Risk Analysis Calculator

The Risk Analysis calculator determines how the change affects business critical services. It uses the change category, the estimated effort, and a group of questions to determine the risk level of the change.

The Risk Analysis calculator appears on the Risk tab of an RFC. The risk level is determined to be either Low, Medium, or High based on the above criteria. The default ranges are: Low is less than or equal to 20; Medium is 21 to 40; High is greater than 40.

Note: Total Risk Score contains the summation of the weighted answers to the survey.

On the Risk tab, the risk level is only displayed when the Risk Analysis Completed field is set to Yes. This ensures that users have answered the risk survey before calculating the risk level. If the risk survey has not been completed and Risk Analysis Completed remains set to No, the risk level displays Questionnaire Not Completed.

Tip: When creating a report to show high risk items, remember to include both items that have a high Total Risk Score and items that have a change category set as Major and their Risk Analysis Completed field set as No. Items without a completed risk survey will show a lower overall risk level since the risk level sums the survey responses and a null response is given a weight of zero.
The following are the default questions and weighted answers (default weights) in the Risk Analysis questionnaire:
  1. Does the change affect business-critical services?
    • High Impact: Service temporarily unavailable / major changes (10)
    • Low Impact: Small upgrade, some features temporarily unavailable (5)
    • No Impact (0)
  2. Does the change affect major IT infrastructure components?
    • High Impact: Components taken offline / major service impact (10)
    • Minor upgrade or temporary performance degradation (5)
    • No Impact (0)
  3. Will the change be tested prior to implementation in a development or test environment?
    • Yes (3)
    • No (7)
  4. Is the implementation well understood and documented?
    • This process has been done in the past and is repeatable (0)
    • This process is similar to one done in the past (5)
    • This is a completely new process or implementation (10)
  5. What is the implementation time? (This field is set automatically based on the value entered in the Estimated Effort field for the change request. It can also be manually modified by choosing a selection in the list. The Estimated Effort field appears on the Implementation tab for a change request. This tab appears when approving a change.)
    • 4 hrs or less (0)
    • 4 hrs to less than 1 day (5)
    • More than 1 day (10)
  6. What is the change complexity? (This field is set automatically based on the value of the Change Category field.)
    • Minor (0)
    • Significant (5)
    • Major (10)