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Vanderbilt Center for Transportation
and Operational Resiliency (VECTOR)

Enterprise Risk Management Methods Enhancement and Mitigation Strategy Development

Establishing the current status and future direction of an organization’s enterprise risk management (ERM) practices requires an ability to benchmark the existing level of performance, prioritize where risk management actions are warranted, and implement cost-effective risk mitigation strategies that are practical and achievable.  Previously, Vanderbilt developed an ERM protocol for identifying “reasonably foreseeable risks” and prioritizing among them.  This protocol was subsequently applied it in a pilot application involving a major freight transportation carrier. In performing this work, the foundation was laid from which to develop and field test a method for determining the cost-effectiveness of various mitigation strategies directed at reducing priority risks.  Moreover, the pilot test identified improvements that can be made to the ERM protocol based on observations and feedback received.

The objective of this task is to address these enhancement opportunities by completing the following steps:

  1. Develop a method for evaluating the cost-effectiveness of candidate strategies directed at mitigating priority risks identified using the ERM protocol.
  2. Field test this method in a pilot application involving a major freight transportation carrier.
  3. Modify the ERM protocol based on observations and feedback for the following process steps, as appropriate: 1) scenario development process, 2) risk scoring method, 3) risk estimation and analysis approach, and 4) method for evaluating risk mitigation strategies.

Please contact Mark Abkowitz for more information on this project.