Setting the Risk Level

Effective Change Management involves assessment of the risks involved with a change. The risk to the organization must be determined before authorizing a change. Any change has the potential for risk. The type of change plays a role in the type of risk assessment as well. A standard change, involving a single user, has a lower potential for risk than a significant change, involving a number of users. Risk assessment should be considered for:

• A single change.
• A group of changes implemented at the same time.
• Impact and conflicts to other scheduled changes and releases.

Risk assessment includes:

• Identifying high-impact, high-risk configuration items that could affect other configuration items and services in the organization.
• Analyzing the priority and value of the proposed change to IT.
• Analyzing the priority and value of the proposed change to the business.
• Weighing the business or organizational risk to the value of the change.

Risk is assessed by creating numerical data or quantitative analysis of the risk, or assessing the risk based on qualitative assessment of the risk and associating a number with that qualitative assessment.

This is achieved through a survey dedicated to change records.

You can configure questions that, when answered, determine the level of total risk associated with each change. Each question can have multiple answers to choose from. Each answer is assigned a specific number associated with risk analysis. If a change has five questions for example, and each question has two or more possible answers associated with it, the numerical equivalent of the answers are then totaled in order to provide a total numerical risk analysis to the change. This total risk analysis figure is helpful in determining the ultimate approval, denial, deferment, or cancellation of the change.

Change Managers can create a survey for each change to help determine the risk level. You can change your answers and immediately see how the risk level is affected.

Adding a Risk Level

The default risk levels are:.

Risk level	Weight
Low	0-33
Medium	34-66
High	67-100

You can modify these or add more levels if you want.

1.

Log into the Service Desk Console as Change Manager and open the Risk Level workspace.

2.

Click New. A blank Risk Level page appears.

3.

Enter information into the fields.

--fields--

Field	Description
Risk Level	A unique name for the risk level.
Min Point Max Point	The minimum and maximum number of points that can be awarded for this risk level. Adjust the values in the other risk level records accordingly. For example, for a med high risk level, you might want to enter a minimum value of 70. However, if the medium risk level maximum is 66 and the high risk level minimum is 67, then you need to adjust the values in both these records to accommodate the new risk level.
Sort Order	The numeric order of importance this level appears in the list. Adjust the sort order values in the other risk level records accordingly. For example, for a med high risk level, you might want to enter a sort order of 3. However, the high risk sort order is 3. You then need to adjust the sort order to 4 in the high record to accommodate the new risk level.

4.

Click Save from the toolbar.

Modifying the Risk Level Survey

The risk level survey appears in all change records, regardless of state. A list of survey questions and answers are provided with HEAT, but you can add, delete, or modify these to accommodate your organization.

1.

Log into the Service Desk Console as a Change Manager and open the Risk Calculator workspace. The list of default questions appears.

2.

Click Add Question. A blank question line appears at the bottom of the list.

• Double-click the line, enter your survey question, and enter the number of points to weight the question.
• A higher number gives a question more weight. To give equal weight to all questions, assign each question the same number of points.
• The points range is automatically reflected in the Risk Level pane.

3.

On the bottom pane, click Add Answer.

--or--

Next to a question, click Add Answer.

A blank answer line appears.

• Double-click the answer line, enter your answer, and enter the number of points to weight the answer.
• A higher number increases the risk level, whereas a lower number decreases the risk level. Zero does not affect the risk level.
• Repeat to add answers to the question.
• Optional. Check Default to assign an answer as the default for the question.

4.

Click Save from the toolbar.

• Repeat this procedure to add questions and answers to the risk level survey.
• To remove a question from the list, click Delete next to the question.
• The number of answers associated with a specific question appear under the Answers column on the same row as the question
• Click Preview to see how the risk level appears.

The Risk Level Pane

• To modify the range, click in the Low, Medium, or High fields in the Risk Level pane.
• The Total Points field shows the total from the Points column.

The risk level meter automatically adjusts to your answers.

The English value is shown by default, and appears when there is no localized content. When localized content is added, the first language used becomes the default.

To add localized content, do the following:

3.

Click Save from the toolbar.

Repeat this process to add content in other languages.