How to Manage Risk Strategies

Who is this article for?

 Risk Managers responsible for managing risk assessments.

 Staff access to edit risk lists is needed.

Risk strategies in Q-Pulse Cloud outline how you will respond to a risk. Normally each response is assigned to a risk matrix cell to provide instructions to the risk assessor on what strategy should be employed to manage the risk.

To make strategy management easier to learn, this article is split into 7 sections so that you can either walk through the steps in sequence or you can jump to the section relevant to what you are doing in Q-Pulse Cloud:

1. Common Response Strategies
2. Create a New Strategy
3. Archive a Strategy
4. Reinstate an Archived Strategy
5. Delete a Strategy
6. Apply or Change a Strategy Applied to a Matrix
7. Further Reading

Looking to use your strategies to build a risk matrix? Visit our article on How to Create a Risk Matrix for more information.

1. Common Response Strategies

There is no right or wrong approach on how to respond to a risk. The response you choose will be based on the risk appetite of your organisation.

Definition: Risk appetite is the amount of risk that the organisation is willing to accept.

Common risk response strategies include:

• Avoid: Take strong steps to eliminate a risk.
• Accept: No steps are taken as the risk is considered negligible and the organisation can take the chance it will occur.
• Treat: Take steps to prevent or mitigate the impact or likelihood of the risk.
• Accept ALARP: The risk has already treated and the impact mitigated, therefore it has been accepted that the chance of the risk occurring is now as low as reasonably possible.
• Share: The impact is split with one or more parties (e.g. financial risk can be shared with an insurance policy).
• Enhance: The risk presents an opportunity and so steps are taken to increase the probability of it occurring or impact it has.
• Exploit: The risk is based on an uncertain situation and so steps are taken to make an uncertain situation certain.

Note: There is no limit to the number of responses you can create on Q-Pulse Cloud but each risk matrix cell can only have one management strategy applied.

2. Create a New Strategy

To create a new strategy:

1. Click on Risk and then Associated Lists.
2. Click on Strategies.
3. Click Add New Strategy.
4. Enter the name of your strategy.

5. Press Enter.
6. If required, you can enter a code and description in the properties pane.

3. Archive a Strategy

When a risk response strategy is no longer required it should be archived.

To archive a strategy:

1. Click on Risk and then Associated Lists.
2. Select Strategies.
3. Select the strategy you would like to archive.
4. Click on the archive button.

5. When prompted, click the option to proceed.

4. Reinstate an Archived Strategy

When a band has been archived it cannot be used in draft risk matrices. You can choose to reinstate archived bands so that they can continue to be used.

Note: Archived bands will be shown in grey italics.

To reinstate an archived band:

1. Click on Risk and then Associated Lists.
2. Click Strategies.
3. Select Include Archived.

4. Select the strategy you would like to reinstate.
5. Click on the re-instate button.

6. When prompted, click [Yes, Reinstate].

5. Delete a Strategy

Risk strategies can also be deleted. This will completely remove them from Q-Pulse Cloud.

Remember, deletion is permanent! If you are unsure, consider archiving your strategy instead.

To delete a strategy:

1. Click on Risk and then Associated Lists.
2. Click Strategies.
3. Select the strategy you would like to delete.
4. Click on the delete button.

5. When prompted, click the option to proceed.

6. Apply or Change a Strategy Applied to a Matrix

The risk cells are weighted based on the choices from each dimension and as a result will have their own score along with a banding and recommended strategy to respond to the risk.

Need to change the bands? Visit How to Manage Ratings Bands for details.

To apply bands and strategies:

1. Edit your matrix.
2. Click on a cell.
3. In the detail section, click on Risk Band.
4. Choose the band you would like to apply.

For more details please visit How to Create a Risk Matrix.

7. Further Reading

• How to Create a Risk Matrix
• How to Revise a Risk Matrix
• How to Manage Ratings Bands