Creating a Risk Register in Notion

12 April, 2022

How to create a Notion Risk Register using relation and rollups.

A Risk Register is a tool that assists in identifying, monitoring and responding to potential issues that may disrupt a project. It allows project managers to prioritise and plan for project obstacles before they occur.

The method in this blog post creates a risk register that automatically categorises risks depending on their impact and likelihood of occurring.  Here is the finished Notion Risk Register:

Each probability and impact options is given a score between 1 and 5. These scores are multiplied together to calculate the overall level of risk. How you categorise these scores depends on what level of risk the project is willing to accept.

This tutorial uses the following risk categories as shown in the matrix diagram below, where red is high risk, yellow medium risk and green low risk.

⭐ Download the completed template or follow the instruction below⭐

Step 1 - Create a Probability Database

1. Create an inline database called "Probability Scores"
2. Add two properties; 1. Name (title) and 2. Score (Number).
3. Add 5 entries as shown in the image below:

Step 2 - Create an Impact Database

• Create an inline database called "Impact Scores"
• Add two properties; 1. Name (title) and 2. Score (Number).
• Add 5 entries as shown in the image below:

Step 3 - Create the Risk Register database

• Create an inline database called "Risk Register"
• Name the Title property "ID"
• Add a text property called "Risk Description"
• Add a relation property called "Probability" and link it to the Probability Scores database.
• Add a relation property called "Impact" and link it to the Impact Scores database.
• Add a rollup property called "Probability Score" with the following settings:

• Add a rollup property called "Impact Score" with the following settings:

The calculate is set to Min so that the score it brought through as a number, as by default Notion brings through numbers as text in a rollup.

• Add a formula property called "Risk Score" and add the following formula. This multiplies the impact score by the probability score.

Probability Score * Impact Score​

• Add a formula property called "Risk Category" and add the following formula. This is based on the level of risk the project wants to adopts. As explained at the beginning of this blog.

(Risk Score == 0) ? "" : ((Risk Score <= 6) ? "🟢 Low" : ((Risk Score >= 15) ? "🔴 High" : "🟡 Medium"))

Formula explained: if the risk score is 0 (i.e where impact and risk haven't yet been selected) then the category should be blank. If the risk score is less than or equal to 6 then the risk category is Low; if the risk score is greater than or equal to 15 then the risk category is high; for all other scenarios (i.e between 7 and 15) then the risk category is medium.

Step 4 - Add additional columns

You can add additional properties to your Risk Register, such as:

1. Date Raised
2. Mitigation - a text property where the project manager records how the risk will be responded to if it occurs
3. Closed check box - checked once the risk is no longer possible or has been dealt with
4. Owner - a person property, to select the person in charge of monitoring and responding to the risk.

Step 5 - Tidy up the database view.

1. Hide the impact, probability and risk scores from the main database view.
2. Filter out closed risks on the main view
3. Create a "Closed Risks" view that only shows records where the closed property is checked

Step 6 - Risk Scoring Variations

Different projects may accept different levels of risk. Here are some variations you can apply to the Notion Risk Register to cater for this:

Change the Level of Risk

If your project’s level of risk is different and, for example, you want all risk scores 12 and above to be High Risk, and all scores 5 and below to be Low Risk:

• Change the Risk Category formula to the following:

(Risk Score == 0) ? "" : ((Risk Score < 6) ? "🟢 Low" : ((Risk Score >= 12) ? "🔴 High" : "🟡 Medium"))

4 Levels of Risk

You can change this template to have 4 categories of risk, as shown in the image below. Where red is High Risk, orange is Serious Risk, yellow is Medium Risk and green is Low Risk

• Change the Risk Category formula to the following:

(Risk Score == 0) ? "" : ((Risk Score <= 6) ? "🟢 Low" : ((Risk Score >= 20) ? "🔴 High" : ((Risk Score >= 12 and Risk Score < 20) ? "🟠 Serious" : "🟡 Medium")))