Supply Chain Optimisation Risk Register
This is a practical guide to building a risk register for a supply chain optimisation project — the living log of risks with scores, owners and responses, adapted to the realities of improving the efficiency and resilience of the supply chain.
What a Risk Register is
A risk register is the living log of risks with scores, owners and responses. For the full concept and how it works in general, see Risk Register. On a supply chain optimisation project it plays the same role, tuned to this kind of work.
Why it matters for a Supply Chain Optimisation project
Supply Chain Optimisation projects live or die on improving the efficiency and resilience of the supply chain. A well-built risk register gives the team a shared, explicit reference for exactly that — reducing ambiguity, aligning stakeholders, and making problems visible early enough to act. Skipping it, or doing it generically, is how supply chain optimisation projects drift into avoidable delay and cost.
What to include
- Risk description and category
- Probability and impact
- Risk score
- Owner
- Response and trigger
Supply Chain Optimisation-specific considerations
Tailor the risk register to the risks that most often derail supply chain optimisation projects:
- Data visibility
- Supplier coordination
- Change to established processes
Example
On a real supply chain optimisation project, the risk register would be shaped by improving the efficiency and resilience of the supply chain. In particular, it should explicitly account for the project’s biggest risks — data visibility, supplier coordination, change to established processes — rather than treating them as afterthoughts.