Effective risk management is an essential aspect of any organization’s success, but it is often viewed as a regulatory burden. However, by adopting a strategic approach and gaining a deeper understanding of risks, businesses can prioritize their efforts and align their plans with their goals, enabling them to capitalize on new opportunities.

While traditional Excel sheets can be useful, integrating risk management into Jira can save time and resources, improve efficiency, reduce errors, and enhance collaboration among stakeholders. By embracing risk management as a business enabler, organizations can transform potential threats into opportunities and position themselves for long-term success.

With several risk management apps available on Jira Cloud, organizations with different risk management requirements may struggle to determine the best app for them. This blog post compares four of the most popular risk management apps on Atlassian Marketplace – SoftComply Risk Manager, Risk Register, Hedge Risk: Risk Management, and SoftComply Risk Manager Plus – to help organizations make an informed decision.

Use Cases

Risk management can be applied to various areas within the organization. You may need risk management for individual projects as well as for the entire organization. In addition, if you’re developing complex or safety-critical systems, managing product safety and security risks is essential.

The table below compares the 4 most popular risk management apps based on their out-of-the-box use-cases:

USE CASE	SOFTCOMPLY RISK MANAGER	RISK REGISTER	HEDGE: RISK MANAGEMENT	SOFTCOMPLY RISK MANAGER PLUS
Project Risk Management	✅	✅	✅	✅
Product Risk Management	✅ ready-made templates	✅	✅	✅ ready-made templates
Organisational Risk Management	✅	✅	✅	✅
RAID Risk Management				✅ multi-sheet risk register & multiple models per project
Governance Risk Management				✅

 

Risk Views – Working with Risks

Risk management applications offer diverse ways to working with risks. While Jira users may be accustomed to working within a Jira issue view, this may not be sufficient when dealing with a large number of risks. In such cases, a more comprehensive view may be necessary to manage risks effectively.

The comparison below outlines the different views provided by the four most popular risk management applications on Jira Cloud. These views enable users to work with risks more efficiently and effectively.

RISK VIEWS	SOFTCOMPLY RISK MANAGER	RISK REGISTER	HEDGE: RISK MANAGEMENT	SOFTCOMPLY RISK MANAGER PLUS
Risks Displayed in Risk Matrices	✅	✅	✅	✅
Risk Register is Customisable	✅ customisable spreadsheet view	✅	✅ limited customisability	✅ customisable spreadsheet view
Risks are Editable in the Register	✅ risk related content fully editable in Register (spreadsheet) view		✅ only risk management content editable in Register view	✅ content fully editable in Register (spreadsheet view)
Risks Editable in Jira Issue View	✅	✅	✅	✅
Multiple Sheets in Risk Register				✅ each sheet in the table can be linked with a separate risk model
Object Registers: Organisational Risk-Related Data Repositories for Hazards, Harms, Assets, Controls, etc.				✅

Risk Assessment Models

The type of risk evaluation method used determines the risk model, which can be referred to as a Risk Matrix, a Risk Assessment Model or a Risk Prioritisation Number. Risk models may incorporate several risk characteristics used to calculate the risk score, and there could be different types of risk models available for users in different risk management apps. Additionally, users may need to add supplementary information to each element of the Risk Model to generate detailed risk reports.

The risk models of the four risk management apps on Jira Cloud are compared below.

RISK MODELS	SOFTCOMPLY RISK MANAGER	RISK REGISTER	HEDGE: RISK MANAGEMENT	SOFTCOMPLY RISK MANAGER PLUS
2-Dimensional Risk Matrix: 2 Risk Characteristics (Severity / Impact & Probability / Likelihood)	✅	✅	✅	✅
3-Dimensional Risk Matrix: 3 Risk Characteristics (Severity / Impact & Probability / Likelihood & Detectability)				✅
2-Dimensional RPN (2 Risk Characteristics for Risk Prioritization Number / Risk Score)			✅	✅
3+ Dimensional RPN (3 or More Risk Characteristics for Risk Prioritization Number / Risk Score)				✅
User-defined Definitions / Descriptions for each Risk Characteristic and Risk Score	✅			✅
Multiple Risk Models in one Jira Project				✅
2 Risk Assessment Iterations: e.g. Initial & Residual Risk	✅	✅	✅	✅
3+ Risk Iterations: users can determine the exact nr of Risk Assessments e.g. Initial, Current and Target			✅	✅

Risk Reporting

Risk managers often need to provide updates on the status of risks to their team and, in regulated industries, to auditors as well. To facilitate this process, risk management applications offer robust reporting features.

To assist organizations in selecting the best risk management application for their needs, the following comparison outlines the reporting features provided by the four most popular risk management applications on Jira Cloud. These features enable users to generate comprehensive reports that can be used for internal communication and external compliance purposes.

RISK REPORTING	SOFTCOMPLY RISK MANAGER	RISK REGISTER	HEDGE: RISK MANAGEMENT	SOFTCOMPLY RISK MANAGER PLUS
Jira Dashboard Gadgets	✅	✅	in-app reporting only	✅
Reporting in Confluence Cloud	✅			✅

Summary

The blog post provides a comparison of four popular risk management apps on Atlassian Marketplace – SoftComply Risk Manager, Risk Register, Hedge Risk: Risk Management, and SoftComply Risk Manager Plus. It evaluates their out-of-the-box use-cases, risk views, risk assessment models, and risk reporting features.

While these four apps have several similarities in features, they were designed to address various risk management needs. The SoftComply Risk Manager Plus, available on Jira Cloud, offers the highest degree of customization and advanced features, which were developed based on our customers’ evolving risk management requirements. Conversely, for straightforward project risk management, SoftComply Risk Manager, Risk Register, and Hedge provide reliable risk management tools, with variations primarily in user experience.

The post highlights the benefits of integrating risk management into Jira, including saving time and resources, improving efficiency, reducing errors, and enhancing collaboration among stakeholders. Ultimately, the integration enables organizations to transform potential threats into opportunities and position themselves for long-term success.

For a quick guide to the SoftComply Risk Manager Plus app on Jira Cloud, please check out this short overview video:

In case you would like to learn more about our risk management apps on Jira, feel free to book a live demo for you and your team: