Overview of the Risk Register

The risk Register is one of the most important (if not the important) components of project risk management. It is also a key component of the Project Management Plan. The risk Register stores all the identified risks along with a lot of other information regarding those risks.

The details that you can expect to find in a Risk Register, about those risks are:

1. Risk Description
2. Risk Owner
3. Risk Category
4. Root Cause
5. Impact on the Project Objectives (If the risk event occurs)
6. Probability of the Risk Occurring
7. Proposed Responses
8. Current Status of the Risk

As you can see, it is the one stop shop for all your information needs with respect to the risks that might affect your project. Because of all the details it contains, it is an input and/or an output of almost all risk management processes.

Remember the chapter on Risk Management & the PMBOK guide? Of the 6 Risk Management processes outlined in that chapter, the Risk Register is an input to 4 of those processes and an output of 5 of those processes.

The Risk Register is an input to the following risk management processes:

1. Perform Qualitative Risk Analysis
2. Perform Quantitative Risk Analysis
3. Plan Risk Responses
4. Monitor & Control Risks

In short – It is an input to every single process that comes after risks are identified.

The Risk Register is an output of the following risk management processes:

1. Identify Risks
2. Perform Qualitative Risk Analysis
3. Perform Quantitative Risk Analysis
4. Plan Risk Responses
5. Monitor & Control Risks

In short – It is an output of every single process that comes after risk management is planned.

Trivia:

If you see that the Risk Register is an input to a process, it essentially means that it will be updated and be an output of the same process as well.

Because the risk register is part of almost all activities/processes in project risk management, if you properly understand the risk register, you will be able to easily understand the rest of the topics on risk management. So, it is very important that you understand the purpose of the risk register and how it used instead of just memorizing what you read here.

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