Overriding a customer's risk rating
The Risk Rating Override lets you manually set a customer's risk rating to Low, Medium, or High from the assessment detail page in the Management Portal. It's designed for the moments when your professional judgement should sit on top of the rule engine's outcome — and it's available to all client users.
This article walks through what the override does, when to use it, and the one important behaviour to be aware of before you apply one.
What the override does
Each risk rule in VerifiMe is configured with two possible outcomes: an initial risk level (before mitigation) and a residual risk level (once all mitigations are passed). A rule configured as High → Low can only ever produce High or Low as its current risk. The engine has no way of landing on Medium for that rule, even when Medium is the most accurate reflection of the customer's situation.
The override introduces that third option. You can set the customer's overall rating to Low, Medium, or High, with a reason recorded against the assessment for your audit trail.
When to use it
The override is applied while at least one mitigation is still open. This is intentional — applying an override closes the assessment, so the assessment must still be open when you apply it.
The recommended workflow is:
Action all mitigations except one - set each to Pass, Fail, or Ignore as appropriate
Leave the Final mitigation template open
Apply the override from the risk rating on the assessment details page
The assessment will close, locking the remaining mitigation - this is expected
Applying the override with one mitigation still open is what keeps the assessment in an actionable state long enough for you to record your professional judgement on the risk.
Important: applying an override closes the assessment
When you apply an override, the assessment status moves to Closed and the case cannot be reopened. If new information emerges later — a document you hadn't seen, a change in customer circumstances, anything that should feed back into the rating — you'll need to trigger a full reassessment to start again.
This is why we recommend applying the override last, once you're confident in the rating you want to set.
How to apply an override
1. Open the customer's assessment from either the Customer list or the Assessments list
2. Action all mitigations except the one that you want to override the risk on - Leave that single mitigation template open
3. On the assessment detail page, select the override option on the risk rating
4. Choose Low, Medium, or High
5. Enter a reason — this is required and is recorded against the assessment
6. Confirm the override
The new rating will appear on the assessment, and will flow through to the assessments list, customer list, customer detail view, and any filters applied across those views.
How to remove an override
If you need to remove an override:
1. Open the assessment
2. Click the "Risk has been overridden" warning bar
3. Press the “trash” bin icon to remove the override history
The rating will return to what the rule engine has assessed. The case will re-open until final actions are taken.
Frequently asked questions
Who can apply an override? All client users with access to the customer's assessment can apply or remove an override.
Does the override show up in reports and filters? Yes. The overridden rating is reflected in the assessments list, customer list, customer detail view, and all associated risk-level filters.
Can I apply an override before working through the mitigations? Yes, and this is actually part of the correct workflow — but you should action all mitigations except one first. Leave a single mitigation open, then apply the override. Because applying the override closes the assessment, you need the assessment to still be open when you use the override button.
What happens if I need to reassess a customer after applying an override? You'll need to trigger a full reassessment. A closed assessment — including one closed by an override — cannot be reopened. You can continue to take notes on rules that are marked as complete but the risk rating cannot be changed once the assessment status is closed.
Is the reason I provide visible to other client users? Yes. The reason is recorded against the assessment and is visible to any client user with access to that customer.