OpenRisk Free Bowtie Tool powered by AI – Frequently Asked Questions

OpenRisk is Presight Solutions’ web-based bowtie risk analysis platform. It helps users create, organise, share and collaborate on bowtie risk visualisations, with functionality ranging from free bowtie creation to private collections, customised Info Labels and AI-assisted bowtie analysis.

OpenRisk is a web-based bowtie risk analysis platform from Presight Solutions with AI embedded to support the development of risk analyses. It allows users to create, view, organise and share bowties, while adding further context through Info Labels. OpenRisk is available in a Free Edition and a Single User Edition. For organisations with broader risk management needs, Presight Enterprise Risk builds on the same bowtie editor but provides a private working environment, where bowties can be organised, connected and visualised in dashboards. Furthermore, bowties can be managed with wider processes, structures and functionality.

A bowtie is a visual risk analysis method that shows how threats can lead to an unwanted event and its potential consequences.

Preventive barriers are typically shown on the left side of the top event and mitigating barriers on the right. This makes it easier to understand a risk scenario, identify the controls intended to prevent or reduce its consequences, and communicate how critical controls are being managed.

Read our article about bowtie risk analysis here

Simply sign in to OpenRisk create a top event on the home page and get started.

The type of collection available to you depends on your OpenRisk edition. Open collections can be used for bowties you want to share publicly, while private collections are available with the Single User Edition.

OpenRisk includes an Open Bowties area where users can view bowties that have been created within open collections.

This makes it possible to explore bowtie analyses created by other users and learn from different industries on how different hazards and risk scenarios have been modelled.

If a bowtie contains confidential or sensitive information, it should be created within a private collection. Private collections require Single User Edition.

Bowties created using the Free Edition are stored in open collections and may be visible in the Open Bowties area.

To keep bowties private, users need a paid subscription and must create them within a private collection.

Yes. The Single User Edition allows you to create private collections.

Bowties created within a private collection are not publicly accessible through the Open Bowties area.

For organisations working with sensitive or client data, Presight Enterprise Risk can also be set up in a dedicated instance, giving the organisation greater control over bowtie collections, user permissions, and organisational structure in the environment.

Bowties created within a private collection remain private if you later downgrade to the Free Edition.

However, if you want to edit or make changes to your bowties later, you need an active Single User Edition subscription.

The Free Edition provides access to the core OpenRisk bowtie functionality and allows users to create and work with bowties in open collections that are accessible to the public.

The Single User Edition includes additional functionality for professional users, including:

  • Private and open collections
  • Sharing and editing collections with other users
  • Customised Info Labels
  • Additional AI functionality
  • Downloading bowties without watermarks

The Single User Edition is intended for users who require greater control over their bowties, particularly when working with confidential or client-specific risk information.

Yes. You can unsubscribe and later resubscribe if you need access to Single User Edition functionality again.

Your existing private collections remain organised within your account.

Yes. Bowties and collections can be shared with other OpenRisk users when sharing is available.

For private collections, access can be given to specific users with either view or edit rights.

This makes it possible to control who can review a bowtie and who can make changes to it.

OpenRisk supports collaboration between multiple users where the relevant subscription and access rights are in place.

Users can be given View or Edit permissions depending on their role and can simultaneously work on the bowtie together.

A user must have the appropriate OpenRisk access rights to open or edit a bowtie stored within a private collection.

If you simply want someone to review the bowtie without accessing OpenRisk, you can export the bowtie as an image and share the exported file instead.

Create the bowtie within a private collection and give access only to the users who need it.

Permissions can then be used to control whether individual collaborators can view or edit the content.

Create a new collection in OpenRisk and select Private as the collection type.

Bowties created within that collection will remain private and will not appear within the public Open Bowties area.

Info Labels allow you to add additional contextual information to elements within a bowtie.

They can be used to capture information that helps explain the bowtie analysis without adding unnecessary information directly to the visual bowtie structure.

Open the Info Labels panel from the bowtie editor.

From there, you can select available Info Labels and associate additional information with the relevant element in your bowtie.

Yes. Customised Info Labels are available with the Single User Edition.

The Free Edition provides predefined Info Labels, while the Single User Edition allows users to define additional Info Labels to reflect the context and information requirements of their bowtie analysis.

Yes. Info Labels can be hidden when you do not want the additional information displayed, for example when preparing a bowtie for printing or external sharing.

Revisions allow you to create and manage different versions of a bowtie.

You can create a bowtie revision in which certain contextual information is hidden while retaining another version containing the complete information.

This can be useful when the same bowtie needs to be presented differently to different audiences.

This makes it easy to use a bowtie in presentations, reports or other documents, or to share it with someone who does not need access to the editable version in OpenRisk.

Bowties downloaded using the Free Edition include a watermark. Bowties downloaded with the Single User Edition do not include a watermark.

OpenRisk provides the bowtie as a PNG file. The downloaded image can then be converted to another format using standard tools on your computer.

For example:

  • JPEG: Open the PNG in an image editor such as Microsoft Paint and save it as a JPEG.
  • PDF: Open the PNG, select Print and choose Microsoft Print to PDF or an equivalent PDF printer.

Yes. An exported bowtie is a standard image file and can be shared with clients or other stakeholders.

Access rights only apply to the bowtie inside OpenRisk. Once a bowtie has been downloaded as a PNG file, that file can be shared separately.

Yes. OpenRisk includes AI functionality designed to support bowtie creation and risk analysis.

OpenRisk can use AI to generate a bowtie based on information about the top event.

AI can assist users in generating an initial bowtie draft or suggest additional elements such as threats and consequences when developing an existing bowtie analysis.

Providing additional context through Info Labels can give AI more information about the scenario and improve the relevance of the generated bowtie.

Yes. If you have already started a bowtie, AI can assist by suggesting additional threats or consequences for consideration.

The suggestions should be reviewed by someone with appropriate knowledge of the operation and risk scenario before being incorporated into the final bowtie analysis.

Generating bowties directly from organisational documentation is an advanced capability associated with Presight Enterprise Risk rather than the standard OpenRisk editions.

This enables organisations to use their own documentation as context when generating and developing bowtie analyses.

Yes. OpenRisk includes drag-and-drop functionality that allows you to reposition elements within the bowtie editor.

This makes it easier to organise the diagram and adjust the visual layout while working on the analysis.

OpenRisk is primarily designed for creating and managing bowtie analyses.

Organisations that want to enable the audit or verification of barrier controls, define barrier elements in their bowties or connect bowties to operational data for automatic monitoring of barrier health should consider Presight Enterprise Risk or Presight Barrier Management, depending on the use case and required functionality.

Presight Solutions can help determine which solution is most appropriate for your organisation.

Contact Presight Solutions

Yes. OpenRisk is provided as a cloud-based application.

Access to bowties and collections is controlled according to the type of collection, the user's permissions and the functionality available within their OpenRisk edition.

Organisations with additional requirements relating to security, infrastructure or enterprise deployment should contact Presight Solutions to discuss their requirements.

Private collections restrict access to authorised users.

Where collaboration is enabled, individual users can be given appropriate View or Edit permissions so that access can be controlled according to their role.

Presight Solutions provides instructional videos covering OpenRisk functionality, including bowtie creation, Info Labels, sharing and AI-assisted functionality.

Presight Solutions - YouTube

You can also follow OpenRisk release information for updates on new functionality and improvements.

For questions or technical support, contact:

[email protected]

When contacting support, include as much information as possible about the issue you are experiencing so the support team can assist you efficiently.