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Assess a control
Assess a control’s design and effectiveness by considering its intended, expected and actual effects, its objective, and the possible harm or loss it is intended to prevent or limit.
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The intended effect is the effect selected for pursuing that objective. Check whether that intended connection is sound.
Select a point or choose Edit diagram to enter your information. The harm or loss, objective, and control stay the same across all three views. The intended effect is shared by the two assessments; each view has its own effect to assess.
The example and your own entries stay separate. Use Save or open to keep a work file before leaving or reloading this page.
For the protective comparison, trace any necessary further response and establish the prevention or mitigation attributable to the control, ceteris paribus. Keep relevant background circumstances comparable while allowing responses prompted by the control to differ.
A mismatch calls for a separate decision about what to change.
Example: A temperature alarm warns the chef about a cooling failure. The objective is to prevent stock loss. The alarm is the control being assessed; staff response and working alternative refrigeration are dependencies. Assume the stock would spoil if left in the failed refrigerator. The effectiveness view describes a hypothetical warning that prompts a timely transfer and preserves the stock.
Note: An expected effect may achieve the objective without matching the intended effect. This may justify revising the design or its explanation, but does not show that it works as intended.
Plain Risk, developed by Dr Julien Maréchal. © 2026 The Governance Practice.
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