Automated approach to public sector risk management

The concept of managing risks is becoming a necessity for all organisations, including the public sector. Local governments are also well positioned to benefit from effectively managing risks, given the mandate they have to deliver and the range of existing and new risks that they face, due to their diverse and complex responsibilities.

The need for effective and efficient risk management processes in the public sector is being propelled by some of the following:

* Demands for greater transparency;
* Need for early warning signs;
* Demands for higher quality;
* Changing leadership structures;
* Changing legislation; and
* Best value.

Firstly, we need to understand what risk is: In our context, risk is the threat that an event or action will adversely affect an organisation's ability to achieve its objectives and to successfully execute its strategies. Risk management then becomes the process by which risks are identified, evaluated and controlled.

An effective risk management process supports the achievement of objectives and has a vital role to play in ensuring:

* Better management of change programmes;
* More satisfied citizens;
* Increased focus on what needs to be done to meet objectives;
* Clear strategies to avoid what should not be done to impair the achievement of objectives;
* Fewer complaints from citizens;
* Better quality service;
* Enhanced ability to justify actions taken;
* Delivering best value;
* Protection of reputation; and
* Getting things right first time. (Many projects were implemented in the public sector, but they did not yield the desired results.)

It is therefore very critical for each public institution to embrace a risk management framework, using the Public Sector Risk Management Framework issued by National Treasury as a guideline. The framework should, among other things, allow the institution to:

* Identify key functions and processes for services provided;
* Evaluate the likelihood and impact of risks that could affect service delivery;
* Devise risk mitigating measures;
* Produce and maintain business continuity plans; and
* Implement and rehearse the plans.

TIS Holdings supports the implementation of effective risk management in the public sector by adopting an automated approach through the use of BarnOwl, which facilitates an integrated approach to strategy, risk, performance and sustainability of the organisation.

BarnOwl risk management module of BarnOwl offers the following:

* Step-by-step enablement of ERM in your organisation;
* Best practice methodology within your organisation;
* An up to date picture of your risk universe;
* Continuous monitoring of your risk universe;
* Improved quality and consistency of your information;
* Reporting at the click of a button;
* Accountability and ownership of risk throughout your organisation;
* A culture of risk and control within your organisation; and
* The co-ordinated achievement of your strategic vision.

It gives you comfort and confidence in managing your business.

The module consists of the following features:

* Objectives, risks, controls, contributing factors and key risk indicator registers;
* Dashboards with real-time data aggregation and drill down capability;
* Flexible loss event/incident capture, monitoring and reporting;
* Action plans - capture, e-mail notification, reminders, escalation, monitoring and reporting;
* Voting - distributed or workshop based voting on risk readiness, objectives, risks and controls; and
* Surveys - setup or import Excel based surveys, e-mail notifications, reminders, Web-based completion of surveys, reporting and analysis of surveys.

Being an integrated risk management, internal audit and compliance software solution, BarnOwl also features an internal audit module, compliance module and survey module.