PMGT5887 Chap.11 Project Risk Cards, Registers and Response Plans
Project Risk Cards, Registers and Response Plans
Week 10 treats risk as something to manage continuously, and this chapter covers the full cycle. It starts with PMI's definition of a project risk as an uncertain event or condition that could affect objectives, separates threats from opportunities, and explains how likelihood and impact combine into a risk level.
A 5x5 heat map, coloured with the bands the unit's matrix uses, plots five risks for a festival ticketing app, and a worked register scores, ranks and responds to them. It explains the register's fields and benefits, the eight response strategies for threats and opportunities, and why accept appears on both sides.
It then covers risk cards as a workshop tool, the RiskyProject demonstration with its before-and-after scores, and the line between a risk and an issue. The chapter closes with generative AI across identification, assessment and monitoring, the four kinds of monitoring prompt in the slides, and the manual habits each prompt replaces. Each worked score shows both inputs so the band can be checked.
What this chapter covers
- 01
What a project risk is
- 02
Threats and opportunities
- 03
Likelihood, impact and the 5x5 matrix
- 04
Building and scoring a risk register
- 05
Response strategies for threats and opportunities
- 06
Risk cards and RiskyProject
- 07
Generative AI in risk monitoring
Worked example · free
Scoring three risks and choosing responses
- +1R1 scores 3 x 5 = 15, in the major band: mitigate with a trial migration and reconciliation checks.
- +1R2 scores 4 x 2 = 8, moderate: accept with a contingency, or transfer through late-delivery terms in the contract.
- +1R3 scores 4 x 3 = 12, a major opportunity: exploit it by placing the order this month.
Key terms
- Project Risk
- A possible future event or condition, not yet certain, that would affect the project's objectives if it happened.
- Opportunity
- A positive risk that could improve an outcome, such as finishing early or under budget.
- Risk Rating
- A risk's overall level, usually likelihood multiplied by impact.
- Risk Card
- A concise record of one risk with its title, likelihood, impact, rating, owner, response and status.
- Risk Transfer
- A threat response that shifts the impact to a third party, for example through insurance or a contract.
- Risk Owner
- The person responsible for monitoring a risk and making sure its response is carried out.
Project Risk Cards, Registers and Response Plans FAQ
How is a risk score calculated on a 5x5 matrix?
Multiply the likelihood rating by the impact rating, each from 1 to 5. On the unit's heat map, 1 to 3 is minor, 4 to 9 moderate, 10 to 16 major and 20 to 25 severe.
What are the response strategies for opportunities?
Exploit, enhance, share and accept. They mirror the threat responses of avoid, mitigate, transfer and accept, but they aim to raise the likelihood or the impact of a good outcome instead of lowering it.
What is the difference between a risk card and a risk register?
A card captures one risk for discussion, often on a workshop wall. A register holds every risk in one place with owners, responses, status and review dates.
How can generative AI help with risk management?
It can draft a register from past project data, flag emerging risks, rank risks by probability and impact, watch KPIs for anomalies and suggest mitigations, but every output still needs human review.
What is the difference between a risk and an issue?
A risk is uncertain and lies in the future; an issue has already happened. RiskyProject keeps risks, issues and lessons learned in separate lists, and a risk that occurs should become an issue on the register.
Assessment move
Draw the 5x5 grid from memory with its four bands and practise placing ten invented risks on it. Learn the eight responses as two mirrored lists. For each risk you score, write a response, an owner and a review date, because an answer without them reads as a list rather than a plan. Finish by writing one monitoring prompt for each of the four jobs in the slides.
Use your team's case study for practice: identify four risks, score them, place them on the matrix and choose responses, then compare your register with a teammate's. Disagreement about a score is useful, because it shows where the scale needs clearer wording before anyone relies on it.
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