The Risk Register is your home base for Risk-Based Testing - the single place where every risk on the project is recorded, scored, and tracked. This article walks through creating risks, reading the register, finding what you need, and viewing or editing a risk.
Opening the register
In your project, click Risks in the left sidebar. The page has two tabs:
Register - the full list of risks (where you'll spend most of your time).
Risk matrix - a visual likelihood × impact grid (covered at the end of this article).
At the top of the page is a coverage summary showing how well your risks are backed by tests.
Creating a risk
Click Create to open the New Risk form. You'll fill in:
Field | Required? | Notes |
Title | Yes | A clear, specific name - e.g., "Payment authorization bypass under concurrent sessions"; should be unique |
Description | No | "What could happen, where it applies, and why it matters." |
Risk type | Yes | The category (Business, Technical, Compliance, Security, …) |
Likelihood | Yes | How likely it is - from your project's scale |
Impact | Yes | How damaging it would be - from your project's scale |
Status | No | Defaults to your first status if you leave it blank |
The moment you choose a Likelihood and Impact, TestCollab calculates the risk's exposure automatically (likelihood score × impact score) and assigns its severity band. You never compute this by hand.
Mitigation details (when you need them)
When you set the status to one of your mitigation statuses (by default, Mitigating or Mitigated), the form reveals extra fields so you can plan and track the response:
Owner - who's accountable
Residual likelihood and Residual impact - the scores you expect after mitigation, which give you a residual exposure
Target date and Review date
Mitigation strategy - your plan in plain words
Click Create to save.
Example: A tester records Payment authorization bypass under concurrent sessions, picks Likelihood Likely and Impact Critical, and TestCollab scores it 20 · Critical. Once the team starts work, they set it to Mitigating, assign an Owner, note a residual target of Possible × High, and write the mitigation plan.
Reading the register
Each row is one risk. The colors come straight from your Risk Settings, so a glance down the Exposure column tells you where the danger is concentrated.
Tailoring the table:
Column selector - show or hide columns
Resizable columns - drag a column border to widen it; the table scrolls sideways if needed, so text never gets cut off.
Finding the right risks
Search - the box at the top searches by ID, title, or description ("Search risks by ID, title or description"). You can paste an RK‑ number to jump straight to a risk.
Filter - narrow the list by exposure band, residual band, status, type, likelihood, impact, owner, and linked items. Active filters show as chips you can clear individually or all at once.
Sort - click a column header to sort (e.g., by Exposure to bring your most dangerous risks to the top).
Pagination - 10 risks per page by default; switch to 20, 50, or 100. The footer shows your place, e.g., "1‑10 of 47 risks."
💡 Filter to Exposure = Critical and sort by exposure to get an instant "what could hurt customers most right now" shortlist for your next test cycle.
Viewing and editing a risk
Click any row to open the risk in a side drawer. In read mode you'll see:
A header with the RK‑ ID and Edit, Delete, and an expand/restore control to widen the drawer for a roomier view.
The title and description.
Stacked, labelled boxes for Type, Status, Likelihood, Impact, and Exposure (with the exposure shown as Likelihood × Impact).
For risks in a mitigation status: Owner, Residual exposure, Target date, and Review date.
The Mitigation strategy, if one was written.
A Linked items section (covered in Article 5).
To make changes, click Edit, adjust the fields, and Save (or Cancel). To remove a risk, click Delete and confirm at the "Delete this risk?" prompt.
Edit, Delete, and linking controls appear disabled if your role doesn't grant those rights
The Risk Matrix
Switch to the Risk matrix tab for a classic heat-map view: Impact down one side, Likelihood across the top, with each cell colored by its exposure band. Every cell shows how many risks sit at that combination, and empty cells are faded so the hotspots stand out. Hover a cell to see the impact × likelihood combination and the resulting exposure.
It's the fastest way to answer "is our risk concentrated in the dangerous corner?" - and a great visual for a status meeting.
