Engineering governance · Risk management

Engineering Risk Register

A consistent, evidence-led risk record for teams and engineering leadership. Capture the cause, uncertain event, impact, response, ownership and escalation conditions—not just a status colour.

Reusable templateOne record per risk · Cross-team ready

Risk identification

Identify the risk and the team accountable for it.

Risk ID

Team / product

Likelihood, impact and exposure

Use a consistent 1–5 scale across all teams.

Likelihood (1–5)

Impact (1–5)

Inherent risk score

9 / 25

Medium · Illustrative

Example bands: 1–4 Low, 5–14 Medium, 15–25 High. Adapt bands to your organisation’s risk policy.

Residual risk

Target date

Response plan

Describe prevention, recovery and the point at which leadership must act.

Mitigation

Contingency

Escalation trigger

Evidence / links

Scoring guide

Apply the same definitions consistently.

Likelihood

Rare — exceptional circumstances
Unlikely — not expected, but possible
Possible — may occur
Likely — expected in many circumstances
Almost certain — expected to occur

Impact

Negligible — minimal disruption
Minor — localised, manageable effect
Moderate — meaningful delivery or service impact
Major — significant customer, delivery or operational impact
Severe — critical business, customer, security or compliance impact

✓

Quality check

Before submitting the risk.

Statement identifies cause, event and impact A named owner is accountable Mitigation and contingency are distinct Residual risk is assessed after mitigation Escalation trigger and target date are clear Evidence links support the assessment

Example risk statement

Specific and actionable.

Dependency · Authentication integration Because the external identity provider has not confirmed its interface change, authentication integration may miss the release window, potentially delaying customer onboarding.

Avoid vague entries such as “Integration risk: amber.” State what may happen, why it may happen, and the consequence.

Risk register preview

Add completed records to build a simple cross-team register in this page.

Risk ID	Team / product	Category	Risk owner	Score	Residual risk	Target date	Risk statement
No risks added yet. Complete the form and select “Add to register”.

This is a browser-only template. Register entries are not saved to a server or retained after refresh. Export or connect to your organisation’s risk system for durable tracking.