How to Make a Risk Management Plan (Template Included)

You identify them, record them, monitor them and plan for them: risks are an inherent part of every project. Some project risks are bound to become problem areas—like executing a project over the holidays and having to plan the project timeline around them. But there are many risks within any given project that, without risk assessment and risk mitigation strategies, can come as unwelcome surprises to you and your project management team.

That’s where a risk management plan comes in—to help mitigate risks before they become problems. But first, what is project risk management?

What Is a Risk Management Plan?

A risk management plan defines how the project’s risk management process will be executed. That includes the budget, tools and approaches that will be used to perform risk identification, assessment, mitigation and monitoring activities.

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A risk management plan describes all the activities that will be taken throughout the process of managing project risks. Project risk management activities can be grouped into the following categories:

Risk Planning: Before risks can be managed, the overall approach must be defined. The risk management plan establishes the methodologies, roles, responsibilities, budget allocation and timing for all risk management activities throughout the project life cycle.
Risk Identification: The first step to managing project risks is to identify them. The risk management plan explains the tools and data sources, such as information from past projects or subject matter experts’ opinions to estimate all the potential risks that can impact the project.
Risk Assessment: Once the project risks are identified, they need to be prioritized by looking at their likelihood and level of impact. In most cases, the risk management plan includes a risk assessment matrix to do so.
Risk Mitigation: Now it’s time to create a contingency plan with risk mitigation actions to manage your project risks. You also need to define which team members will be risk owners, responsible for monitoring and controlling risks.
Risk Control: Once risk mitigation responses are in place, they must be actively controlled. The risk management plan describes how risk responses will be executed, evaluated for effectiveness and adjusted as project conditions or risk exposure change.
Risk Monitoring: Risks must be monitored throughout the project life cycle so that they can be controlled. The risk management plan describes the procedures, tools and techniques to monitor the occurrence and mitigation of project risks.
Risk Ownership: To ensure accountability, risks must be assigned to specific team members. The risk management plan defines risk owners and outlines their responsibilities for tracking, monitoring and implementing approved risk response actions.
Risk Reporting: Risk information must be shared clearly and consistently with stakeholders. The risk management plan describes how risks will be reported, escalated and communicated to support timely awareness and informed decision-making.

Even one risk can jeopardize the entire project plan. There isn’t usually just one risk per project, either; there are many risk categories that require assessment and discussion with stakeholders. That’s why risk management needs to be both a proactive and reactive process that is constant throughout the project life cycle.

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For example, it’s easy to create a risk register using online project management software. Use the risk list view on ProjectManager to capture all project risks, add their priority level and assign a team member to identify and resolve them. Then manage those risks alongside detailed project plans with in-depth data.

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What Is the Purpose of a Risk Management Plan?

The purpose of a risk management plan in project management is to define how risks will be systematically identified, analyzed, prioritized, responded to and monitored throughout the project lifecycle.

It establishes a consistent approach to managing uncertainty, protects project objectives related to scope, schedule, cost and quality, and supports informed decision-making by clarifying risk ownership, thresholds and response strategies. While its primary role is project-focused, it can also support broader organizational risk awareness when projects operate in complex or regulated environments.

When to Use a Risk Management Plan

A risk management plan originated in project management, where it formalizes how risks are identified, analyzed, prioritized and addressed to protect project objectives. Over time, its structured, repeatable approach proved valuable beyond projects.

Today, organizations use risk management plans whenever uncertainty must be managed deliberately, including operations, construction, IT, finance and compliance.

Project risk management plan: Defines how project-specific risks are identified, assessed and managed to protect scope, schedule, cost and quality objectives throughout the project lifecycle.
Business risk management plan: Addresses operational and strategic risks affecting ongoing business activities, focusing on continuity, process stability, compliance and performance rather than time-bound deliverables.
Enterprise risk management plan: Provides an organization-wide framework to identify, assess and govern risks aligned with strategic objectives, risk appetite and executive-level decision-making.
Financial risk management plan: Focuses on identifying and mitigating risks related to budgets, cash flow, funding, pricing and financial exposure that could impact organizational or project viability.
IT risk management plan: Manages risks related to information systems, cybersecurity, data integrity and system availability, emphasizing controls, incident response and technology resilience.

In these contexts, the plan provides a consistent framework for anticipating threats, evaluating exposure, defining response strategies and monitoring risk over time, even when no project timeline exists.

Free Risk Management Plan Template

This free risk management plan template will help prepare your team for any risks inherent in the project. This Word document includes sections for your risk management methodology, risk register, risk breakdown structure and more. It’s so thorough, you’re sure to be ready for whatever comes your way. Download the template today.

Risk management plan template ProjectManager — Risk management plan template Free download

What Should Be Included in a Risk Management Plan?

Making a risk management plan is essential for identifying, analyzing and responding to risks that could affect a project’s success. For a risk management plan to be effective, it should include certain key components. A risk management plan usually includes the following sections.

Risk Management Methodology

A risk management methodology defines the structured approach a project uses to identify, analyze, respond to and monitor risks. It establishes the tools, techniques and data sources used to evaluate uncertainty, assess probability and impact, and determine appropriate responses.

In a risk management plan, the risk management methodology section explains how risk activities will be performed on the project. It documents the tools, techniques and documentation to be used for risk identification, analysis and prioritization so stakeholders understand how risks are managed. This section ensures risk management is repeatable, aligned with organizational standards and applied consistently throughout the project life cycle execution.

Risk Identification Techniques

Risk identification techniques are systematic methods used to recognize potential problems, uncertainties, or threats that could impact a project’s objectives. By proactively identifying risks, project teams can assess their likelihood and impact, prioritize responses and develop mitigation strategies. These techniques help ensure that risks are managed before they escalate, supporting smoother project execution and informed decision-making.

Brainstorming: Collaborative sessions where team members generate a list of potential risks, encouraging diverse perspectives and creative thinking.
Delphi Technique: Experts anonymously provide risk input in multiple rounds, refining ideas until consensus is reached, reducing bias from dominant voices.
SWOT Analysis: Evaluates internal strengths and weaknesses and external opportunities and threats to identify areas of potential risk.
Checklists: Uses predefined lists of common risks based on previous projects or industry standards to ensure nothing is overlooked.
Root Cause Analysis: Investigates underlying causes of potential problems, identifying risks by understanding what could trigger failures or obstacles.

Risk Scoring and Prioritization Tools

Risk scoring assigns numerical or qualitative values to identified risks based on their probability of occurrence and potential impact. Risk prioritization then ranks these risks to determine which require the most immediate attention and resources. In a PMI-aligned risk management plan, scoring and prioritization are critical for focusing mitigation and response strategies on high-priority risks.

By systematically evaluating each risk, project teams can allocate resources efficiently, monitor critical threats and integrate response actions into project schedules, budgets and decision-making, ensuring alignment with PMBOK principles for proactive and structured risk management.

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Organizational Risk Tolerance or Risk Appetite

Organizational risk tolerance, or risk appetite, defines the level and type of risk an organization is willing to accept in pursuit of its objectives. In a risk management plan, understanding this threshold guides decision-making, prioritizes risk responses and ensures that mitigation strategies align with the organization’s strategic goals, helping project teams manage uncertainties without exceeding acceptable risk levels.

Risk acceptance criteria: Define when a risk can be accepted without further mitigation, ensuring decisions stay within organizational tolerance, align with project objectives and are formally documented.
Risk exposure thresholds: Set the maximum impact or likelihood a risk can reach before action is required, helping teams prioritize responses, allocate resources effectively and stay aligned with risk appetite.

Risk Reporting Guidelines and Documentation

Risk reporting is the systematic process of communicating identified risks, their status, potential impact and mitigation measures to project stakeholders. Within a risk management plan, risk reporting ensures transparency, enables informed decision-making, supports proactive risk response and tracks the effectiveness of mitigation strategies throughout the project lifecycle, keeping stakeholders aligned and facilitating timely escalation of critical issues.

Popular risk reporting documents include:

Risk Register: A centralized document listing all identified risks, their probability, impact, mitigation strategies and ownership, updated throughout the project to track risk status.
Issue Log: Tracks current problems affecting the project, linking them to identified risks, documenting resolutions and ensuring accountability and timely corrective action.
RAID Log: Captures Risks, Assumptions, Issues and Dependencies, providing a holistic view of project uncertainties and facilitating structured reporting and management.
Risk Heat Map: Visual representation of risks by probability and impact, helping stakeholders quickly identify high-priority risks requiring attention.
Risk Status Report: Periodic report summarizing active risks, progress on mitigation actions, changes in risk exposure and emerging threats to keep stakeholders informed.

Risk Register

A risk register is a chart to document the risk identification information. It serves as a centralized repository that captures and tracks all identified risks throughout the project life cycle. This provides a comprehensive overview, systematic tracking, prioritization of critical risks, stakeholder engagement and more.

Risk tracking template Excel — Risk tracking template Free download

Risk Response Plan

A risk response plan is a project management document that explains the risk mitigation strategies that will be employed. Its purpose is to proactively manage uncertainties, reduce potential impacts on project goals, and ensure preparedness. By assigning responsibilities, defining timelines, and outlining procedures, the plan provides a clear, structured approach to maintaining control and keeping the project on track.

This plan enables project teams to anticipate and address potential issues before they escalate, reducing delays, cost overruns, and quality problems. It ensures that risks are managed systematically rather than reactively, improves decision-making, aligns stakeholder expectations, and provides a documented framework for accountability. Ultimately, it helps protect project objectives and supports smoother, more predictable project execution.

Risk mitigation strategies: Proactive actions designed to reduce the likelihood or impact of identified risks. In a risk management plan, these strategies help minimize disruptions, protect project objectives, guide resource allocation, support contingency planning and provide structured responses to uncertainty before risks escalate.
Risk management roles and responsibilities: Define who identifies, owns, monitors and responds to risks throughout the project. Clearly assigned responsibilities—from the project manager and risk owners to stakeholders and support teams—ensure accountability, consistent risk oversight and effective execution of risk response actions.

Risk Management Budget

Have a section to identify the funds required to perform risk management activities. This financial plan will allocate resources specifically for identifying, assessing and managing risks within a project. The budget ensures there’s enough funding available to implement risk management strategies and mitigate negative impacts on project objectives.

Risk Breakdown Structure

This is a chart that identifies risk categories and the hierarchical structure of project risks. It provides a structured risk identification, which makes it easier to analyze and manage risks. The risk breakdown structure also provides clear definitions and descriptions of risks at various levels, which helps the team to understand the nature and source of each risk. Risks can be prioritized more effectively, too.

Risk Assessment Matrix

A risk assessment matrix allows teams to analyze the likelihood and the impact of project risks so they can prioritize them.

Using a risk assessment matrix provides a visual representation of the relationship between the likelihood of risks occurring and their potential impact. It helps teams to focus on critical risks by categorizing them into different levels. The risk assessment matrix also facilitates communication to ensure everyone is aligned on risk prioritization.

Risk matrix assessment template Free download

How to Write a Risk Management Plan

For every web design and development project, construction project or product design, there will be risks. That’s the nature of project management. But that’s also why it’s always best to get ahead of them as much as possible by developing a risk management plan. We’ve outlined the steps to make a risk management plan below.

1. Risk Planning

You can’t create a risk management plan without understanding the overall risk planning approach. In other words, what methodologies, roles, responsibilities, budget allocation and timing will be used throughout the project life cycle? This information will set the foundation for the plan itself.

2. Risk Identification

Risk identification occurs at the beginning of the project planning phase, as well as throughout the project life cycle. While many risks are considered “known risks,” others might require additional research.

Create a risk breakdown structure to identify project risks and classify them into risk categories. You can do this by interviewing all project stakeholders and industry experts. Many project risks can be divided into risk categories, like technical or organizational, and listed out by specific sub-categories like technology, interfaces, performance, logistics, budget, etc. Additionally, create a risk register to share with everyone interviewed for a centralized location of all known risks revealed during the identification phase.

3. Risk Assessment

In this next phase, review the qualitative and quantitative impact of the risk—like the likelihood of the risk occurring versus the impact it would have on the project—and map that out into a risk assessment matrix

First, you’ll do this by assigning the risk likelihood a score from low probability to high probability. Then, map out the risk impact from low to medium to high and assign each a score. This provides an idea of how likely the risk is to impact project success as well as how urgent the response will need to be.

To make it efficient for all risk management team members and project stakeholders to understand the risk assessment matrix, assign an overall risk score by multiplying the impact level score by the risk probability score.

4. Risk Mitigation: Create a Risk Response Plan

A risk response is the action plan taken to mitigate project risks when they occur. The risk response plan includes risk mitigation strategies to mitigate the impact of project risks. Doing this usually comes with a price—at the expense of your time or your budget. So you’ll want to allocate resources, time and money for your risk management needs before creating the risk management plan.

5. Control & Monitor the Risk

As soon as the risk mitigation response has been established, it’s time to actively control any risks. In other words, how will the responses be executed, evaluated for effectiveness and altered as project conditions or risk exposure change?

6. Assign Risk Owners

Next, assign a risk owner to each project risk. Those risk owners become accountable for monitoring the risks assigned to them and supervising the execution of the risk response if needed.

Related: Risk Tracking Template

When creating the risk register and risk assessment matrix, list out the risk owners; that way, no one is confused as to who will need to implement the risk response strategies once the project risks occur, and each risk owner can take immediate action.

Be sure to record the exact risk response for each project risk with a risk register and have the risk response plan approved by all stakeholders before implementation. That way, there’s a record of the issue and the resolution to review once the project is finalized.

7. Understand Your Triggers

This can happen with or without a risk already having impacted the project, especially during project milestones as a means of reviewing project progress. If they have, consider reclassifying those existing risks.

Even if those triggers haven’t been met, it’s best to come up with a backup plan as the project progresses—maybe the conditions for a certain risk won’t exist after a certain point has been reached in the project.

8. Make a Backup Plan

Consider your risk register and risk assessment matrix a living document. Project risks can change in classification at any point, and because of that, come up with a contingency plan as part of the process.

Contingency planning includes discovering new risks during project milestones and reevaluating existing risks to see if any conditions for those risks have been met. Any reclassification of a risk means adjusting your contingency plan.

9. Measure Your Risk Threshold

Measuring your risk threshold is all about discovering which risk is too high and consulting with project stakeholders to consider whether or not it’s worth it to continue the project, worth it whether in time, money or scope.

Here’s how the risk threshold is typically determined: consider your risks that have a score of “very high”, or more than a few “high” scores, and consult with your leadership team and project stakeholders to determine if the project itself may be at risk of failure. Project risks that require additional consultation are risks that have passed the risk threshold.

To keep a close eye on risks as they arise in the project, use project management software. ProjectManager has real-time dashboards embedded in our tool, unlike other software that requires teams to manually build them. We automatically calculate the health of projects, checking if teams are on time or running behind. Get a high-level view of how much you’re spending, progress and more. The quicker the risk is identified, the faster you can resolve it.

10. Keep Stakeholders Informed

Stakeholders should always be aware of how risks are progressing and being handled throughout the project. The plan should note how risks are reported, escalated and communicated as needed.

Risk Management Plan Example

This risk management plan defines the approach used to identify, analyze, prioritize and manage risks for a multi-story residential parking garage construction project. The plan establishes consistent methods and thresholds to support proactive decision-making throughout the project lifecycle.