks, involves looking at the likelihood that a risk will be realized, and the potential impact that risk would have on the organization if that risk were realized. By quantifying these on a three- or five-point scale, risk prioritization becomes simpler. Multiplying the risk’s likelihood score with the risk’s impact score generates the risk’s overall risk score. This value can then be compared to other risks for prioritization purposes.

The likelihood that a risk will be realized asks the risk assessor to consider how probable it would be for a risk to actually occur. Lower scores indicate less chances that the risk will materialize. Higher scores indicate more chances that the risk will occur.

Likelihood, on a 5×5 risk matrix, is broken out into:

• Highly Unlikely
• Highly Likely

The potential impact of a risk, should it be realized, asks the risk assessor to consider how the business would be affected if that risk occurred. Lower scores signal less impact to the organization, while higher scores indicate more significant impacts to the company.

Impact, on a 5×5 risk matrix, is broken out into:

• Negligible Impact
• Moderate Impact
• High Impact
• Catastrophic Impact

Risk assessment matrices help visualize the relationship between likelihood and impact, serving as a valuable tool in risk professionals’ arsenals.

Organizations can choose whether to employ a 5×5 risk matrix, as shown above, or a 3×3 risk matrix, which breaks likelihood, impact, and aggregate risk scores into low, moderate, and high categories.

Step 3: Controls Assessment and Implementation

Once risks have been identified and analyzed, controls that address or partially address those risks should be mapped. Any risks that don’t have associated controls, or that have controls that are inadequate to mitigate the risk, should have controls designed and implemented to do so.

Step 4: Resource and Budget Allocation

This step, the resource and budget allocation step, doesn’t get included in a lot of content about risk management. However, many businesses find themselves in a position where they have limited resources and funds to dedicate to risk management and remediation. Developing and implementing new controls and control processes is timely and costly; there’s usually a learning curve for employees to get used to changes in their workflow.

Using the risk register and corresponding risk scores, management can more easily allocate resources and budget to priority areas, with cost-effectiveness in mind. Each year, leadership should re-evaluate their resource allocation as part of annual risk lifecycle practices.

Step 5: Risk Mitigation

The risk mitigation step of risk management involves both coming up with the action plan for handling open risks, and then executing on that action plan. Mitigating risks successfully takes buy-in from various stakeholders. Due to the various types of risks that exist, each action plan may look vastly different between risks. 

For example, vulnerabilities present in information systems pose a risk to data security and could result in a data breach. The action plan for mitigating this risk might involve automatically installing security patches for IT systems as soon as they are released and approved by the IT infrastructure manager. Another identified risk could be the possibility of cyber attacks resulting in data exfiltration or a security breach. The organization might decide that establishing security controls is not enough to mitigate that threat, and thus contract with an insurance company to cover off on cyber incidents. Two related security risks; two very different mitigation strategies. 

One more note on risk mitigation — there are four generally accepted “treatment” strategies for risks. These four treatments are:

• Risk Acceptance: Risk thresholds are within acceptable tolerance, and the organization chooses to accept this risk.
• Risk Transfer : The organization chooses to transfer the risk or part of the risk to a third party provider or insurance company.
• Risk Avoidance : The organization chooses not to move forward with that risk and avoids incurring it.
• Risk Mitigation : The organization establishes an action plan for reducing or limiting risk to acceptable levels.

If an organization is not opting to mitigate a risk, and instead chooses to accept, transfer, or avoid the risk, these details should still be captured in the risk register, as they may need to be revisited in future risk management cycles.

Step 6: Risk Monitoring, Reviewing, and Reporting

The last step in the risk management lifecycle is monitoring risks, reviewing the organization’s risk posture, and reporting on risk management activities. Risks should be monitored on a regular basis to detect any changes to risk scoring, mitigation plans, or owners. Regular risk assessments can help organizations continue to monitor their risk posture. Having a risk committee or similar committee meet on a regular basis, such as quarterly, integrates risk management activities into scheduled operations, and ensures that risks undergo continuous monitoring. These committee meetings also provide a mechanism for reporting risk management matters to senior management and the board, as well as affected stakeholders.

As an organization reviews and monitors its risks and mitigation efforts, it should apply any lessons learned and use past experiences to improve future risk management plans.

Examples of Risk Management Strategies

Depending on your company’s industry, the types of risks it faces, and its objectives, you may need to employ many different risk management strategies to adequately handle the possibilities that your organization encounters. 

Some examples of risk management strategies include leveraging existing frameworks and best practices, minimum viable product (MVP) development, contingency planning, root cause analysis and lessons learned, built-in buffers, risk-reward analysis, and third-party risk assessments.

Leverage Existing Frameworks and Best Practices

Risk management professionals need not go it alone. There are several standards organizations and committees that have developed risk management frameworks, guidance, and approaches that business teams can leverage and adapt for their own company. 

Some of the more popular risk management frameworks out there include:

• ISO 31000 Family : The International Standards Organization’s guidance on risk management.
• NIST Risk Management Framework (RMF) : The National Institute of Standards and Technology has released risk management guidance compatible with their Cybersecurity Framework (CSF).
• COSO Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) : The Committee of Sponsoring Organizations’ enterprise risk management guidance.

Minimum Viable Product (MVP) Development

This approach to product development involves developing core features and delivering those to the customer, then assessing response and adjusting development accordingly. Taking an MVP path reduces the likelihood of financial and project risks, like excessive spend or project delays by simplifying the product and decreasing development time.

Contingency Planning

Developing contingency plans for significant incidents and disaster events are a great way for businesses to prepare for worst-case scenarios. These plans should account for response and recovery. Contingency plans specific to physical sites or systems help mitigate the risk of employee injury and outages.

Root Cause Analysis and Lessons Learned

Sometimes, experience is the best teacher. When an incident occurs or a risk is realized, risk management processes should include some kind of root cause analysis that provides insights into what can be done better next time. These lessons learned, integrated with risk management practices, can streamline and optimize response to similar risks or incidents.

Built-In Buffers

Applicable to discrete projects, building in buffers in the form of time, resources, and funds can be another viable strategy to mitigate risks. As you may know, projects can get derailed very easily, going out of scope, over budget, or past the timeline. Whether a project team can successfully navigate project risks spells the success or failure of the project. By building in some buffers, project teams can set expectations appropriately and account for the possibility that project risks may come to fruition.

Risk-Reward Analysis

In a risk-reward analysis, companies and project teams weigh the possibility of something going wrong with the potential benefits of an opportunity or initiative. This analysis can be done by looking at historical data, doing research about the opportunity, and drawing on lessons learned. Sometimes the risk of an initiative outweighs the reward; sometimes the potential reward outweighs the risk. At other times, it’s unclear whether the risk is worth the potential reward or not. Still, a simple risk-reward analysis can keep organizations from bad investments and bad deals.

Third-Party Risk Assessments

Another strategy teams can employ as part of their risk management plan is to conduct periodic third-party risk assessments. In this method, a company would contract with a third party experienced in conducting risk assessments, and have them perform one (or more) for the organization. Third-party risk assessments can be immensely helpful for the new risk management team or for a mature risk management team that wants a new perspective on their program. 

Generally, third-party risk assessments result in a report of risks, findings, and recommendations. In some cases, a third-party provider may also be able to help draft or provide input into your risk register. As external resources, third-party risk assessors can bring their experience and opinions to your organization, leading to insights and discoveries that may not have been found without an independent set of eyes.

Components of an Effective Risk Management Plan

An effective risk management plan has buy-in from leadership and key stakeholders; applies the risk management steps; has good documentation; and is actionable. Buy-in from management often determines whether a risk management function is successful or not, since risk management requires resources to conduct risk assessments, risk identification, risk mitigation, and so on. Without leadership buy-in, risk management teams may end up just going through the motions without the ability to make an impact. Risk management plans should be integrated into organizational strategy, and without stakeholder buy-in, that typically does not happen. 

Applying the risk management methodology is another key component of an effective plan. That means following the six steps outlined above should be incorporated into a company’s risk management lifecycle. Identifying and analyzing risks, establishing controls, allocating resources, conducting mitigation, and monitoring and reporting on findings form the foundations of good risk management. 

Good documentation is another cornerstone of effective risk management. Without a risk register recording all of a company’s identified risks and accompanying scores and mitigation strategies, there would be little for a risk team to act on. Maintaining and updating the risk register should be a priority for the risk team — risk management software can help here, providing users with a dashboard and collaboration mechanism.

Last but not least, an effective risk management plan needs to be actionable. Any activities that need to be completed for mitigating risks or establishing controls, should be feasible for the organization and allocated resources. An organization can come up with the best possible, best practice risk management plan, but find it completely unactionable because they don’t have the capabilities, technology, funds, and/or personnel to do so. It’s all well and good to recommend that cybersecurity risks be mitigated by setting up a 24/7 continuous monitoring Security Operations Center (SOC), but if your company only has one IT person on staff, that may not be a feasible action plan.

Executing on an effective risk management plan necessitates having the right people, processes, and technology in place. Sometimes the challenges involved with running a good risk management program are mundane — such as disconnects in communication, poor version control, and multiple risk registers floating around. Risk management software can provide your organization with a unified view of the company’s risks, a repository for storing and updating key documentation like a risk register, and a space to collaborate virtually with colleagues to check on risk mitigation efforts or coordinate on risk assessments. Get started building your ideal risk management plan today!

Emily Villanueva, MBA, is a Senior Manager of Product Solutions at AuditBoard. Emily joined AuditBoard from Grant Thornton, where she provided consulting services specializing in SOX compliance, internal audit, and risk management. She also spent 5 years in the insurance industry specializing in SOX/ICFR, internal audits, and operational compliance. Connect with Emily on LinkedIn .

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• Project planning |
• Risk matrix template: How to assess ris ...

Risk matrix template: How to assess risk for project success (with examples)

A risk matrix analyzes project risks based on likelihood and severity. Once you map your risks, you can calculate overall impact and prioritize risks accordingly. In this piece, you’ll learn how to create a risk matrix template and how to use the information from this analysis tool to develop a comprehensive risk management plan.

Risks are a part of any project, and there’s no surefire way to know which ones will occur and when. Sometimes, you'll get through an entire project without experiencing a single hiccup. Other times, you’ll feel like all the odds are against you. Without the help of a crystal ball, the only way to prevent project risks is to proactively prepare for them. 

A risk matrix helps you analyze risk by assigning each event as high, medium, or low impact on a scale of one through 25. Once you assess the severity and likelihood of each risk, you’ll prioritize your risks and prepare for them accordingly. In this article, we’ll explain how to create a risk matrix template and offer helpful tools for turning your results into action.

What is a risk matrix in project management?

Types of risks.

As part of the process, you’ll need to brainstorm a list of risks to chart in your risk matrix. The risks you may face will likely fall into these categories:

Strategic risk : Strategic risks involve performance or decision errors, such as choosing the wrong vendor or software for a project.

Operational risk : Operational risks are process errors or procedural mistakes, like poor planning or a lack of communication among teams.

Financial risk : Financial risk can involve various events that cause a loss of company profit, including market changes, lawsuits, or competitors.

Technical risk: Technical risk may include anything related to company technology, such as a security breach, power outage, loss of internet, or damage to property.

External risk: External risks are out of your control, like floods, fires, natural disasters, or pandemics. 

There are other risk categories to consider depending on your work industry. For example, if you have government clients, then you also want to brainstorm legal risks. If your company sells a physical product, you may have to think about manufacturing risks.

How to create a risk matrix template

When creating your risk matrix template, you’ll first identify your scale of severity, which you’ll place in the columns of your matrix. ​​The scale of severity measures how severe the consequences will be for each risk. In a five-by-five matrix, there are five levels in your scale of severity. 

Negligible (1): The risk will have little consequences if it occurs.

Minor (2): The consequences of the risk will be easy to manage.

Moderate (3): The consequences of the risk will take time to mitigate.

Major (4): The consequences of this risk will be significant and may cause long-term damage.

Catastrophic (5): The consequences of this risk will be detrimental and may be hard to recover from.

You’ll then identify your scale of likelihood, which you’ll place in the rows of your risk matrix template. The scale of likelihood identifies the probability of each risk occurring.  

Very likely (5): You can be pretty sure this risk will occur at some point in time.

Probable (4): There’s a good chance this risk will occur.

Possible (3): This risk could happen, but it might not. This risk has split odds.

Not likely (2): There’s a good chance this risk won’t occur.

Very unlikely (1): It’s a long shot that this risk will occur.

When you place a risk in your matrix based on its likelihood and severity, you’ll find the level of risk impact. The risk impact is both color-coded from green to red and rated on a one through 25 scale. 

Low (1-6): Low-risk events likely won’t happen, and if they do, they won’t cause significant consequences for your project or company. You can label these as low priority in your risk management plan .

Medium (7-12): Medium-risk events are a nuisance and can cause project hiccups, but if you take action during project planning to prevent and mitigate these risks, you’ll set yourself up for project success. You shouldn’t ignore these risks, but they also don’t need to be a top priority.

High (13-25): High-risk events can derail your project if you don’t keep them top of mind during project planning. Because these risks are likely to happen and have serious consequences, these are most important in your risk management plan.

 You don’t have to stick to the labels above for your risk matrix template if they don’t feel right for your company or project. You can customize the size and terminology of your matrix to your needs.

How to use a risk matrix

Once you’ve created a risk matrix, you can use it as a comprehensive analysis tool. The best part about a risk matrix template is that you don’t need to change it for every project. Once you have one, you can reuse it and share it with others. 

1. Identify project risks

You’ll need a list of potential risks to make use of your risk matrix. In this step, you’ll determine what risks may affect the specific project you’re working on. 

To come up with relevant risks for your project, you’ll need to understand your project scope and objectives. This includes the project’s:

Constraints

Using your project scope as a guide, think of risky situations that might affect your project. If you’re not sure where to start, try brainstorming techniques like mind mapping or starbursting to list as many risks as you can under each risk type. 

2. Determine severity of risks

When you created your risk matrix, you defined the criteria for your risk severity and likelihood. Now that you have a list of project risks, categorize them using the matrix criteria. Start with the scale of severity and go through each risk you’ve listed. Consider the following questions:

What is the most negative outcome that could come from this risk?

What are the worst damages that could occur from this risk?

How hard will it be to recover from this risk?

Which of the five severity levels most closely matches this risk?

You may not always have the perspective you need to know how severe the consequences of a risk are. In that case, work with other project stakeholders to determine the potential risk impact.

3. Identify likelihood of risks

Once you’ve defined the severity of each risk, you’ve completed half of the risk analysis equation. Next, identify the likelihood of each risk. To do this, consider the following questions:

Has this risk occurred before and, if so, how often?

Are there risks similar to this one that have occurred?

Can this risk occur, and if so, how likely is it to occur?

Team collaboration is also crucial in this step because you may not have a good idea of similar risks that have occurred in past projects. Make sure to reference past projects and analyze the probability of each risk with your team in order to create a more accurate mitigation plan.

4. Calculate risk impact

The last part of your risk analysis equation is to calculate risk impact. The equation you’ll use is:

Likelihood x severity = risk impact  

Place each risk in your matrix based on its likelihood and severity, then multiply the numbers in the row and column where it lands to find the level of risk impact. For example, if you think the risk of a data breach is of major severity (4) and probable likelihood (4), you’d multiply four by four to get a risk impact of 16. This is considered a high-risk impact. 

5. Prioritize risks and take action

You should now have a risk impact level on a scale of 1–25 for each risk you’ve identified. With these number values, it’s easier to determine which risks are of top priority. When you have risks with the same risk impact score, it will be up to you and your team to determine which risk to prioritize. Risks with equal risk impact may require equal attention as you create your action plan. 

Your risk response plan should include steps to prevent risk and ways to mitigate risk if unfortunate events occur. Because so much goes into project planning, the best strategy when tackling risks may be to divide and conquer.

Risk assessment matrix template

The size of your risk matrix template determines how closely you can analyze your project risks. A larger risk matrix template offers more room on the risk impact spectrum, while a smaller risk matrix template keeps your risk impact rating simpler and less subjective. 

Each square in your matrix represents a risk level of likelihood and severity, so you shouldn’t make your risk matrix smaller than three squares in length and width.

A five-by-five risk matrix is ideal so you can further analyze each risk. Once you chart your risks along your finished risk matrix template, this matrix creates a larger color spectrum to see the impact of each risk as high, medium, or low. 

The example below shows a five by five risk matrix template.

You can download a free risk matrix template using the link below. Use this template to chart your project risks and determine their overall level of risk impact.

Pair your risk matrix template with a work management tool

You can use the same risk matrix template when measuring risk across multiple projects. However, it’s important to remember that the risks you face will evolve. The environment changes, technology becomes smarter, and the workplace grows. Every project faces unique risks, and you must reevaluate these risks year after year.

When you pair your risk matrix template with work management software , you can use past data to inform current processes. Asana helps you share the results of your risk matrix with stakeholders so you can collaborate on a risk management plan. Once you have a solid plan in place, you can monitor your team in real-time as they take action.

Related resources

Smooth product launches are simpler than you think

What is stakeholder analysis and why is it important?

How Asana uses work management to optimize resource planning

Understanding dependencies in project management

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NIST Risk Management Framework RMF

Project links.

April 10, 2024:  NIST releases introductory courses for SP 800-53, SP 800-53A, and SP 800-53B. Each 45-60 minute course provides a high-level overview of the SP 800-53 controls, SP 800-53A assessment procedures, and SP 800-53B control baselines.

January 31, 2024:  NIST seeks to update and improve the guidance in SP 800-60, Guide for Mapping Types of Information and Information Systems to Security Categories . Specifically, NIST seeks feedback on its current use, proposed updates in the Revision 2 initial working draft and information types taxonomy , and opportunities for ongoing improvement to SP 800-60. The public is invited to provide input by March 18, 2024 .

November 7, 2023:  NIST issues SP 800-53 Release 5.1.1 in the Cybersecurity and Privacy Reference Tool (CPRT) .  The corresponding assessment procedures in SP 800-53A have also been updated , and the SP 800-53A assessment procedures and SP 800-53B control baselines are also now available in the CPRT.  For more information, see: CSRC News Article and the SP 800-53 Release 5.1.1 FAQ  (updated). A detailed listing of the changes is also available for SP 800-53 and SP 800-53A .

Thank you to those who submitted comments using the  NIST SP 800-53 Public Comment Website .  

The NIST Risk Management Framework (RMF) provides a comprehensive, flexible, repeatable, and measurable 7-step process that any organization can use to manage information security and privacy risk for organizations and systems and links to a suite of NIST standards and guidelines to support implementation of risk management programs to meet the requirements of the Federal Information Security Modernization Act (FISMA).  

This site provides an overview , explains each RMF step, and offers resources to support implementation, such as updated Quick Start Guides, and the RMF Publication .

• FISMA Background  
• About the Risk Management Framework (RMF)
• RMF Online Introductory Courses
• Publications

• Controls & Control Baselines
• Control & Control Baseline Downloads
• Control Overlay Repository

Stay Informed & Contact Us

• Subscribe to the RMF Email Announcement List
• Register for and watch events/webinars
• Meet the RMF Team & Contact Information

Additional Pages

NIST Risk Management Framework Team [email protected]

Security and Privacy: general security & privacy , privacy , risk management , security measurement , security programs & operations

Laws and Regulations: E-Government Act , Federal Information Security Modernization Act

Related Projects

FISMA Background About the RMF Prepare Step Categorize Step Select Step Implement Step Assess Step Authorize Step Monitor Step SP 800-53 Controls SP 800-53 Release Search Downloads Control Catalog Public Comments Overview Public Comments: Submit and View Control Overlay Repository RMF Introductory Courses RMF Email List Meet the RMF Team RMF Presentation Request

Cybersecurity Framework Cybersecurity Supply Chain Risk Management Federal Cybersecurity & Privacy Forum macOS Security Open Security Controls Assessment Language Operational Technology Security Privacy Engineering Protecting CUI Systems Security Engineering (SSE) Project

Risk Assessment Template for Project Management

Identify project objectives and scope, identify potential risks and hazards, analysing and evaluating potential risks.

• 1 Identify likelihood
• 2 Assess impact
• 3 Determine priority
• 1 Financial
• 2 Operational
• 3 Technical
• 5 Reputation

Approval: Risk Analysis Results

• Analysing and evaluating potential risks Will be submitted

Prepare risk categorization matrix

Outline risk response strategies, calculate potential impact and likelihood of each risk, determine risk levels (high, medium, low), draft risk mitigation plan, approval: risk mitigation plan.

• Draft risk mitigation plan Will be submitted

Assign accountability for each risk

Develop contingency plans for major identified risks, input data into risk assessment template, review and fine-tune risk assessment template, approval: risk assessment template review.

• Review and fine-tune Risk Assessment Template Will be submitted

Scheduling regular updates and reassessments of the risk assessment

Document agreed risk management processes, approval: documented risk management processes, communicate the risk assessment results to all stakeholders, monitor and review the effectiveness of risk controls, take control of your workflows today., more templates like this.