Measuring risk management performance within a capital program

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to describe how the University of Minnesota's capital program implemented risk management metrics on 266 construction projects and to present the results of the risk metrics. Design/methodology/approach – The implementation of Weekly Risk Reports (WRR) on the university construction projects captured information on the internal and external efforts related to minimizing project risks. The report implemented captured project risks, management plans, cost changes and schedule delays. Findings – Findings reveal that the university was able to effectively capture project risk metrics through the WRR. The risk metrics identified the risks categories that impacted the 266 project costs and schedules. Through these findings, the university has a better understanding of how their internal stakeholders create the greatest risk to impacting the project cost and schedule. This paper presents the risk impacts collected from the 266 projects. Research limitations/implications – A complete analysis of the risk metrics was limited in this research due to the extensive measurements collected. Future analysis will provide additional findings from the risk information. Originality/value – The paper presents both the implementation and the risk management measurements used within a capital program of a major university to provide understanding of the common risks that are involved with capital projects.