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Risk Assessment Tools

Summary

The University of Massachusetts Systemwide ERM Program developed tools to assess risks with systemwide impacts, as well as risks with campus-specific impacts.

Risks are evaluated utilizing three factors:

  1. Likelihood: Could the Campus or University System experience this risk?
  2. Consequence: How much would the Campus or University System be impacted by this risk?
  3. Urgency: How soon does the Campus or University System need to prioritize this risk?

System Risk Assessment Tools

The University of Massachusetts Systemwide ERM Program's risk assessment tools focus on risks with systemwide impacts. The systemwide risk assessment tools assess the University system’s inherent exposure to risk, meaning the risk assessment process does not account for the implementation of mitigation strategies when evaluating inherent risk exposure. Evaluation of inherent risk provides the University with a baseline against which we can measure the impact of mitigation strategies (conducted through a separate risk mitigation assessment process).

Inherent risk is evaluated utilizing three factors:

  1. Likelihood: Could the University system experience this risk?
  2. Consequence: How much would the University system be impacted by this risk?
  3. Urgency: How soon does the University system need to prioritize this risk?

The product of the factors generates an Inherent Risk Score for each risk, and risks are then ranked based on the Inherent Risk Score.

Campus Risk Assessment Tools

Campus risk assessment tools focus on campus-specific risks and impacts. The campus risk assessment tools utilize three factors:

  1. Likelihood: Could the Campus experience this risk?
  2. Consequence: How much would the Campus be impacted by this risk?
  3. Urgency: How soon does the Campus need to prioritize this risk?

The product of the factors generates an Inherent Risk Score for each risk.

Risk Registry (PDF)