How to mark a risk as reviewed on Mac
You can do this with RiskOS, a risk register for macOS. One action stamps the date, schedules the next review and leaves the reason behind it on the record.
A register earns its keep between reviews rather than during them, and the date in the Review column is the proof that someone looked. It says a person considered this risk on this day, against the controls, actions and readings that were true at the time. Stamping the date takes a second. Making it mean something a year later is mostly about what you do in the minute beforehand.
Marking a risk reviewed stamps the review date and schedules the next one from that risk's own cadence. Skipping a risk during a review pass leaves it completely untouched, so it comes back in the next one.
Where the review date lives
Choose Risks in the sidebar. The register table ends with a Review column, and sorting on it turns the whole register into a queue: the longest-neglected rows first, the freshly stamped ones last. If the column is not showing, right-click the table header and switch it on — RiskOS remembers the arrangement you settle on, so you only do that once.
Select a risk and the panel on the right opens on Summary. Two fields there govern reviews: review cadence, which says how often this risk deserves a look, and next review date, which is the date the register will start counting against. Everything else on the panel — assessment, treatment, controls, actions, intelligence, history — is the context you review against.
The third place is Review, under Register in the sidebar: the guided pass, where risks arrive one at a time, worst first, with the scoring inputs and the full context on one screen. Most of the stamping you ever do happens there.
Mark a risk as reviewed, step by step
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Sort the register by review date
Choose Risks in the sidebar and click the Review column header. The rows reorder by when each risk is next due, which is the fastest way to see what has gone past its date and what is coming up.
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Set the cadence before you stamp anything
Select the risk and open Summary in the panel. Set the review cadence to the interval this risk actually deserves. The cadence is what the next review date is calculated from at the moment you mark the risk reviewed, so fixing it first saves you correcting the date afterwards.
Cadence is a judgement about volatility rather than severity. A stable Critical risk with a mature control can sit on a long interval; a Medium one moving with a supplier's fortunes needs a short one.
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Read what has changed since the last review
Work down the panel before you touch a rating. Actions shows whether the treatment plan moved or stalled. Controls shows whether anything you rely on changed status or effectiveness. Intelligence shows linked indicators with their live status and any events that have occurred. History shows the residual score chart and every previous assessment with the reason recorded at the time.
This is the whole job. The stamp is the receipt; the reading is the review.
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Re-rate the risk if the picture has moved
If anything you have read on the way down changes your view, open Assessment and move the inherent likelihood or impact steppers. The score, the band and the matrix markers answer immediately, and the comparison grid redraws the gap to your target. Write what drove the change into the description so the next reader can follow it.
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Mark the risk reviewed
Back in the table, with the row selected, choose Mark Reviewed. The review date becomes today, and the next review date is scheduled from the cadence you set. The Review column updates in place, so you can watch the row move as you sort.
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Mark several risks reviewed at once
Select several rows and Mark Reviewed applies to all of them at once. It is the right move for a set of stable risks you have genuinely considered as a group — a handful of Low-band rows in one category, say — and the wrong one for anything you have not looked at.
If you stamp the wrong selection, press ⌘Z. Undo puts the previous dates back.
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Confirm reviews inside Review
For a whole pass, choose Review in the sidebar, pick a scope, and work through the risks as they arrive. Press ⇧⌘↩ to confirm a risk unchanged, or adjust the ratings and press ↩ to save and move on. Either stamps the review date and schedules the next one.
⌘→ skips, which writes nothing at all, and ⌘← goes back to the previous risk. The projected rating updates live before anything is written, so you can see where a change lands before committing to it.
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Check the stamp landed
Three places confirm it. The Review column shows the new date, Summary shows the next review date that was scheduled, and History carries the entry. At the end of a guided pass, a summary lists what moved, risk by risk.
What each way of stamping a review does
There is one review date on a risk and several ways to set it. They differ in what else they write, which matters when someone reads the record back.
| Action | Review date | Next review | What the record shows |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mark Reviewed on a selected row | Today | Scheduled from the cadence | A confirmation |
| Mark Reviewed on several rows | Today, on each | From each risk's own cadence | A confirmation on each |
| Confirm in Review (⇧⌘↩) | Today | Scheduled from the cadence | A confirmation |
| Re-score in Review (↩) | Today | Scheduled from the cadence | An assessment, with the new score and your reason |
| Re-score that changes nothing | Today | Scheduled from the cadence | A confirmation |
| Skip in Review (⌘→) | Unchanged | Unchanged | Nothing |
The last two rows are the ones worth remembering. A re-score that lands on the same numbers is recorded as a confirmation, so the history does not fill with entries saying nothing happened. A skip is genuinely inert: the risk keeps its old date and turns up again in the next pass.
Choosing a scope for a review pass
Opening Review asks what you want to work through. Each scope carries a live count, so the choice is made against the real size of the job rather than a guess.
| Scope | What it gathers | When it suits |
|---|---|---|
| Overdue for review | Risks whose next review date has already passed | Clearing a backlog, and the shortest route back to a current register. |
| Due within 30 days | Risks coming due in the next month | A monthly habit that stops a backlog forming in the first place. |
| Above appetite | Risks whose residual score exceeds the threshold that applies to them | Preparing for a meeting where you will be asked about exactly these rows. |
| All active risks | Every open risk in the register | A quarterly sweep, or the first proper pass over a register you inherited. |
Risks arrive worst first with a progress bar above them, so the heaviest judgements are made while you are freshest. The session survives leaving for another section: break off to check a control or an asset and you come back to the same position.
Making the record stand up later
A review date on its own says someone was present. These habits turn it into something that answers a question.
Write the reason, not the conclusion
"Still High" tells a future reader nothing. "Restore rehearsal is scheduled but has not run, so nothing has changed yet" tells them what would move the score next time. RiskOS keeps every assessment with its reason, so the sentence you write in thirty seconds is the one someone reads in eighteen months.
Re-score rather than confirm when something moved
If a control went from planned to operating, an event occurred, or an indicator breached, the review is a re-score and not a confirmation. Confirming a risk whose circumstances plainly changed leaves a record that looks like attention and was not.
Let a skip mean something
Skipping is not a polite way of saying no change. It is for a risk you cannot honestly assess right now — the owner is away, the evidence is not in, the incident is still open. Because a skip writes nothing, the risk stays exactly where it was and returns in the next pass, which is the correct outcome for an unfinished judgement.
Keep the cadence and the stamp in step
The next review date is only as sensible as the cadence it came from. If you are editing the scheduled date by hand after most reviews, the cadence is wrong; change it in Summary. When a group of risks needs the same correction, select them all and use the bulk editor, which sets review cadence across every selected risk at once.
Review what surrounds the risk, too
Controls carry their own next review date, and so do vendors — the vendor list counts overdue reviews in its subtitle. A risk resting on a control nobody has checked in two years is not really reviewed. Sweep those alongside the register and the dates stop contradicting each other.
Troubleshooting
The review date did not change
You almost certainly skipped the risk rather than confirming it. ⌘→ leaves a risk untouched by design, so the old date stands. Go back with ⌘←, or find the row in the register and use Mark Reviewed.
The next review date landed on the wrong day
The date is calculated from the risk's cadence at the moment you stamp it, so a cadence set after the fact does not move a date already scheduled. Open Summary, correct the cadence for next time, and set the next review date to the day you actually want. Both save as you type.
I marked the wrong risks reviewed
Press ⌘Z. Undo restores the previous review dates, including across a multi-row selection, and ⇧⌘Z puts them back if you change your mind. Do it while the action is still the most recent thing you did.
A risk I reviewed is still showing as overdue
Check the Review column for that row. If the date is today, the cadence is short enough that the next date has already arrived or is about to — lengthen it in Summary if that is not what you intended. If the date is unchanged, the risk was skipped rather than stamped.
I left Review halfway through and lost my place
You have not. The session survives leaving for another section, so check the control or vendor you needed and choose Review again to pick up where you were. The progress bar shows how much of the scope remains.
A review routine that holds
The registers that stay current are the ones with a small, dull habit behind them.
- Book the pass, not the risks. Set aside the same half hour each month and work through whatever Review hands you. Deciding each month which risks deserve attention is how backlogs start.
- Start with Overdue for review. Clear the backlog first, then switch to Due within 30 days and keep it empty. The live counts tell you which mode you are in.
- Set cadences once, properly. Use the bulk editor to give whole groups of risks a sensible interval, and the scheduled dates look after themselves from then on.
- Re-read the controls before the rating. Most honest rating changes come from a control that moved status, not from a change of mind about the exposure.
- Write one sentence every time. A reason on every assessment is what makes RiskOS a record rather than a snapshot.
- Treat Above appetite as a standing agenda. Running that scope before a board meeting means you arrive with fresh dates on exactly the rows you will be asked about.
- Back up when you finish. File ▸ Back Up RiskOS… writes everything, review history included, to a single file you keep wherever you choose.
Frequently asked questions
How do I mark a risk as reviewed on a Mac?
Choose Risks in the sidebar, select the row and choose Mark Reviewed. The review date becomes today and the next one is scheduled from that risk's cadence. During a guided pass in Review, pressing ⇧⌘↩ to confirm, or saving a re-score, does exactly the same thing.
Does marking a risk as reviewed change its score?
No. Confirming a review stamps the date and schedules the next one, and leaves every rating as it was. If your view of the risk has changed, move the likelihood or impact steppers and save that instead — the re-score stamps the same date and additionally records the new figures with your reason behind them.
What date does the next review land on?
It is worked out from the risk's review cadence at the moment you mark it reviewed, and it appears as the next review date in the panel's Summary section. Set the cadence before you stamp, and the scheduling looks after itself. You can also set the next review date by hand for a one-off exception.
Can I mark several risks reviewed at once?
Yes. Select as many rows as you like in the register and choose Mark Reviewed; each risk gets today's date and a next review scheduled from its own cadence. Keep it for risks you have genuinely considered as a group, and use ⌘Z if you stamp the wrong selection.
What happens if I skip a risk during a review?
Nothing is written. Skipping leaves the risk completely untouched: the old review date stands, no assessment is recorded, and the risk appears again in the next pass. That makes skipping the honest choice when you cannot assess something yet, rather than confirming a risk you have not actually thought about.
Where can I see when a risk was last reviewed?
The Review column in the register shows it for every risk, and sorting on that column puts the longest-neglected rows at the top. Open a risk and the panel's History section holds the fuller picture: a residual score chart and every assessment ever made, each with the reason recorded at the time.
Is a review recorded even when nothing has changed?
Yes, and that matters. A confirmation is recorded as a confirmation, and a re-score that happens to land on the same numbers is recorded the same way rather than as a change. The result is a history you can read: attention that found nothing new is visible, and it is not confused with attention that did.
Does any of this leave my Mac?
No. Everything here happens on your Mac. There is no account, nothing is uploaded, and your register never leaves the machine. Review dates, assessments and reasons stay with the register and go somewhere else only when you export or back it up yourself.