Programme Risk Register
What is it?
A programme risk register is a vital tool which makes risk management possible. It is the central place where all a project or programmes risks are aggregated together and tracked. This risk register has the capability to log not just risks which threaten the programmes success, but also opportunities in accordance with MSP best practice.
The difference between this log and Project Risk logs we offer for download on this site is that this log is designed specifically to manage risks which have strategic impact on a programmes probability of success /failure and follows the best practice guidelines as detailed in MSP/P3O.
Why should I use it?
If you do not have a risk log with the capability of categorising and tracking risk management performance your programme will not have a fit-for-purpose risk management processes and procedures to ensure the success of your programme going forward.
It is such a key component of what makes a project /programme a success that if you find yourself being interviewed by any of the ‘big 5’ and they ask “what is the most important project /programme management process ?” I suggest you make sure you say “risk and issue management”!. The big 5 know, through lots of pain and suffering, that without this important management process failure soon follows!
How should I use it?
When running a programme it is vital that all risks, including those for each lower level project (please see How to make risk and issue management work) are recorded in one central programme risk register such as the one attached. If you are running a programme hopefully you will have a Project Management Office that should have a Risk & Issue manager responsible for this log in order to prevent duplication and ensuring that the registers integrity is maintained at all times. It is also the Risk & Issue Managers function to order /rank the logs’ contents by risk group and then by strategic importance so that a summary extract can be provided for the Programme /Sponsorship Boards. The risk grouping should be done with the objective of estimating by group the net impact to the programme should these risks be realized. Vital information needed by your governance team if they are to direct your programme towards a successful conclusion.
The attached template comes with full a technical explanation of how it works and comment boxes over each register column heading defining what the column header means. Simple 
If this log was of use to you then please can you put a comment on this site. If you believe it could be improved then please detail an improvement so we can continue to keep our templates and tools the best on the internet.
Good Luck.
This entry has been viewed 1573 times.
READER COMMENTS:
No comments yet.
All contents copyright © 2006, Orbital Media Network. All rights reserved.