Risk:Resolve®

ERM for Higher Education -- A Practical Approach

Managing Risk?
Choose Clarity Over Complexity.

Three Essential Tasks.

One Clear Path.

Regarding ERM for Higher Education, please note the following: Various labels have been applied to college and university efforts to manage complex risk across campus, among them: Enterprise Risk Management, Enterprise-Wide Risk Management, Institutional Risk Management, Institution-Wide Risk Management, ERM, and ERM for Higher Education. One will find that these labels are often used interchangeably in higher education risk management literature. "ERM FOR HIGHER EDUCATION" IS USED ALMOST EXCLUSIVELY THROUGHOUT THIS WEBSITE TO HIGHLIGHT THE UNIQUE NATURE OF ENTERPRISE RISK MANAGEMENT IN HIGHER EDUCATION SETTINGS. It may surprise some to learn that no universally agreed upon single standard or set of guidelines exists for enterprise risk management in general or for higher education in particular. In our case, Risk:Resolve® is the name we have given to our proprietary enterprise risk management process for colleges and universities. It has been field-tested for ten years. And it works!

Risk:Resolve® | ERM for Higher Education | The Process

One. Recognition that the institution needs to get a handle on risk.
Two. Realization that risk management is a process rather than a person or position.
Three. Senior leadership commits to developing a formal process for identifying, evaluating, and mitigating risk.

Four.
Risk identification efforts across campus result in a risk inventory.

Five.
Categorizing and sorting the risks in the risk inventory takes place. This categorization is aligned with the committees of the board.

Six.
Senior leadership develops a sub-set list of high priority risks from the risk inventory. This listing is the risk register.

Seven.
Individuals familiar with the risks on the risk register complete risk summary worksheets on those risks.

Eight.
Senior leadership uses the information gathered from these risk summary worksheets to select a handful of high priority risks on which to focus.
For these risks, a designated risk owner is asked to add detail to the risk summary worksheet. The risk owner seeks out and receives informed input from risk collaborators who are familiar with the context, characteristics and potential adverse consequences of the risk.

Nine.
The risk owner then updates the risk summary worksheet and delivers it to the person designated by senior leadership as having risk oversight responsibilities.

Ten.
Senior leadership decides who will be responsible for compiling the detailed risk summary worksheets into a risk roll-up report and distributing it to the senior leadership team and the governing board.

Eleven.
A risk mitigation progress dashboard is developed to reflect the most recent risk summary worksheet updates. It provides a numeric representation of progress toward intended risk mitigation milestones, and indicates whether progress has been positive, negative, or unchanged.

Twelve.
Senior leadership and the governing board create a schedule for receipt of updates, and review of the risk roll-up report and the risk mitigation progress dashboard.

Practical ERM for Higher Education

Evaluating, collaborating, and mitigating are all required to effectively manage complex institutional risk.

Doing so ACROSS INSTITUTIONAL SILOS can be challenging.

We provide templates, worksheets, and guidance to colleges and universities seeking a practical approach to ERM for Higher Education.

Risk:Resolve® Practical ERM for Higher Education

Our "Risk Summary Worksheet" drives the entire risk management process.

Learn how to anticipate and avoid undesirable outcomes.

contact Frank Karoly
The Institutes offers courses in Enterprise Risk Management.
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URMIA supports the enterprise risk management efforts of its members.
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