Risk Register

The Risk Register is a structured, Gantt-integrated risk management tool built directly into DPlan. Log risks, score them automatically, define mitigation actions and contingency plans, and let DPlan fire smart early-warning triggers when project data changes. No separate spreadsheet needed — everything lives in the .dplan file alongside your tasks.

The Risk Register is the only free Gantt tool with automatic trigger evaluation, resource-scope risks, and inline editing. No modal windows, no separate tool, no subscription.

Opening the Risk Register

Click the Risks tab in the view bar at the top of DPlan (between Reports and Settings). The tab shows a ⚡ lightning count badge when one or more smart triggers are currently firing.

You can also reach it from the Today Panel — any triggered risk card links directly to the register.

Risk Object — What Each Risk Contains

Field	Description
Title	A clear one-line description of the risk event
Category	One of 10 predefined types or a custom type you add
Scope	Where in the project this risk lives — Project, Phase, Task, or Resource
Probability	Low / Medium / High
Impact	Low / Medium / High
Score	Auto-computed: Probability × Impact on a 1–9 scale
Response Strategy	Avoid / Mitigate / Transfer / Accept
Action	The specific step being taken to prevent or reduce the risk
Smart Trigger	A predefined condition DPlan evaluates automatically (see below)
Watch For	A manual note — external signals you monitor yourself
Contingency Plan	What you will do if the risk actually occurs
Owner	Person or role responsible for monitoring this risk
Status	Open / Monitoring / Mitigated / Occurred / Closed

Risk Scoring

DPlan uses a 3×3 probability–impact matrix, giving scores from 1 to 9:

Score	Label	Badge	When
7–9	Critical	🔴	High probability AND high/medium impact, or high impact AND high/medium prob
4–6	Moderate	🟠	Medium combination of probability and impact
1–3	Low	🟢	Low probability or low impact, or both

The score is recomputed live as you change probability or impact — no Save button needed.

Scope — Linking Risks to the Right Level

Each risk must be scoped to one of four levels. This controls where badges appear in the Gantt and task list.

Scope	Icon	Use For	Badge Appears On
Project	📋	Regulatory, market, strategic, funding risks that affect the whole project	Sidebar project name (critical count only)
Phase	📁	Risks affecting an entire phase or stage (linked to a summary task)	Phase task row + end of summary Gantt bar; faint tint on child task bars
Task	✅	Risks tied to a specific task or milestone	Task row + Gantt bar / milestone diamond
Resource	👤🔧📦	Key person, equipment failure, or supply chain risks tied to a resource	Every task row where that resource is assigned

Scope and Category are independent dimensions. A risk can be Scope: Resource and Category: Financial (e.g. a key contractor doubling their rate mid-project).

Risk Categories

DPlan ships with 10 industry-standard categories covering all project types:

Category	Typical Risks
💰 Financial	Budget overrun, funding withdrawal, cost uncertainty
⚙️ Technical	Architecture failure, integration issues, technology choices
📅 Schedule	Timeline slippage, deadline pressure, estimation errors
👥 Resource	Key person departure, equipment breakdown, material shortage
🔗 Dependency	External team delays, third-party API outages, vendor failure
✅ Quality	Defect rates, standards compliance, acceptance criteria
💬 Communication	Unclear requirements, stakeholder misalignment
🔒 Security	Data exposure, access control, compliance vulnerabilities
🌐 External	Regulatory changes, market shifts, weather, political factors
⚖️ Legal	Contract disputes, IP issues, liability, permit delays

Adding Custom Categories

Inside the expanded risk row, below the Category dropdown, there is a small "+ Add custom type…" input. Type the category name and press Enter. It is added to the project's category list and selected immediately. Custom categories are stored in the .dplan file and appear in the dropdown for all risks in that project.

Examples: Regulatory Approval (pharma), Environmental (construction), Safety Certification (aerospace).

Response Strategies

Based on the PMBOK standard, four response types are available:

Strategy	Meaning	Example
Avoid	Change the plan to eliminate the risk entirely	Remove the risky feature from scope
Mitigate	Reduce the probability or impact	Cross-train a backup developer
Transfer	Shift the impact to a third party	Insurance, fixed-price contract with vendor
Accept	Acknowledge it, no proactive action	"We will deal with it if it happens"

Smart Triggers

Each risk can have one smart trigger — a predefined condition DPlan evaluates automatically every time you open the Risk Register view. No background process, no server — computed on demand from existing project data.

When a trigger fires, the risk row shows a ⚡ icon, the Risks tab shows a count badge, and triggered risks appear in the Today Panel under "⚡ Risk Triggers".

Available Trigger Types

Type	Group	What DPlan checks	Threshold
Task overdue by N days	Schedule	End date past today by at least N days and not complete	Days (default 3)
Task not started N days after start date	Schedule	Start date passed by N days and status = not-started	Days (default 2)
Task progress stuck for N days	Schedule	Progress hasn't changed in N days (tracked from last save)	Days (default 5)
Milestone missed	Schedule	Milestone end date is past today and not complete	—
Predecessor task incomplete	Schedule	A dependency task is not done when this task's start date is reached	—
Cost overrun exceeds N%	Budget	Actual cost > fixed cost × (1 + N/100)	% (default 20)
Actual cost reaches N% of budget	Budget	Actual cost ÷ fixed cost × 100 ≥ N	% (default 80)
Phase completion below N%	Phase	Average progress of child tasks < N%	% (default 40)
Phase has more than N overdue tasks	Phase	Count of overdue tasks in the phase > N	Tasks (default 2)
SPI drops below N	EVM	Schedule Performance Index (from EVM) < N	Ratio (default 0.8)
CPI drops below N	EVM	Cost Performance Index (from EVM) < N	Ratio (default 0.8)
Blocker added to linked task	Activity	Any task in scope has a comment flagged as a blocker	—
Task status changed to On Hold	Activity	Any task in scope has status = on-hold	—
Task status changed to Cancelled	Activity	Any task in scope has status = cancelled	—
None (manual only)	—	No automatic evaluation — rely on Watch For note	—

Watch For (Manual Note)

The Watch For field is a plain text area for external signals that DPlan cannot detect automatically. Examples:

"Vendor hasn't confirmed delivery date by sprint kickoff"
"Client approval email hasn't arrived 48hrs before go-live"
"Regulatory decision expected end of month — no news = risk escalating"

The Watch For note is visible only in the expanded row — it is your reminder during your weekly risk review, not an automatic alert.

Status Lifecycle

Change a risk's status directly from the collapsed row without expanding it — the most common action during a review meeting.

Status	Meaning
Open	Risk identified, no active action yet. Default on creation.
Monitoring	Risk is being actively watched. Trigger acknowledged.
Mitigated	Mitigation action has been applied. Risk probability/impact reduced.
Occurred	The risk event has happened — it is now an active issue. Row turns red-tinted.
Closed	Risk no longer relevant. No badges shown for closed risks.

When a risk moves to Occurred, update the risk title to reflect what actually happened and add a note in the contingency field describing what action was taken.

Adding and Editing Risks

Three Ways to Add a Risk

1. From the Risk Register View

Click + Add Risk (top right of the register). A blank row is inserted at the top, auto-expanded.
Type the Title. Press Tab to move to the next field.
Select a Category from the dropdown (or add a custom one).
Pick the Scope — Project, Phase, Task, or Resource. If Phase/Task/Resource, a second dropdown appears to select the target.
Set Probability and Impact. The Score computes immediately.
Choose a Response Strategy and fill in the Action field.
Optionally configure a Smart Trigger and a Watch For note.
Add a Contingency Plan for what to do if the risk occurs.
All fields save automatically on blur — there is no Save button.

2. From the Gantt — Right-Click Context Menu

Right-click any task row (left panel) or Gantt bar (timeline). The context menu includes ⚠ Add Risk. Clicking it:

Creates a new risk pre-filled from the right-clicked task
Sets Title to Risk: [task name]
Sets Scope to Task, linked to the right-clicked task's ID
Sets Probability from task priority (critical/high → high, medium → medium, low → low)
Sets Owner from the task's first assigned resource (if any)
Sets Category to Schedule as a starting default
Closes any open modal, switches to Risk Register, and auto-expands the new risk row with the title field focused

The right-click menu also includes "Log Issue" for creating an Issue Log entry from the same task — useful when a risk has already occurred and needs parallel tracking as an active issue.

3. From the Task Modal

Open any task (double-click on Gantt or press Enter). The task modal header includes a Log Issue button (red, top-right). To raise a risk instead, right-click the task row first (before opening the modal), or close the modal and use the right-click menu on the task row.

Editing a Risk

Click anywhere on a collapsed risk row to expand it. All fields become editable inline. Click the row header again (or click another row) to collapse. Changes are saved on every field blur.

Changing Status

The Status dropdown is visible in the collapsed row — change status without expanding. This is optimised for weekly review meetings where you move through all risks quickly.

Deleting a Risk

Expand the risk row. Click 🗑 Delete Risk at the bottom. A confirm prompt appears inline — click Yes, delete to confirm. Deletion cannot be undone with Ctrl+Z (it is immediate).

Badges in the Gantt & Task List

Risk badges (⚠) appear directly in the task list and on Gantt bars so you see risk context without switching to the Risk Register view.

Badges only appear for Moderate (score ≥ 4) and Critical (score ≥ 7) risks. Low risks (1–3) do not show badges — they are tracked in the register but are not urgent enough for constant visibility.
When a smart trigger is firing, the badge pulses to draw attention.
Clicking a badge in the task list switches directly to the Risk Register view.
Badge display is individually toggleable per scope type in Settings → Feature Toggles → Risk Register.

Today Panel Integration

The Today Panel (HOME → Today button) includes a ⚡ Risk Triggers section when any smart triggers are firing. Each card shows the risk title, its scope label, and the trigger type. Clicking a card navigates to the Risk Register.

This section can be disabled in Settings → Risk Register → Show triggered risks in Today Panel.

Export

Print / PDF

Click Export ▾ → Print / PDF in the register header. A formatted risk table opens in a new window with all risks, including the mitigation action, watch note, and contingency plan in expandable detail rows. The browser print dialog opens automatically. Use Save as PDF in the print dialog.

CSV Export

Click Export ▾ → CSV. A UTF-8 BOM CSV downloads, compatible with Excel, Google Sheets, and Jira. All fields are included.

Project Journal

When exporting the Project Journal (Export ribbon → Task Journal), a Risk Register chapter is appended automatically (if there are any risks and the setting is enabled).

Settings

Go to Settings → Feature Toggles → ⚠ Risk Register to configure:

Setting	Effect when OFF
Enable Risk Register (master toggle)	Hides the Risks nav tab, removes all badges, stops all trigger evaluation. Zero performance overhead.
Show badge on Project	Hides critical risk count on sidebar project name
Show badge on Phases	Hides ⚠ badge on phase rows and Gantt summary bars
Show badge on Tasks	Hides ⚠ badge on task rows and Gantt bars
Show badge on Resources	Hides ⚠ badge on tasks where at-risk resource is assigned
Enable trigger evaluation	Stops all 14 smart trigger types from running
Evaluate [scope] triggers	Skips triggers scoped to that level (Project / Phase / Task / Resource)
Show triggered risks in Today Panel	Removes ⚡ section from the Today Panel
Include Risk Register in Journal Export	Omits the risk chapter from Project Journal HTML

Copy / Paste Tasks (Related)

Copied tasks do not carry their risks with them — each pasted task starts with a clean risk slate. If you need risks on pasted tasks, add them after pasting.

Keyboard Reference

Key	Action
`Enter` on a row	Expand / collapse the risk row
`Escape`	Collapse the expanded row
`Tab`	Move between fields inside the expanded row

Data Storage

Risks are stored in project.risks inside the .dplan JSON file. The field is optional — projects without it load normally and start with an empty register. No migration is needed for existing projects.

Custom category types are stored in project.riskCategories alongside the risks array.