Page 38 - Insurance Times JUNE 2022

business assets and ensure financial sustainability. identifying, categorizing, prioritizing, and planning for risks
Organizational policies and procedures for risk management before they become issues.
are like the rules governing the game of football. In football
there are certain pieces of equipment that a player needs Risk management can mean different things on different
to have in order for the player to be safe while they are types of projects. On large-scale projects, risk management
playing. Football also has rules determining what a player strategies might include extensive detailed planning for each
may, or may not do, during the game so that they remain risk to ensure mitigation strategies are in place if issues
safe, and the other players also remain safe. arise. For smaller projects, risk management might mean a
simple, prioritized list of high, medium, and low priority risks.
Organizational policies and procedures for risk management You should have clearly identified time in your schedule for
risk management.
are player guidelines that tell each employee what the
company they work for expects of them, and what the
company will do to protect them from harm while they are 7. Start identifying risks from initial stages of your
at work. project.
All projects have risks. If a potential risk of the project is not
5. Continuous Risk Monitoring identified early, then the project will be at a high risk to
complete as per schedule, within budget and to meet the
Monitoring a risk and relevant issues surrounding it focuses
expected quality. One of the current difficulties faced by a
on looking for three things:
new Project Manager today is not having a sample or
a) How the risk is changing.
general risk list to refer to when identifying the project risk.
The effect those change(s) will have on objectives or
Project Risk identification is the most important process in
other factors of the internal or external operating
the Risk Management Planning.
environment.
b) Whether the organization took enough risk to achieve
Risk Identification determines which risks might affect the
its objectives
project and documents their characteristics. However, as
To say that risk monitoring is important would be an recommended by [Donna Ritter], we should not spend too
understatement. much time in identifying risks. After the list is made,
qualitative and quantitative analysis is done to figure out
Without following through on the risks that were
which risks you spend time and/or money on.
identified, assessed, and mitigated, it is all just a one-
time exercise.
8. Maintain risks in one risk tracker or register.
Despite the importance of this part of the risk
The risk management framework also provides templates
management process, it is not clearly understood and
and tools, such as: A risk register for each project to track
a struggle for many companies. the risks and issues identified.
Risk Description Impact Probability Severity Rsnk
6. Make Risk Management as part of your
project.
Project risk management is the process of identifying,
analysing and then responding to any risk that arises over
the life cycle of a project to help the project remain on track
and meet its goal. Risk management isn’t reactive only; it
should be part of the planning process to figure out risk that
might happen in the project and how to control that risk if
it in fact occurs.
A risk checklist, which is a guideline to identify risks based
A risk is anything that could potentially impact your project’s on the project life cycle phases.
timeline, performance, or budget. Risks are potentialities,
and in a project management context, if they become A risk repository, which is all the risks identified across
realities, they then become classified as “issues” that must projects so far Make sure you maintain one single risk
be addressed. So, risk management, then, is the process of register for all type of risks.

38 The Insurance Times, June 2022