Managing internal risks
Risk management is as crucial to modern organizations as the way they manage their finances or their staff. Of course, the methods and processes organizations use to manage risks and seize opportunities varies, depending on all sorts of factors, from size to industry to business objectives.
In any business, however, creating greater awareness of an organization’s internal processes and related risks provides valuable insights for successfully managing the organization, while also providing a critical opportunity to limit its exposure to the impacts of those risks.
In short, viewing your organization’s processes at the same time as their associated risks enables organizations of all shapes and sizes to optimize their internal activities, while at the same time tracking and avoiding potentially damaging outcomes.
Risk management using an ICS
An internal control system (ICS) is a core management tool for companies that seek transparency within their organization or are looking to achieve or maintain regulatory compliance. At a basic level, risk management using an ICS means organizations assign controls to any identified risk they face as part of their operations.
Risk management using an ICS is of particular value when connected to an organization’s internal business processes. Knowing about risks related to your processes helps you to improve your internal organization, including the processes themselves, meaning transparency is enhanced at the same time as risks are avoided and processes are optimized.
For a truly integrated approach to risk management, your organization’s ICS should align seamlessly with your business process models. The basic standard for a modern process management solution is being able to define risks and their associated controls directly at any process step within a given process model. The controls can then be defined and associated with corresponding decision points and activities.
Combining process models and risk management using an ICS
Within SAP Signavio Process Manager, risks and controls can be highlighted using a visual representation on each process model, for easy identification. You can also generate an automatic report, to obtain an overview of potential risks and related controls. In addition to summarizing all information about the risks and controls in the selected process model (or models), the report highlights any risks that are currently not covered by a defined control.
The ability to view the assigned controls for specific process activities provides essential information to the team responsible for enterprise risk management, as well as for internal auditors responsible for checking your organization’s compliance with any relevant laws and regulations. If a process includes a risk that is not covered by a control, it will be identified with the relevant process activity. This ensures any gaps or oversights can be identified quickly, and fixed just as fast.
Next steps
To learn more about the links between process management and risk management, download your free expert analysis of the best way to use Signavio to manage a risk and controls framework. If you’re confident you know the risks you face, and you’re ready to see how Signavio can help you plan, implement, and automate your controls, sign up for a free 30-day trial today.