ITD implements Enterprise Risk Management

ITD is one of the most complex state agencies, providing a valuable and absolutely necessary service to citizens. In fact, transportation touches nearly every Idahoan every day – whether it's commuting to and from work or school, farm-to-market, providing a route to the grocery store or hospital, or dispensing driver's licenses and vehicle registrations, the department is omnipresent.

With a hand in so many endeavors, there is a strong need to recognize and manage risksm, whether threats or opportunities.

“Our new risk-management process spans the entire organization. Staff and leaders identify, assess, respond to, and monitor risks that could impact achievement of our strategic objectives,” said Chief Administrative Officer Char McArthur.

"ERM focuses on identifying and managing potential future threats or opportunities to better achieve our strategic objectives. ERM also helps inform strategic (risk-based) decisions," said ITD Chief Operations Officer Travis McGrath.

“ITD’s leadership teams asked staff across all regions and disciplines to identify those things they thought could potentially prevent us from achieving the mission or those things that could help us,” McArthur explained. “These responses were compiled and then the senior leadership team assessed the risks, based on how likely they were to happen and the magnitude of the impact, in order to rate the risk.

"ITD's Board then provided guidance on how much risk they could 'tolerate' to help focus the risk-management effort. Each risk was assigned an owner who was responsible to recommend how we would respond to the risk,” McGrath explained.

ITD’s top risks fall into three categories:
- Ability to attract and retain talent
- Ability to procure goods & services in a timely fashion, and
- Technology-related risks.

Each one of these risks, and two dozen additional risks, has dedicated mitigation plans and executive leadership attention.

“Travis McGrath leads the AASHTO Subcommittee on this topic. ITD Internal Review Manager Michelle Yankovich and her team are the muscle behind the effort. Michelle and Travis both have extensive expertise in ERM from their previous roles in private industry, and we are lucky to have them help bring ITD up to the speed of business in this key strategic effort,” McArthur said.

AASHTO and the Transportation Research Board have been advancing ERM as a new best practice for DOTs in recent years, and last year initiated a project to help implement ERM in those agencies.

“This innovative approach to our strategic efforts at ITD is not only a model for other DOTs, but has engaged staff from all areas of ITD and helped us ensure that our top organizational efforts are targeting our most serious threats and opportunities,” McArthur said.

ITD is now in a third year of ERM.

Published 08-09-19