Risk Register
Purpose
Action register for uncertain events that could change project outcome, scored with probability, impact, owner, trigger, response, and review cadence.
Example
Show a worked example of this artifact
---
ddx:
id: example.risk-register.depositmatch
depends_on:
- example.feasibility-study.depositmatch
- example.research-plan.depositmatch
- example.compliance-requirements.depositmatch
---
# Risk Register
**Status**: Review
**Last Updated**: 2026-05-12
**Risk Owner**: Product Lead
## Summary
- **Critical Risks**: 0
- **High Risks**: 4
- **Medium Risks**: 2
- **Low Risks**: 0
- **Overall Risk Level**: High
## Risk Scoring
**Probability**: Very High (5) >80% | High (4) 60-80% | Medium (3) 40-60% | Low (2) 20-40% | Very Low (1) <20%
**Impact**: Critical (5) >30% overrun | High (4) 20-30% | Medium (3) 10-20% | Low (2) 5-10% | Negligible (1) <5%
**Risk Score** = Probability x Impact: Critical (20-25), High (12-19), Medium (6-11), Low (1-5)
**Response**: Avoid | Mitigate | Transfer | Accept | Escalate
## Active Risks
### RISK-001: CSV Variability Blocks Reliable Import
**Category**: Technical
**Status**: Mitigating
**Owner**: Engineering Lead
**Description**: Pilot firms may provide CSV exports with inconsistent fields,
formats, or missing identifiers, slowing onboarding and weakening match
quality.
**Assessment**:
- **Probability**: 4 - The Feasibility Study identifies CSV variability as the
highest technical risk.
- **Impact**: 4 - Poor import reliability would block FEAT-001 and downstream
match review.
- **Risk Score**: 16
- **Response**: Mitigate
**Triggers**: More than 2 unsupported required fields in sample exports from 2
or more pilot firms.
**Mitigation**:
- **Preventive**: Collect sample CSVs during Research Plan execution and define
required/optional fields before PRD approval.
- **Contingency**: Limit pilot eligibility to firms with compatible exports.
- **Fallback**: Defer pilot until import mapping scope is redesigned.
**Review**: Weekly | **Next Review**: 2026-05-19
---
### RISK-002: Reviewers Do Not Trust Suggested Matches
**Category**: Product
**Status**: Open
**Owner**: Product Lead
**Description**: Reviewers may reject suggested matches if the evidence is not
visible or credible enough, eliminating the core time-saving benefit.
**Assessment**:
- **Probability**: 3 - Evidence-backed review is central but unvalidated.
- **Impact**: 5 - The core thesis fails if reviewers do not trust suggestions.
- **Risk Score**: 15
- **Response**: Mitigate
**Triggers**: Accepted suggestion accuracy below 95% or reviewers cannot explain
why they accepted a match in audit samples.
**Mitigation**:
- **Preventive**: Require amount, date, payer, invoice, and confidence evidence
in FEAT-002.
- **Contingency**: Narrow suggestions to high-confidence matches and route more
deposits to exception review.
- **Fallback**: Pivot to exception organization without automated suggestions.
**Review**: Weekly during pilot | **Next Review**: 2026-05-19
---
### RISK-003: Compliance Review Expands Required Controls
**Category**: Compliance
**Status**: Open
**Owner**: Compliance Officer
**Description**: FTC Safeguards or state privacy obligations may require more
controls, vendor review, or data-handling procedures than the pilot plan
assumes.
**Assessment**:
- **Probability**: 3 - Applicability is unresolved in Compliance Requirements.
- **Impact**: 4 - Required controls could delay live-data onboarding.
- **Risk Score**: 12
- **Response**: Mitigate / Escalate
**Triggers**: Counsel determines live financial data requires controls not in
current design scope.
**Mitigation**:
- **Preventive**: Complete counsel review before live-data pilot and use
anonymized/synthetic samples during research.
- **Contingency**: Delay live-data onboarding until required controls are in
place.
- **Fallback**: Restrict pilot to synthetic or customer-redacted data.
**Review**: Weekly until counsel review complete | **Next Review**: 2026-05-19
---
### RISK-004: Firms Will Not Pay for CSV-First Scope
**Category**: Business
**Status**: Open
**Owner**: Product Lead
**Description**: Pilot firms may like the workflow but refuse to pay until bank
feeds or ledger writeback exist.
**Assessment**:
- **Probability**: 3 - Pricing and obtainable market are low-confidence
assumptions.
- **Impact**: 4 - The Business Case weakens if the narrow pilot cannot convert.
- **Risk Score**: 12
- **Response**: Mitigate
**Triggers**: Fewer than 3 of 5 pilot firms agree $149/month is reasonable if
success metrics are met.
**Mitigation**:
- **Preventive**: Include willingness-to-pay questions and pilot commitment in
the Research Plan.
- **Contingency**: Reprice or narrow ideal customer profile before build.
- **Fallback**: Stop before build commitment if pricing signal remains weak.
**Review**: End of research window | **Next Review**: 2026-05-26
---
### RISK-005: Support Burden Exceeds Pilot Capacity
**Category**: Operational
**Status**: Monitoring
**Owner**: Operations Lead
**Description**: CSV mapping and data questions may require more high-touch
support than the pilot team can provide.
**Assessment**:
- **Probability**: 3 - CSV onboarding is likely to require support.
- **Impact**: 3 - Support load could slow pilot but is unlikely to kill it
alone.
- **Risk Score**: 9
- **Response**: Mitigate
**Triggers**: More than 2 support interactions per firm during import setup.
**Mitigation**:
- **Preventive**: Add import validation messages and sample mapping templates.
- **Contingency**: Cap pilot at 5 firms until onboarding effort is measured.
- **Fallback**: Add onboarding-service cost to Business Case.
**Review**: Biweekly | **Next Review**: 2026-05-26
---
### RISK-006: Pilot Sample Is Too Narrow
**Category**: Market
**Status**: Monitoring
**Owner**: Product Lead
**Description**: Research from five firms may not represent the broader market,
leading to overconfident PRD scope or Business Case assumptions.
**Assessment**:
- **Probability**: 4 - The sample is intentionally small.
- **Impact**: 2 - The pilot can proceed if conclusions are limited to pilot
readiness.
- **Risk Score**: 8
- **Response**: Accept / Monitor
**Triggers**: Research findings are cited as scale-market proof instead of
pilot-scope evidence.
**Mitigation**:
- **Preventive**: Label research conclusions as pilot evidence only.
- **Contingency**: Add follow-up market research before general availability.
- **Fallback**: Keep Business Case market sizing at low confidence.
**Review**: At research synthesis | **Next Review**: 2026-05-26
## Closed Risks
| ID | Risk | Resolution | Date | Lessons Learned |
|----|------|------------|------|-----------------|
| None | None | None | None | None |
## Escalation Criteria
Escalate when a risk score reaches Critical (20+), when a high-risk mitigation
misses its trigger threshold, or when compliance/legal review blocks live-data
pilot onboarding.Reference
| Activity | Frame — Define what the system should do, for whom, and how success will be measured. | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Default location | docs/helix/01-frame/risk-register.md | ||||||||||
| Requires | None | ||||||||||
| Enables | None | ||||||||||
| Informs | Project Planning Budget Planning Contingency Planning | ||||||||||
| Generation prompt | Show the full generation prompt | ||||||||||
| Template | Show the template structure |