Using the Risk Register

This guide covers daily risk management workflows in Simple Risk Register.

Understanding the interface

The Risk Register has two main views:

View	Best For
Heatmap	Visual prioritization, quick score updates, meeting discussions
Table	Detailed review, sorting, filtering, bulk operations

Switch between views using the Heatmap and Table tabs above the main content area.

Create your first risk

Open Risk Register from the project sidebar
Click Add Risk in the header
Complete the form:

Field	Required	Limit	Description
Title	Yes	200 chars	Brief, descriptive risk name
Description	No	1000 chars	Detailed explanation of the risk
Probability	Yes	1-5	Likelihood of the risk occurring
Impact	Yes	1-5	Severity if the risk materializes
Status	Yes	-	Open, Mitigated, or Closed
Owner	No	-	Person responsible for this risk
Mitigation Plan	No	1000 chars	Actions to reduce or eliminate the risk

Click Create Risk

Tips for good risk entries

Title: Be specific - “Database server failure” is better than “Technical risk”
Description: Include context, triggers, and potential consequences
Owner: Assign someone accountable for monitoring and mitigation
Mitigation Plan: Even for low risks, note any preventive measures

Work in Heatmap view

The heatmap is optimized for quick prioritization and visual risk assessment.

Understanding the heatmap

X-axis (horizontal): Impact (1-5, left to right)
Y-axis (vertical): Probability (1-5, bottom to top)
Colors: Severity levels (green=low, yellow=medium, orange=high, red=critical)
Dots/Cards: Individual risks positioned by their score

Drag and drop to update scores

Click and hold a risk card
Drag it to a new cell on the grid
Release to update the probability and impact values

The app automatically saves the new values and logs the change in history.

When to use the heatmap

Risk review meetings: Quick visual of risk distribution
Triage sessions: Drag risks to reprioritize based on discussion
Stakeholder presentations: Visual format is easy to understand
Identifying gaps: See if risks cluster in certain quadrants

Tip: If a risk title starts with an emoji (e.g. 🔥 Server overload), that emoji appears inside the heatmap dot instead of the numeric score — useful for quick visual tagging.

Work in Table view

The table view is optimized for detailed review and bulk management.

Table features

Sortable columns: Click column headers to sort
Adjustable page size: Choose 5, 10, 25, or 50 rows per page
Row actions: Each row has a menu (⋯) with Edit, Copy, and Delete
Selection: Checkboxes enable bulk operations

Available columns

Column	Description
Title	Risk name
Status	Open, Mitigated, or Closed
Probability	1-5 scale
Impact	1-5 scale
Score	Calculated (probability × impact)
Owner	Assigned user
Linked Issues	Count and links to Jira issues
Created	Creation timestamp

Click the ⋯ menu on any row to:

Edit: Open the risk form for updates
Copy: Copy the risk as formatted markdown
Delete: Remove the risk (with confirmation)

Filter risks

Use the filter bar above the content area to narrow the visible list.

Available filters

Filter	Operators	Values
Status	is, is not	Open, Mitigated, Closed
Risk Level	is, is not	Low, Medium, High, Critical
Owner	is, is not	Any project user with assigned risks

Using filters

Click a filter dropdown
Select an operator (is / is not)
Select a value
The list updates automatically

Clear filters

Click Clear All to reset all filters at once
Individual filters can be cleared by selecting “All” or the clear button

Bulk actions in table view

Select one or more rows to open the bulk action bar at the top of the table.

Selecting risks

Individual: Click the checkbox on any row
Select All: Click the checkbox in the header to select all visible rows
Clear Selection: Click “Clear Selection” in the bulk action bar

Available bulk actions

Action	Description
Set Probability	Update probability (1-5) for all selected risks
Set Impact	Update impact (1-5) for all selected risks
Set Status	Change status (Open/Mitigated/Closed)
Set Owner	Reassign owner for all selected risks
Delete	Remove all selected risks (with confirmation)
Copy as Markdown	Copy selected risks to clipboard as formatted text

Copy as Markdown

The Copy action formats selected risks as markdown for easy pasting into:

Confluence pages
Chat messages (Slack, Teams)
Email reports
Documentation

The markdown includes risk title, score, status, and key details in a readable format.

View risk details and history

Click any risk to open the detail dialog.

Details tab

Shows all risk information:

Title and description
Probability, impact, and calculated score
Current status
Owner (with avatar)
Mitigation plan
Linked Jira issues (with links to open them)

History tab

Shows a complete audit trail:

Event Type	What’s Tracked
Created	When and by whom
Field Updates	Old value → New value for each changed field
Issue Linked	Which issue was linked
Issue Unlinked	Which issue was removed

Each history entry includes:

Timestamp
User who made the change
Specific field changes

From the detail dialog

Edit: Update risk details
Delete: Remove the risk
Link/Unlink Issues: Manage Jira issue connections

Best practices

Regular review cadence

Frequency	Activity
Weekly	Review open risks in heatmap, update scores as needed
Bi-weekly	Full table review, close stale risks, update owners
Monthly	Export CSV snapshot, validate mitigation plans
Quarterly	Stakeholder review using heatmap visualization

Risk lifecycle

Identify: Create risk with initial assessment
Assess: Set probability and impact, assign owner
Mitigate: Document mitigation plan, link to Jira issues
Monitor: Review regularly, update scores as situation changes
Close: Mark as Mitigated or Closed when no longer relevant