Probability times impact
Both run from Very low (1) to Very high (5). A score of 15 or more needs action now, 8 to 14 needs a plan, and below 8 you keep an eye on it.
Free template
Risk register template
One list of what could go wrong across your projects, scored by probability and impact, with an owner and a next step for every risk.
Free, no signup. Opens in Excel, Google Sheets and Numbers.
Imports asRisks and issues
What is in the template
Example data. Delete it before you add your own.
| Risk | Type | Category | Probability | Impact | Score | Status | Mitigation | Owner | Due date | Project |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The client signs off designs late, so the build starts late | Risk | Schedule | High | High | 16 | Mitigating | Fix review dates in the plan and send designs two days ahead | Sanne de Vries | 2026-10-16 | Website relaunch |
| Old content is messier than expected, so migration takes longer | Risk | Technical | Medium | High | 12 | Identified | Run a sample migration of 50 pages before the build ends | Amira El Idrissi | 2026-11-20 | Website relaunch |
| The contract developer leaves before launch | Risk | Resource | Low | High | 8 | Identified | Document the setup and pair Joris on the CMS work | Sanne de Vries | 2026-12-04 | Website relaunch |
| The sales team keeps using the old spreadsheets | Risk | Organizational | High | Medium | 12 | Mitigating | Make the old files read only on day one of the pilot | Tom Hendriks | 2026-11-27 | CRM rollout |
| Customer data holds many duplicates | Risk | Technical | Very high | Medium | 15 | Mitigating | Run a duplicate check and clean up before the import | Lisa Smit | 2026-11-13 | CRM rollout |
| CRM licence costs rise at renewal | Risk | Financial | Medium | Medium | 9 | Accepted | The budget holds a 10% buffer on licences | Tom Hendriks | 2027-02-26 | CRM rollout |
| The supplier API is not ready on time | Risk | External | Medium | Very high | 15 | Identified | Agree a test date with the supplier and plan a file export as fallback | Lisa Smit | 2027-01-15 | Data platform migration |
How to use it
Write each risk as cause and effect, for example "the client signs off late, so the build starts late".
Pick a probability and an impact from the dropdowns. The Score column multiplies them, from 1 to 25.
Give every risk one owner and a date for the next action. A risk without an owner does not get handled.
Review the list every two weeks. Close what is solved and set Type to Issue for risks that happened.
What each column means
- Risk
- What could happen, written as cause and effect: "the client signs off late, so the build starts late".
- Type
- Risk while it might happen, Issue once it does.
- Category
- What kind of risk it is.
- Probability
- How likely it is, from Very low to Very high.
- Impact
- How bad it would be, from Very low to Very high.
- Score
- Probability times impact, from 1 to 25. Calculated for you.
- Status
- Identified, Analyzing, Mitigating, Resolved or Accepted.
- Mitigation
- What you do to make it less likely or less bad.
- Owner
- The one person who makes sure the mitigation happens.
- Due date
- When the next action is due.
- Project
- The exact project name. The import uses it to put each row on the right project.
How to score a risk
Impact means money, time or quality
Score impact on what matters most for that project. A two week delay on a fixed price job costs margin, not just time.
Risks turn into issues
Once a risk happens it is an issue. Change Type to Issue so you stop scoring the chance of something that already happened, and track it in the issue log.
When one register stops being enough
A risk register works well for one project. Across ten projects you have ten files, and nobody notices that the same supplier shows up as a risk in four of them. In Vaizy every risk sits next to the milestones and budget it threatens, and you see all of them across projects in one view.
See risk management in VaizyImport it into Vaizy
Start a free trial and open the import dialog from the dashboard.
Drop in the file. Vaizy recognises the columns and maps them for you.
Check the preview and import. Nothing is saved until you confirm.
Names in Owner and Assigned to link to team members with the same name or email. Import your team first, or the import lists the names it could not match.
Start your free trialQuestions about this template
A list of the things that could hurt a project, with how likely each one is, how bad it would be, who owns it and what you will do about it.
A risk might happen. An issue is happening now. This template handles both with the Type column, so you can keep them in one file if you prefer.
Yes. The column names match what the Vaizy import expects, so the columns map themselves. Put the exact project name in the Project column and each risk lands on the right project.
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