M_o_R – Management of Risk

M_o_R® (Management of Risk) is owned and managed by the Office of Government Commerce in the United Kingdom and published by the Cabinet Office. It looks at risk from four perspective in an organization which include strategic, programme, project and operational.

A risk consists of a combination of the probability of a perceived threat or opportunity occurring and the magnitude of its impact on objectives”. With this definition ‘threat’ is used to describe an uncertain event that could have a negative impact on objectives or benefits; and ‘opportunity’ is used to describe an uncertain event that could have a favourable impact on objectives or benefits.

Benefits for Individuals

• Gain the confidence and ability to influence and shape risk management across an organization.
• Encourage openness and discuss real business issues in a realistic manner to meet business objectives, improve service delivery and achieve value for money.
• Put an effective framework in place to make informed decisions about the risks that affect strategic, programme, project and operational objectives.
• Understand the nature and extent of risks facing a company and reduce the incidence and impact on the business.
• Continuously apply risk management to an organization and simplify the process of making information available when decisions need to be made.

Benefits for Organizations

• Increase competitive advantage and become more risk aware by managing potential problems and opportunities.
• Improve performance through waste and fraud reduction and more efficient use of resources.
• Better manage contingent and maintenance activities and increase the likelihood of achieving change initiatives.
• Bring together principles, an approach and a process with a set of interrelated steps and pointers to more detailed sources of advice on risk management techniques and specialisms in order to develop a route map for risk management.
• Identify, assess and control risks to effectively manage them.

Foundation Level

The purpose of the foundation certification is to confirm that a candidate is able to demonstrate a knowledge and comprehension of the four elements of the M_o_R framework – Principles, Approach, Processes, Embedding and reviewing – and how they support corporate governance. The Foundation level is also a pre-requisite for the Practitioner qualification.

Exam Format

• Multiple choice
• 75 questions per paper
• 5 questions to be trial and not counted in scores
• 35 marks required to pass (out of 70 available) – 50%
• 60 minutes duration
• Closed book.

Practitioner Level

The purpose of the Practitioner level is to confirm whether the candidate has achieved sufficient understanding of how to apply and tailor M_o_R in a scenario situation.

Exam Format

• Objective testing
• 4 questions per paper, 20 marks available per question
• 40 marks required to pass (out of 80 available) – 50%
• Three hours duration
• Candidates may make use of the Management of Risk: Guidance for Practitioners (the Management of Risk ‘guide’), published by TSO, together with the APMG guidance document ABC Guide Part A Example Techniques. No material other than the Question Booklet, the Scenario Booklet, the Answer Booklet and the two guides is to be used.