Keeping a Supply-Risk Register Alive: A Monthly and Quarterly Review Routine

Scenario: you built a supply-risk register for wear parts last year, and it has not been opened since. Direct answer: a register helps only if someone reviews it on a schedule. Set a short monthly check and a longer quarterly review, give each risk an owner and retire risks that have passed. The routine below is general practice and contains no market data.

Maintenance routine

Monthly check (15 minutes)

• [ ] Open the register and read each risk marked high.
• [ ] Ask each owner: has anything changed, such as a supplier notice, a late shipment or a price move?
• [ ] Update the status, date and one line of notes.
• [ ] Add any new risk that came up during the month.
• [ ] Check that every trigger still makes sense.

Quarterly review (one hour)

• [ ] Re-score every risk for likelihood and impact, using the same scale each time.
• [ ] Retire risks that are closed, with a note on why.
• [ ] Check that each action has an owner and a date.
• [ ] Compare the top five risks with your stock levels and open orders.
• [ ] Record decisions taken, not only risks listed.

Annual reset

• [ ] Re-read the whole register with fresh eyes.
• [ ] Ask which risks actually happened this year and which did not, and whether the scoring was right.
• [ ] Update the list of categories, such as supplier, transport, regulation, price, quality and demand.

Keeping it small

A register with seventy lines is not read. Aim for ten to fifteen live risks, each with an owner, a trigger and a next action. Move the rest to an archive tab.

When to escalate

Agree in advance what moves a risk to the manager: a missed trigger, a supplier going silent or stock below a stated level. Write the rule next to the risk, so the escalation does not depend on mood.

A simple record format

Use one row per risk with columns for ID, description, category, owner, likelihood, impact, trigger, next action, due date and last reviewed. Add a short history tab that records each review date and who attended, because a register with no history is hard to trust.

Boundary: No market, supplier or tariff facts are stated; the routine is general and the risks listed in your register must come from your own situation.