TLDR:
Risk and Control Self-Assessments (RCSAs) are crucial for understanding and managing risk in any organisation, but they're often painful to complete. RiskSmart’s RCSA Wizard replaces clunky spreadsheets and outdated tools with a streamlined, intuitive experience. In this post, we’ll show you how it works and why it’s a game-changer for risk professionals and business leaders alike.

What is an RCSA, and why do they matter?

Risk and Control Self-Assessment (RCSA) is a structured process that helps organisations identify risks, assess their potential impact, evaluate the effectiveness of existing controls, and determine residual risk.

It’s a foundational enterprise risk management (ERM) activity, and is essential for proactive, informed decision-making.

But while the value of RCSAs is clear, the process itself is often tedious. Too many organisations still rely on manual spreadsheets, email chains, and disjointed tools, turning what should be a strategic activity into an administrative burden. 

Enter: RiskSmart’s RCSA Wizard 

That’s exactly why we built the RiskSmart RSCA Wizard.  

This tool is built to guide, simplify and speed up RSCAs, making it easier to involve people across the business, gather more reliable data and make your risk owners feel more supported throughout the process.

It's the ultimate function to take your RSCAs from tragic to magic! 

How it works 

Imagine this: It’s RCSA showtime! As the risk professional, you need to engage front-line managers and leadership, asking them to complete this process for the risks they own.  

Instead of relying on spreadsheets, Word docs, Google Forms, Slack messages, emails and occasional blackmail, you simply ask risk owners and stakeholders to complete RCSAs, and direct them to RiskSmart, where all they have to do is follow simple steps that guide.

Even better, this is tailor-made to your framework and contains your specific language and process.  

How RiskSmart’s RCSA Wizard Works

Typically, the process would look something like this: 

• Step 1 involves risk owners reviewing the risk details, correcting any inaccuracies, and making any necessary updates.  
• Step 2 allows them to add a rating describing the likelihood and impact of the risk.  
• Step 3 involves reviewing previous and current controls and assessing their effectiveness. This also allows them to remove any controls that are no longer relevant to the risk.  
• For Step 4, owners would add a residual risk rating, which also allows them to review past ratings.   

What makes our tool different?

• User-friendly: It uses clear prompts, minimal jargon, and intuitive design to make it easy for non-risk people to complete RCSAs.
• Configurable: Built to reflect your framework, processes, and risk appetite statements.
• Integrated: Data from assessments connects seamlessly across the platform, enriching dashboards, reports and audits.
• Scalable: RiskSmart overall is designed to support growing organisations with a simple pricing model that doesn't charge for user licences.
   

Tying it all together 

Once the risk owner finishes the RCSA Wizard process, this will save all their changes and store all data under the “Assessments” area in RiskSmart.  

Not only does it make collecting and storing RCSA data easier, but it also automatically connects and links the input to everything else in the platform.  

RiskSmart clearly connects the activity and data captured during the RCSA process, linking them together within relevant areas of the platform.

Simplifying risk 

As with every other aspect of risk management, RiskSmart aims to simplify and demystify risk management practices.

The RCSA Wizard is a perfect example of how the tool is designed to support your entire company while still providing risk professionals with advanced and highly configurable tools.  

By making processes easier, faster, and more transparent, you’re not just building a richer database of risk information; you’re also elevating risk culture and lowering the barriers for people across the company to get involved.