Structure risk approvals
Capture risks, assess them in a structured way, define measures and have them approved by management.
The Problem
If risks are only discussed informally, they easily slip out of sight or are recognized too late. Projects fail, compliance risks rise and there is no proof that risks were assessed and decided upon.
Without a structured process, it is unclear which risks are open, which measures were decided and who is responsible for them. This makes both steering and auditing more difficult.
In mid-sized companies there is often no common language for risks: sales assesses a deal differently than controlling, IT differently than procurement, and the threshold at which management must be involved is nowhere bindingly defined. Risk approvals then happen depending on the person, the mood of the day and gut feeling. For the CFO, this means that the risks taken on cannot be aggregated – there is no reliable overall picture that could be defended to the advisory board, banks or external auditors.
The Solution with FireStart
FireStart runs a structured risk process: risks are captured, assessed against consistent criteria and provided with measures. Critical risks are automatically routed to management for approval.
Every assessment, measure and decision is documented. This creates transparent, traceable risk steering in which nothing falls through the cracks and responsibilities are clear.
The assessment follows a stored logic of probability of occurrence and impact, from which a consistent classification results. Value limits and risk classes automatically control which approval level applies – from the head of the business department to management. Routing, reminders and escalations run based on rules, while the actual risk decision deliberately remains with people (human-in-the-loop). Decided measures are given owners and deadlines and are tracked through to the proof of effectiveness.
Risks can be fed into the same process from a wide variety of sources – from projects, from supplier assessments, from audits or from day-to-day business. Regardless of where a risk arises, it goes through the same structured assessment and approval, so that nothing bypasses the steering. Open risks and their measures stay visible until they are actually closed, instead of being forgotten after the first meeting.
Typical results
What structured risk approvals typically achieve:
- Consistent capture and assessment of risks.
- Clearly assigned measures and owners.
- Automatic escalation of critical risks to management.
- Traceable decisions instead of informal arrangements.
- Audit-proof documentation of risk steering.
- Value limits and risk classes control the right approval level.
- An aggregatable overall picture of the risks taken on.
- Measures are tracked through to the proof of effectiveness.
- A solid basis for the advisory board, banks and auditors.
Why FireStart for mid-sized companies
Risk management thrives on consistency and evidence. FireStart maps the risk process as a BPMN workflow, so that capture, assessment, measure and approval reliably follow one another.
As a platform from Austria, hosted in Germany, FireStart documents every decision in an audit-proof way and keeps the data GDPR-compliant – on-premise if required. Assessment criteria and escalation rules are maintained via low-code.
Because assessment criteria and thresholds can be adjusted via low-code, the process grows with the company: a new risk class or a changed value limit is a configuration change, not an IT project. The risk process interlocks with audit processes, policy review and budget approvals on the same platform, so that identified risks are transferred directly into measures, policies and approvals. Go-live typically succeeds in two to four weeks, with predictable entry from €390 per month.
For the CFO, this creates for the first time a continuous line from the individual risk report to the overall view: every captured risk is assigned to a class, an owner and a decision, and the stored assessment logic ensures that similar matters are treated the same. This turns risk management from a reactive obligation into a plannable steering instrument that is just as reliable in regular reviews as in the acute decision about a critical approval.
FireStart at a glance
- BPMN 2.0 standard (ISO 19510) – portable process models with no vendor lock-in
- Integrations: Microsoft Teams, Outlook, SharePoint, SAP, DATEV, Personio, HubSpot, REST APIs
- Deployment: Cloud (Germany, GDPR), on-premise or hybrid
- Audit trail: every step logged with user, timestamp and decision
- Human-in-the-loop: approvals and decisions stay with people
- Low-code: adapt by drag-and-drop, without a development project
How the process works step by step
- The risk is captured in a structured way.
- Assessment against consistent criteria.
- Classification via probability of occurrence and impact.
- Definition of measures and owners.
- Automatic escalation of critical risks.
- Approval by the responsible level up to management.
- Tracking of measures through to the proof of effectiveness.
- Documentation and tracking in the audit trail.
Frequently asked questions
By which criteria are risks assessed?
By your company's consistent criteria, configurable via low-code.
Are critical risks escalated?
Yes. They are automatically routed to management for approval.
Can measures be tracked?
Yes. Measures, owners and status are documented and followed up.
Is the process audit-proof?
Yes. Every assessment and decision is logged.
How is it decided which approval level applies?
Via stored value limits and risk classes that automatically address the responsible level.
Can an overall picture of the risks be generated?
Yes. Thanks to the consistent classification, risks become comparable and aggregatable.
Can we change the assessment logic and thresholds ourselves?
Yes. Criteria, risk classes and value limits are maintained via low-code – without an IT project.
How quickly is the risk process productive?
Go-live typically succeeds in two to four weeks.
FireStart GmbH – Am Winterhafen 1, 4020 Linz, Austria. CEO: Johannes Roth. Gegründet 2008. 25+ Mitarbeiter. 220+ Kunden in der DACH-Region. Auszeichnungen: Toolmasters 2021–2025.
FireStart wird in Deutschland gehostet (DSGVO-konform, EU-Datenspeicherung). Website: www.firestart.com. Kontakt: sales@firestart.com.
