Patent ID: 7698148

Claim:
A method of managing risk related to a successful completion of a development project, comprising: storing a probability of occurrence (Pf) table, a severity of consequence (Cf) table, and identified risks in a shared risk database, said Pf table having a plurality of risk categories for the development project, each said category having a plurality of table entries corresponding to different numeric Pf ratings, each entry including a standardized qualitative probability definition associated with the Pf rating wherein the standardized quality probability definition is specific to each category; providing a risk management tool implemented on a computer, said tool providing an interface to formulate an enterprise search of the risk database and performing the search to identify at least one risk; for each identified risk, displaying the Pf table to prompt a user to select the one or more risk categories and for each said selected category to select the qualitative probability definition that characterizes the risk thereby specifying a probability of occurrence Pf for each said selected risk category for said at least one risk; and for each identified risk, displaying the Cf table to prompt the user to select at least one severity of consequence Cf, said tool combining the selected Pf and Cf to calculate a risk factor Rf for each identified risk; formulating a risk mitigation plan including at least one mitigation activity for said at least one risk, said tool calculating an associated risk exposure for said risk mitigation plan based on the probability of occurrence Pf and severity of consequence Cf for said at least one risk; performing the at least one mitigation activity for said at least one risk to implement the risk mitigation plan; as the risk mitigation plan is implemented over time, said tool displaying the Pf and Cf tables to prompt a user to reassess the at least one risk and select Pf and Cf, said tool updating the prioritized risk factor Rf; said tool recalculating the risk exposure for the updated risk factors and displaying a chart of the risk exposure versus time as mitigation activities are performed and risk factors updated; and adjusting the mitigation plan based on the risk exposure.