Customize the Risk Matrix

About Customizing a Risk Matrix

You can customize the Risk Matrix that appears in the Risk Assessment window throughout APM. You can do so by modifying values in the corresponding Risk Matrix record and the records to which it is linked.

You can modify the baseline Risk Matrix record without creating a completely new one, or you can make a copy of the baseline Risk Matrix and customize the copy. Note that only one Risk Matrix record can be specified as the default.

If a Risk Matrix has been used by a module in APM, the values in the following fields in the Risk Matrix record cannot be modified:

  • Currency
  • Use Maximum Risk Rank
  • Use Aliases?
  • Alias Format Mask

In addition, you will not be able to add or remove probabilities or consequences from the Risk Matrix.

Change the Axis on which Values Appear

About This Task

On the baseline Risk Matrix, values in Consequence records appear on the x-axis, and values in Probability records appear on the y-axis. If desired, you can flip the axes for these families so that values in Probability records appear on the x-axis and values in Consequence records appear on the y-axis.

When you modify the axis setting for one family, the axis setting for the other family is updated automatically to the opposite axis setting. In other words, if you specify that values in Consequence records should appear on the y-axis instead of the x-axis, the axis setting for values in Probability records will automatically appear on the x-axis instead of the y-axis.

Procedure

  1. Access the Risk Matrix record for the Risk Matrix that you want to modify.
  2. On the Risk Matrix Layout datasheet, select
  3. In the Consequence Axis or Probability Axis lists, select the axis on which you want to view the family.
    The axis setting for the family whose option you did not change is updated automatically to display the opposite axis.
  4. Select .
    Your changes are saved.

Change the Order in Which Consequence or Probability Values Appear

About This Task

In the baseline Risk Matrix, consequence values appear in ascending order from left to right, and probability values appear in descending order from top to bottom. You can change the sort order for one or both of these families.

Procedure

  1. Access the Risk Matrix record for the Risk Matrix that you want to modify.
  2. On the Risk Matrix Layout datasheet, select
  3. In the Consequence Sort Order or Probability Sort Order box, select the sort order that you want to apply: Ascending or Descending.
  4. Select .
    The order of the consequence or probability values has been changed.

Unlock the Mitigated Consequence

About This Task

By default, the baseline Risk Matrix is configured to lock the mitigated consequence. This means that for mitigated risk assessments, you will be able to modify only the probability value. You will not be able to modify the consequence value.

Procedure

  1. Access the Risk Matrix record for the Risk Matrix that you want to modify.
  2. On the Risk Matrix Layout datasheet, select
  3. Clear the Lock Mitigated Consequence check box.
  4. Select .
    Your changes are saved, and when you view the Risk Matrix via the Risk Assessment window, you will be able to change the probability value or the consequence value in mitigated risk assessments.

Disable the Not Applicable Check Box

About This Task

In some cases, you might want to disable the Not Applicable check box (which appears on each tab of the Risk Matrix) so that Risk Matrix users cannot select it. For example, your company might have a policy that requires risk to always be evaluated rather than allowing people to bypass the risk assessment process.

Note: The process of disabling the Not Applicable check box requires you to create a disabled rule on the Not Applicable field in the Risk Rank family. Because this field is used to display the Not Applicable check box on all tabs of all Risk Matrices, it will be disabled everywhere that any Risk Matrix is displayed.

Procedure

  1. Using the Rules editor, in the Risk Rank family, create a disabled rule on the Not Applicable field. You can create the rule such that the check box is always disabled, or you can create a more complex rule that causes the check box to become disabled only under certain conditions (for example, after the risk rank is set to anything higher than 100).
  2. Save the family.
  3. Compile the family.

    The Not Applicable check box will now be disabled on all tabs of all Risk Matrices.

Hide the Probability and Consequence Names

About This Task

In the baseline Risk Matrix, Probability and Consequence names appear as row and column headers in the Risk Matrix. If necessary, you can hide the Consequence and Probability names.

Procedure

  1. Access the Risk Matrix record for the Risk Matrix from which you want to hide Consequence and Probability names.
  2. In the Risk Matrix Layout datasheet, select
  3. In the Appearance section, select the Hide Probability and Consequence Names check box.
  4. Select .
    Your changes are saved. The next time the Risk Matrix is displayed, the Consequence and Probability names will be hidden from the column and row headings, as shown in the following image.

Display Custom Values in the Risk Matrix

About This Task

In the baseline Risk Matrix, numeric values appear in each cell in a Risk Matrix. You can hide these numeric values and then use the Use Aliases? option to display aliases in place of the numeric values. For example, instead of the value 1, you could display the alias value Credible - Low.

Procedure

  1. Access the Risk Matrix record for the Risk Matrix that you want to modify.
  2. On the Risk Matrix Layout datasheet, select
  3. Select the Hide Numeric Risk Rank? check box.
    At this point, if you were to save the Risk Matrix, the numeric risk rank values would be hidden as shown in the following image.

  4. Select the Use Maximum Risk Rank check box. This causes the total risk rank value to be the maximum risk rank across all categories (tabs) versus the sum of all risk rank values. This box must be selected in order to use enable the Use Aliases? check box.
  5. Select the Use Aliases? check box.
  6. Select
  7. Access the Consequence and Probability records linked to the Risk Matrix record.
  8. In the Alias field in each Consequence and Probability record, specify the custom values that you want to appear.
  9. Save all changes.
    The specified alias values will appear in the cells of the associated Risk Matrix.

Show the Unmitigated Financial Impact for Each Risk Category

About This Task

The Unmitigated Financial Impact value, stored in Risk Rank records, specifies the estimated monetary value attributed to a specific Risk category. On the baseline Risk Matrix, the Unmitigated Financial Impact value is not displayed by default. These steps describe how to show this value on the Risk Matrix.

Procedure

  1. Access the Risk Matrix record for the Risk Matrix for which you want to show the Unmitigated Financial Impact.
  2. In the Risk Matrix Layout datasheet, in the Appearance section, select the Show Financial Impact check box.
  3. Select .
    Your changes are saved. The next time the Risk Matrix is displayed, the Unmitigated Financial Impact box appears on each category section.
    Note: The value in the Unmitigated Financial Impact box is a calculated value and cannot be modified.

Change the Financial Precision of the Risk Matrix

About This Task

The Financial Precision value, stored in Risk Matrix records, specifies the number of decimal places to display when rendering financial values in a Risk Matrix. If no Financial Precision value is specified, a Financial Precision of 2 (for example, 1.00) will be used. These steps describe how to change the Financial Precision of a Risk Matrix.

Procedure

  1. Access the Risk Matrix record for the Risk Matrix for which you want to change the Financial Precision.
  2. In the Risk Matrix Layout datasheet, in the Appearance section, enter a value in the Financial Precision field.
  3. Select .
    The Financial Precision for the selected Risk Matrix is saved.

Define a Template for Displaying Risk Values

About This Task

If you have decided to display custom values in the Risk Matrix, you can create a template that will determine how values will be displayed in individual cells and on the tab labels.

For example, suppose your custom aliases appear in the Risk Matrix like this:

You can see that the risk value in each cell is a combination of the row alias and column alias, without a delimiter. You can also see that the selected risk value is reflected on the tab label. For instance, at the intersection of the Probable E row and the Very Low 1 column, you see the value E1, which is also displayed on the tab label.

You could change this so that the risk values use a delimiter, such as a dash, so you would see E-1 instead of E1.

Procedure

  1. Access the Risk Matrix record for the Risk Matrix for which you want to specify how risk values will be displayed.
  2. In the Risk Matrix Layout datasheet, make sure the Use Maximum Risk Rank and Use Aliases? boxes are checked.
  3. In the Alias Format Mask box, enter a formula that represents the format in which you want risk values to be displayed, using any combination of the following parameters, with or without delimiters:
    • {c}: The alias for the column (specified in the Alias field in the corresponding Consequence record).
    • {r}: The alias for the row (specified in the Alias field in the corresponding Probability record).
    • {t}: The alias for the risk threshold (specified in the Alias field in the corresponding Risk Threshold record).

    For example, suppose you want risk values to be displayed using the format <row alias> - <column alias>. In other words, if the row alias is E and the column alias is 1, you want the risk value will be displayed as E-1. In this case, you would type the following formula in the Alias Format Mask box: {r}-{c}

  4. Select .
    The template has been defined.

Create System Codes for a Consequence or Probability Label

Procedure

  1. Access the Risk Matrix Admin Page.
  2. Select System Codes and Tables.
    The System Codes and Tables page appears.

  3. In the System Tables list, select the Consequence Label or Probability Label System Code Table that you want to modify.
    The details of the System Code Table appear in the System Code Table page.

  4. In the System Code Table page, under System Code, select .
    The Create System Code window appears.

  5. Enter values in the ID and Description boxes, and then select Save.
    The System Code is created.
    Note: You must log off from APM, and then log in again for the System Codes that you created to appear in the Probability Label or Consequence Label drop down list box in the Risk Matrix Layout datasheet.

Specify the Consequence or Probability Label For a Risk Matrix

Procedure

  1. Access the Risk Matrix record for the Risk Matrix for which you want to specify the consequence or probability label.
  2. In the Risk Matrix Layout datasheet, in the Appearance section, select a value from the Consequence Label or Probability Label drop down list box.
  3. Select .
    The consequence or probability label for the Risk Matrix is saved.
    Note: You must log off from APM, and then log in again to implement the changes in Risk Matrix.