Templates & Examples / Examples

Risk Register Example:
Website Redesign

A completed risk register detailing both initial analysis and response planning for a corporate website overhaul, featuring 15 identified risks and opportunities.

5 min read 2 sections Example

Project: Mary's Consulting - New Company Website Date Prepared: Aug 15, 2026 Drawn: KEVOS®

In this example:

Identification & Initial Analysis
Response Plan & Monitoring

§1Identification & Initial Analysis

Outputs from identifying risks and performing qualitative risk analysis. Probability and Impact are each scored from 1 to 5. The total score is computed as Probability multiplied by the maximum Impact observed across the four core objectives.

ID	Category	Risk Statement	Owner	P	Impact				Score	Level	Response Strategy
ID	Category	Risk Statement	Owner	P	Sc	Qu	Sch	Co	Score	Level	Response Strategy
R-01	Technical	CRM API integration may be more complex than expected, delaying lead-form go-live.	Bob (Dev)	3	2	2	4	3	12	Med-High	Mitigate
R-02	Technical	WCAG 2.1 AA audit may surface Severity-1 findings late in the project, requiring rework.	Bill (UX)	3	1	5	3	3	15	High	Mitigate
R-03	External	Frontend contractor may be unavailable when needed, delaying frontend build.	Andrew (PM)	2	1	1	3	2	6	Low	Mitigate
R-04	Organisational	Sponsor (Mary) may delay design approval beyond planned 5-day window, slipping the design milestone (M04).	Andrew (PM)	4	1	1	4	2	16	Critical	Mitigate
R-05	Organisational	Consultants (500+) may not provide bios on time, delaying directory and content launch.	Christine	4	4	4	2	1	16	Critical	Mitigate
R-06	Organisational	Bob, Bill, or Christine may take an unplanned absence (illness, family) during build phase.	Andrew (PM)	2	1	2	4	3	8	Medium	Mitigate
R-07	External	Hosting/CMS vendor outage during cutover (A038) could prevent Go-Live.	Bob (Dev)	1	1	1	5	1	5	Low	Transfer/Mitigate
R-08	External	Legal/Compliance review may identify GDPR or privacy issues late, blocking launch.	Andrew (PM)	2	2	3	3	2	6	Low	Mitigate
R-09	Project Mgmt	Effort estimates for build activities (A024, A025) may be optimistic, exceeding the cost baseline.	Andrew (PM)	3	1	1	2	4	12	Med-High	Accept (active)
R-10	Technical	Site performance may not meet LCP < 2.5s target on image-heavy pages (case studies, directory).	Bob (Dev)	3	1	4	2	2	12	Med-High	Mitigate
R-11	Organisational	Marketing Lead may want to expand scope post-design approval (e.g., add a careers section).	Andrew (PM)	4	4	1	3	3	16	Critical	Mitigate
R-12	Organisational	FY2026 budget pressure could reduce the project's funding mid-stream.	Mary (Sponsor)	1	5	2	5	5	5	Low	Avoid (Sponsor-managed)
R-13	Project Mgmt	IT/Hosting Operations may not be ready to accept handoff at Go-Live, leaving the PM team holding production support.	Andrew (PM)	3	1	2	1	3	9	Medium	Mitigate
R-14	Opportunity	Consultants featured in case studies may proactively share the new site, providing free marketing reach.	Marketing Lead	4	1	1	1	-2	8	Medium	Enhance
R-15	Opportunity	WCAG 2.1 AA compliance may attract clients who require accessibility-compliant vendors (gov, healthcare, education).	Sales Lead	3	1	1	1	-3	9	Medium	Exploit

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§2Response Plan & Monitoring

Outputs from continuous monitoring routines. The 'Residual Score' represents the risk exposure after the response plan is implemented. Negative cost values outline calculated realisable opportunity.

ID	Action Plan	Responsible Party	Trigger / Symptom	Resid. P	Resid. Score	Status	Comments
R-01	Schedule a 4-hour CRM-vendor technical call in week 1 of Build (Aug 17). Build a parallel test harness against CRM sandbox. If > 1-week delay risk, fall back to email-form submission with manual CRM entry for launch.	Bob (Dev)-primary; Marketing Lead secondary	API discovery during A025 reveals missing fields or undocumented behaviour.	2	4	Mitigating	Vendor call booked Aug 18.
R-02	Build accessibility checks into the component library (A023). Run automated a11y linting on every PR. Conduct an internal accessibility review at A024 completion (Sep 30) before the formal audit.	Bill (UX); Bob ensures linter in CI	Audit report identifies Sev-1 findings.	2	4	Mitigating	Internal pre-audit booked Oct 1.
R-03	Sign frontend SOW by July 1, 2026. Identify a backup contractor from approved-supplier list (already done: Vendor X). Pre-pay 25% to lock contractor schedule.	Andrew (PM); Procurement	Contractor declines or doesn't respond to SOW by Aug 5.	1	2	Closed	SOW signed June 28.
R-04	Pre-book a 2-hour design review on Mary's calendar for Aug 5 — confirmed with EA. Send an executive summary preview 1 week in advance. Bill presents in person; PM facilitates same-day decisions.	Andrew (PM)	> 5 business days elapse between design submission and Mary's response.	2	4	Mitigating	Calendar booked.
R-05	Mary sends a firm-wide kickoff email setting the expectation. Provide a 10-minute self-service form (instead of an interview). Tier the rollout: top 50 consultants at launch, remainder added in batches post-launch. Recognition in case studies for early submitters.	Christine; supported by Mary's email	< 50% bio response rate by week 2 of A016.	3	6	Mitigating	Firm-wide email scheduled June 15.
R-06	Document architecture, design system, and content pipeline so anyone can pick up. Cross-train: Bob shadows Bill on accessibility; Christine shadows Bill on content design. Identify backup contractors who can be onboarded in ≤ 1 week.	Andrew (PM); each team member	Team member unavailable for > 5 consecutive business days.	2	4	Mitigating	Documentation in progress.
R-07	Contractually require 99.5% SLA from vendor. Schedule cutover Tue-Thu (not Mon/Fri) to allow vendor support. Document rollback to legacy site (DNS revert) tested in advance.	Bob (Dev); IT/Hosting Operations	Vendor status page shows incident on cutover day.	1	2	Mitigating	Cutover tentatively Tue Nov 24.
R-08	Engage Legal at requirements (A006) and design (A011) before build. Use the firm's standard cookie-consent/privacy-policy template. Schedule a Legal sign-off 4 weeks before launch.	Andrew (PM); Legal	Legal flags any Sev-1 issue in the privacy review.	1	1	Mitigating	Legal joined kickoff.
R-09	Hold $15,000 contingency reserve specifically for this risk pool. Track CPI weekly during build phase. Trigger management reserve request if CPI < 0.9 for 2 consecutive weeks.	Andrew (PM)	EAC trends > BAC at any phase gate.	3	6	Open	Watch CPI weekly.
R-10	Implement image-CDN with auto-resize from build start. Lazy-load all below-fold imagery. Performance budget enforced in CI (fail build if LCP > 2.5s).	Bob (Dev)	Performance test (A030) shows 75th-percentile LCP > 2.5s.	2	4	Mitigating	CDN selected.
R-11	Documented scope-statement exclusions reviewed at Marketing kickoff. Any scope-add goes through formal change-control (no exceptions). Maintain a 'Phase 2 backlog' so good ideas have a home without disrupting Phase 1.	Andrew (PM); Marketing Lead	Any scope-add request from Marketing Lead post-M04.	3	3	Mitigating	Phase 2 backlog established.
R-12	Sponsor secured first-call on FY2026 funding. Quarterly tranche release confirmed. PM reports on benefits early to maintain executive support.	Mary (Sponsor)	CFO communicates budget reallocation.	1	1	Closed	Sponsor confirmed June 1.
R-13	Engage IT/Hosting Ops at architecture review (Aug 5). Draft runbooks during build, not at end. Joint cutover rehearsal Nov 17 (1 week before Go-Live).	Andrew (PM); IT/Hosting Operations	IT raises concerns about runbooks or monitoring in late October.	2	2	Mitigating	IT engaged at kickoff.
R-14	Provide pre-written social-share copy to featured consultants. Recognise sharing leaders in the firm's all-hands meeting. Track referral traffic in analytics.	Marketing Lead; Christine	Launch announcement.	4	12	Open	Social-share kit drafted.
R-15	Sales Lead develops WCAG-compliance messaging post-audit. Landing page on the new site for accessibility-first prospects. Add accessibility credentials to RFP responses.	Sales Lead; Marketing Lead	Audit pass + sales messaging update.	3	12	Open	Sales briefed.

Mitigation Tracking

Risk statuses naturally shift from 'Open' to 'Mitigating' to 'Closed'. Ensure ongoing oversight of mitigation actions at every stage gate review.

Residual Acceptability

Review any risk where the residual score remains elevated. It may require an executive management reserve to handle in the case of realisation.

Opportunity Enhancement

Negative impacts denote opportunities. Strategy focus shifts to 'Enhance' or 'Exploit', maximising project returns where possible.