In today’s unpredictable business environment, small and medium-sized businesses face a multitude of operational risks that can threaten their survival. From cybersecurity threats to supply chain disruptions, natural disasters to regulatory compliance issues – the landscape of potential problems grows more complex each year. Yet many entrepreneurs focus primarily on growth and revenue while overlooking the critical practice of documenting and managing operational risks. This oversight can prove costly, as undocumented risks often materialize into real problems that could have been mitigated with proper planning. This comprehensive guide explores how SMBs can develop effective operational risk documentation practices that protect their business without overwhelming their limited resources. Whether you’re launching a startup or running an established small business, mastering these documentation strategies will help you build resilience and ensure long-term sustainability in an increasingly volatile business landscape.
Key Takeaways
- Proper risk documentation creates business resilience and can significantly reduce financial losses during disruptions
- Effective documentation requires identifying, prioritizing, and regularly updating your specific business risks
- Integration of risk management into daily operations is crucial for sustainable implementation
- Technology solutions can streamline documentation processes and improve team collaboration
- Building a culture of risk awareness transforms documentation from a compliance exercise to a business advantage
Why Operational Risk Documentation Matters for SMBs
For small and medium-sized businesses, operational risk documentation might seem like an administrative burden better suited for large corporations with dedicated risk management departments. This perception couldn’t be further from the truth. In reality, SMBs often face greater vulnerability to operational disruptions precisely because they lack the financial cushion and resource redundancy that larger organizations enjoy. A single significant operational incident—whether it’s a data breach, supply chain failure, or regulatory violation—can threaten the very existence of a small business that hasn’t properly documented and prepared for such risks.
Proper documentation serves as the foundation for effective risk management. When risks are systematically identified, assessed, and recorded, businesses gain clarity about their vulnerabilities and can make informed decisions about mitigation strategies. Documentation transforms vague concerns into concrete action plans. It helps business owners prioritize their limited resources, focusing protection efforts on the areas that present the greatest potential damage. Without this documentation, risk management becomes reactive rather than proactive, leaving businesses constantly fighting fires instead of preventing them.
Beyond internal benefits, well-maintained risk documentation strengthens relationships with external stakeholders. Potential investors, lenders, and business partners increasingly evaluate a company’s risk management practices when making decisions. Insurance providers may offer more favorable premiums to businesses that demonstrate thorough risk documentation and mitigation efforts. Additionally, should a legal dispute arise, having documented risk assessments and mitigation efforts can provide crucial evidence of due diligence and reasonable care.
The documentation process itself offers unexpected value through the insights it generates. As business owners work through the structured process of documenting risks, they often discover previously unrecognized vulnerabilities or connections between different risk factors. This heightened awareness leads to more thoughtful business planning across all operations. Far from being merely bureaucratic paperwork, operational risk documentation represents an investment in business continuity and resilience that pays dividends through reduced incidents, faster recovery times, and enhanced stakeholder confidence.
Key Components of Effective Risk Documentation
Effective operational risk documentation begins with a comprehensive risk register—the central repository that catalogs all identified risks facing your business. This living document should include detailed descriptions of each risk, potential impacts, likelihood assessments, and ownership assignments. The register serves as the foundation for all risk management activities, providing a single source of truth that can be referenced, updated, and shared across the organization. For maximum utility, the risk register should be organized in a way that allows for easy filtering, sorting, and reporting based on different risk categories or business functions.
Risk assessment matrices form another crucial component of your documentation framework. These visual tools help quantify and prioritize risks by plotting them according to their likelihood and potential impact. A well-designed matrix typically uses a simple scoring system (such as 1-5 scales for both dimensions) to create a heat map of your risk landscape. This visual representation makes it immediately apparent which risks deserve immediate attention and resources. The documentation should include clear definitions for each level of the scoring system to ensure consistency in assessments across different team members and time periods.
Mitigation plans and response procedures constitute the action-oriented components of your risk documentation. For each significant risk, detailed documentation should outline the specific steps being taken to reduce either the likelihood or impact of the risk materializing. These mitigation plans should include responsible parties, timelines, resource requirements, and success metrics. Similarly, response procedures document the exact actions to be taken should a risk event occur, creating a ready-to-execute playbook that can be followed even in high-stress situations. These components transform risk documentation from a passive record into an active management tool.
Finally, comprehensive documentation must include tracking mechanisms for incidents, near-misses, and the effectiveness of controls. This historical record provides invaluable data for refining your risk assessments and mitigation strategies over time. Each incident should be documented with details about what happened, the root causes identified, the response actions taken, and lessons learned. This information creates an organizational memory that prevents repeated mistakes and demonstrates the evolution of your risk management maturity. Regular reviews of this historical data should be scheduled and documented to ensure continuous improvement of your risk management framework.
Identifying and Prioritizing Your Business Risks
The foundation of effective operational risk documentation begins with a thorough identification process that uncovers the full spectrum of risks facing your business. Start by conducting structured brainstorming sessions with team members from different departments, as their diverse perspectives will reveal risks that might not be apparent from a single viewpoint. Complement these internal insights with external research on industry-specific risks and emerging threats. Consider organizing risks into categories such as strategic, operational, financial, compliance, and reputational to ensure comprehensive coverage. Remember that risk identification is not a one-time exercise but should be revisited regularly as your business evolves and the external environment changes.
Once you’ve compiled your initial risk inventory, the next critical step is prioritization. Not all risks deserve equal attention and resources. Develop a consistent methodology for evaluating each risk based on both its potential impact on your business and the likelihood of occurrence. Impact assessment should consider multiple dimensions including financial losses, operational disruptions, reputational damage, and regulatory consequences. Likelihood evaluation should incorporate historical data where available, industry statistics, and expert judgment. The resulting prioritization should guide your documentation efforts, ensuring that the most significant risks receive the most detailed documentation and mitigation planning.
Context matters tremendously when documenting business risks. Each identified risk should be described with sufficient detail to convey not just what might happen, but why it matters specifically to your business. Document the potential triggering events, contributing factors, and early warning indicators that could signal an increasing risk level. Include an analysis of how the risk might cascade into secondary effects across different business functions. This contextual information transforms a simple risk list into a nuanced understanding of your risk landscape, enabling more targeted and effective mitigation strategies.
The prioritization process should also consider the velocity of risks—how quickly they might escalate from early warning to full impact—and your organization’s current control effectiveness. Risks that could materialize very rapidly with little warning time deserve special documentation attention, as do risks where your existing controls show significant weaknesses. Document your assessment of control effectiveness for each major risk, identifying gaps that need to be addressed. This evaluation provides crucial context for resource allocation decisions and helps determine which risks require immediate documentation improvements versus those where current documentation appears adequate for your risk appetite.
Creating a Risk Assessment Framework That Works
An effective risk assessment framework for small businesses balances comprehensiveness with practicality. The framework should establish a consistent methodology for evaluating risks without creating unnecessary complexity that discourages regular use. Begin by defining clear assessment criteria tailored to your business context—what constitutes a “high impact” or “medium likelihood” in your specific operation? These definitions should reflect your business scale, industry norms, and risk tolerance. Document these criteria in plain language with examples relevant to your business, creating a reference guide that ensures consistent application across different assessments and team members.
The structure of your assessment framework should facilitate both qualitative and quantitative evaluations. While sophisticated quantitative models might be beyond the resources of many small businesses, basic numerical scoring can add valuable objectivity to your assessments. Design documentation templates that prompt evaluators to consider multiple impact dimensions (financial, operational, reputational, etc.) and to justify their ratings with specific evidence or reasoning. These templates should also capture uncertainty levels in the assessment, acknowledging areas where information gaps exist. This transparent documentation of both judgments and their limitations builds credibility in your risk assessment process.
Frequency and triggers for risk assessments deserve careful consideration in your framework documentation. Establish a regular calendar for routine assessments—perhaps quarterly for high-priority risks and annually for others—but also identify business events that should prompt special assessments. Such triggers might include entering new markets, launching significant products, changing key suppliers, or experiencing notable external events like regulatory changes. Document these triggers clearly so that risk assessments become an integrated part of business decision-making rather than an isolated compliance exercise. Include escalation paths in your framework documentation to ensure that significant findings reach appropriate decision-makers promptly.
Finally, your assessment framework should document how risk interconnections and aggregations will be evaluated. Individual risks rarely exist in isolation; they often influence each other in complex ways that can amplify overall exposure. Create visual mapping tools like risk bow-tie diagrams or influence networks to document these relationships. Establish methods for scenario analysis that examine how multiple risks might combine under different conditions. This systems thinking approach transforms isolated risk assessments into a more holistic understanding of your risk landscape. Document the insights from these interconnection analyses to inform more integrated mitigation strategies and to highlight potential blind spots in your risk management approach.
Documentation Best Practices for Small Businesses
Simplicity and accessibility should guide your operational risk documentation approach. Small businesses often fail in risk management not from lack of awareness but from overcomplicated systems that quickly fall into disuse. Create documentation templates with clear, jargon-free language that anyone in your organization can understand. Establish a standardized format that captures essential information without unnecessary detail—risk description, potential impacts, likelihood assessment, mitigation measures, and responsible parties represent the core elements. These templates should be easily accessible to all relevant team members, whether through shared drives, collaboration platforms, or specialized risk management software appropriate for your business size.
Consistency across documentation proves vital for meaningful analysis and action. Develop a risk taxonomy—a classification system with standardized terminology—to ensure that similar risks are described and categorized in the same way throughout your documentation. This consistency enables more effective pattern recognition and trend analysis over time. Create a documentation style guide that establishes conventions for risk descriptions, impact assessments, and mitigation planning. Regular quality reviews of documentation should verify adherence to these standards and identify areas where clarity could be improved. Remember that documentation that cannot be easily understood provides little protection against actual risks.
Version control and documentation maintenance require systematic attention. Each risk document should clearly display its creation date, last review date, and next scheduled review. Establish a process for archiving outdated versions while maintaining access to historical documentation when needed for reference or compliance purposes. Document the specific changes made during each update cycle, creating an audit trail that demonstrates your ongoing risk management diligence. Consider implementing a simple document approval workflow that ensures appropriate review before new or updated risk documentation becomes official. These governance mechanisms prevent the common problem of outdated risk information that no longer reflects current business realities.
Balancing detail with usability represents an ongoing challenge in risk documentation. While comprehensive documentation provides greater protection, excessive detail can overwhelm small business teams with limited time. Focus your most detailed documentation efforts on high-priority risks while maintaining simpler records for lower-level concerns. Consider using a tiered approach where summary-level documentation provides a quick overview, with links or references to more detailed supporting information when needed. Visual elements like risk heat maps, process flowcharts, and responsibility matrices can convey complex information more efficiently than text alone. Remember that the ultimate measure of documentation effectiveness is not its volume but its ability to drive appropriate risk awareness and action throughout your organization.
Integrating Risk Documentation into Daily Operations
For risk documentation to deliver real value, it must transcend its status as a separate compliance exercise and become embedded within regular business processes. Begin by identifying natural integration points where risk considerations logically connect to existing workflows. For example, new project planning meetings can incorporate a brief risk identification session, with findings documented in both the project plan and the central risk register. Purchasing decisions can include a documented risk assessment of potential suppliers. Customer contract reviews can systematically evaluate and document service delivery risks. By attaching risk documentation requirements to processes that already have team attention, you increase the likelihood of consistent implementation without creating perception of additional bureaucratic burden.
Communication channels play a crucial role in operational integration of risk documentation. Establish clear protocols for how risk information flows throughout your organization, both vertically and horizontally. Document which risk information should be reported to leadership, which requires cross-functional sharing, and which can remain within departmental boundaries. Create simple mechanisms for front-line employees to report potential risks or incidents they observe, ensuring this valuable information gets properly documented rather than lost. Consider implementing brief “risk moments” in regular team meetings where new or changing risks can be highlighted and subsequently documented. These communication practices transform risk documentation from a static record into a dynamic information system that supports better decision-making.
Technology integration can significantly enhance the operational relevance of risk documentation. Rather than maintaining risk information in isolated documents, look for opportunities to incorporate risk data points into the business systems your team already uses daily. Customer relationship management systems can flag high-risk clients. Project management tools can display risk ratings alongside task assignments. Procurement systems can incorporate supplier risk assessments into selection interfaces. This contextual presentation of risk information at the moment of decision-making dramatically increases its practical utility. Document these integration points clearly so that team members understand how to interpret and act upon the risk information they encounter in familiar systems.
Regular review mechanisms ensure that integrated risk documentation remains current and relevant. Schedule periodic assessments that examine not just the risks themselves but also how effectively the documentation processes are functioning within operations. Gather feedback from team members about documentation pain points or areas where risk information seems disconnected from actual business needs. Use this input to refine your integration approach, simplifying processes that create friction while strengthening those that deliver clear value. Document these improvement efforts to demonstrate your commitment to making risk management work in practical terms. This continuous refinement transforms risk documentation from a theoretical ideal into a practical reality that genuinely supports business resilience.
Technology Solutions for Streamlined Documentation
The technology landscape offers small businesses increasingly accessible options for managing operational risk documentation without enterprise-level budgets. Cloud-based risk management platforms provide centralized repositories for risk information with collaboration features that enable team input from anywhere. These solutions typically offer standardized templates, automated reminders for reviews, and version control capabilities that eliminate the chaos of scattered spreadsheets and documents. Many platforms now offer tiered pricing models specifically designed for small business needs, with basic functionality available at entry-level price points. When evaluating these dedicated solutions, prioritize intuitive interfaces and mobile accessibility to encourage actual usage across your team.
For businesses not ready to invest in specialized risk management software, existing productivity tools can be configured to support effective documentation practices. Cloud storage services like Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, or Dropbox can host structured folder systems for organizing risk documentation with appropriate access controls. Collaborative spreadsheet applications can function as simple risk registers with custom formatting for risk assessment matrices. Form builders can create standardized risk reporting templates that feed into centralized tracking documents. Project management platforms can incorporate risk tracking alongside task management. The key advantage of this approach is leveraging tools your team already knows, reducing the learning curve for risk documentation activities.
Integration capabilities should feature prominently in your technology selection criteria. Look for solutions that can connect with your existing business systems through direct integrations or API access. This connectivity allows risk information to flow automatically between systems, reducing manual data entry and ensuring consistency. For example, customer information from your CRM might automatically populate risk assessments, or incident reports from your help desk system could trigger updates to relevant risk documentation. Even simple integrations like calendar synchronization for review reminders or notification systems for risk alerts can significantly enhance documentation compliance. Document these integration points clearly so team members understand how information moves between systems.
Mobile functionality deserves special consideration for small businesses where team members often fulfill multiple roles across different locations. Look for technology solutions that offer responsive mobile interfaces or dedicated apps for risk documentation activities. The ability to capture incident information, update risk assessments, or access response procedures from mobile devices ensures that documentation happens in real-time rather than being deferred until someone returns to a desk. Mobile photo capabilities can be particularly valuable for documenting physical risks or incidents in the field. Voice-to-text features can facilitate quick documentation when typing isn’t practical. These mobile capabilities transform risk documentation from an office-bound administrative task to an integrated part of how work happens wherever your team operates.
Common Documentation Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them
Overly complex documentation systems represent one of the most common pitfalls for small businesses attempting to implement operational risk management. When documentation templates include excessive fields, require specialized terminology, or involve multiple cross-references between documents, they quickly become abandoned in daily practice. To avoid this pitfall, embrace the principle of “minimum viable documentation”—identify the essential information needed for effective risk management and ruthlessly eliminate everything else. Test your documentation approach with team members who will actually use it, gathering feedback on usability before full implementation. Remember that documentation that isn’t maintained becomes not just useless but potentially dangerous if it creates false confidence about risks being managed.
Inconsistent application across different business areas frequently undermines documentation effectiveness. When each department develops its own approach to risk documentation, the resulting fragmentation prevents organization-wide risk visibility and comparative analysis. Combat this tendency by establishing clear documentation standards and templates from the outset, accompanied by simple guidance on how to apply them in different contexts. Designate documentation champions within each functional area who receive additional training and can support their colleagues. Schedule cross-functional review sessions where teams share their documentation approaches, identify inconsistencies, and align on best practices. This collaborative approach builds documentation consistency while respecting the unique risk characteristics of different business functions.
Static documentation that fails to evolve with changing business conditions represents another common pitfall. Risk documentation created during a single intensive effort but never meaningfully updated quickly loses relevance and credibility. Establish clear triggers for documentation reviews beyond just calendar-based schedules—business changes, external events, near-miss incidents, or new regulations should all prompt documentation reassessment. Implement a simple version control system that makes update history visible, creating accountability for keeping documentation current. Consider assigning “expiration dates” to key risk documents, after which they must be actively renewed or archived. These mechanisms combat the natural tendency for documentation to grow stale while business realities continue evolving.
Failure to close the loop between documentation and action undermines the entire risk management process. When identified risks are meticulously documented but corresponding mitigation actions never materialize, the documentation exercise becomes merely performative. To avoid this disconnect, ensure your documentation explicitly links risks to specific, measurable actions with assigned responsibilities and deadlines. Implement regular review processes that track not just documentation completion but actual progress on risk mitigation activities. Create visibility around these action trackers through dashboards or regular reporting to leadership. Celebrate and document successes when risk mitigation efforts demonstrate measurable improvements. This action orientation transforms risk documentation from a passive record into a driver of meaningful business protection.
Building a Culture of Risk Awareness and Compliance
Cultural transformation begins with leadership commitment visibly demonstrated through consistent words and actions. Executives and managers must model the risk awareness behaviors they expect from others—documenting risks in their own projects, referencing risk assessments in decision-making, and acknowledging when they’ve learned from incidents or near-misses. Document this leadership commitment in formal policies and informal communications that explain why risk management matters to your business specifically, not as an abstract concept. Share stories of how proper risk documentation has protected the business or could have prevented past problems. When leaders authentically embrace risk documentation as a business tool rather than a compliance burden, this perspective gradually permeates throughout the organization.
Education plays a crucial role in building risk awareness, but traditional training approaches often fall short. Instead of relying solely on formal sessions that teach documentation procedures, integrate risk concepts into the context of everyday work. Create simple job aids that help team members identify common risks in their specific roles. Develop scenario-based learning experiences that demonstrate how risk documentation supports better decisions in realistic situations. Document and share lessons learned from actual incidents, creating an organizational memory that prevents repeated mistakes. Make risk documentation skills part of onboarding for new team members, establishing these practices as simply “how we work” rather than additional requirements.
Recognition systems significantly influence culture by signaling what the organization truly values. Develop mechanisms to acknowledge and reward thoughtful risk documentation and proactive risk management. This recognition might include highlighting valuable risk insights in team meetings, considering risk management contributions in performance reviews, or creating specific awards for risk identification that prevented potential problems. Importantly, also recognize and document “good catches” where near-misses were reported, creating psychological safety around raising potential issues. Document these recognition practices to demonstrate that risk awareness is not just expected but celebrated as a contribution to business success.
Accountability mechanisms complete the cultural framework by ensuring that risk documentation expectations translate into consistent practices. Clearly document risk management responsibilities within job descriptions and team charters. Establish simple metrics that track documentation compliance, such as risk review completion rates or time to document incidents. Create appropriate consequences for persistent documentation failures while maintaining a primarily positive approach focused on improvement rather than punishment. Implement periodic self-assessments where teams evaluate their own risk documentation practices against established standards. This balanced accountability approach—documented, measured, but development-oriented—helps risk awareness become embedded in organizational culture rather than remaining an externally imposed requirement.
Measuring Success: ROI of Proper Risk Documentation
Quantifying the return on investment for risk documentation presents inherent challenges since the primary benefit comes from preventing negative events that consequently never appear in your financial statements. However, several measurement approaches can demonstrate tangible value. Start by tracking incident metrics before and after implementing improved documentation practices. Document the frequency, severity, and recovery times for operational disruptions, looking for downward trends as your risk management matures. Calculate the direct costs avoided through early risk identification—for example, document cases where potential compliance violations were addressed before penalties occurred or where supplier risks were mitigated before disruptions materialized. These avoided costs represent real financial returns that justify the investment in documentation systems.
Efficiency gains provide another measurable dimension of documentation ROI. Well-structured risk documentation reduces duplication of effort across teams and creates time savings during audits or regulatory examinations. Measure and document the time spent responding to external information requests before and after implementing systematic documentation. Track how quickly new team members can get up to speed on risk considerations for their roles when proper documentation exists versus when it doesn’t. Monitor the time required to make risk-informed decisions at various levels of the organization, looking for improvements as documentation quality increases. These efficiency metrics translate directly to productivity gains that benefit the bottom line while improving organizational resilience.
Insurance and financing advantages often accompany mature risk documentation practices. Many insurance providers offer premium discounts for businesses that can demonstrate systematic risk management through proper documentation. Document these savings as direct ROI from your documentation efforts. Similarly, lenders and investors typically view businesses with robust risk management more favorably, potentially resulting in better financing terms or investment valuations. While these benefits may be more difficult to quantify precisely, they represent real financial advantages worth tracking and documenting. Include testimonials from insurance brokers, lenders, or investors about how your documentation practices positively influenced their decisions regarding your business.
Reputation and customer confidence metrics complete the ROI picture by capturing how risk documentation contributes to market position. Document instances where your ability to demonstrate thorough risk management helped secure contracts with larger organizations that have strict vendor requirements. Survey customers about their confidence in your business continuity capabilities and track changes in these perception metrics over time. Monitor social media sentiment and review platforms for comments related to reliability and trustworthiness, which often reflect the outcomes of good risk management. While these measures may seem less direct than financial calculations, they capture the important reality that proper risk documentation ultimately protects your most valuable asset—your business reputation and the customer relationships that depend on it.
Operational risk documentation represents far more than a bureaucratic exercise for small and medium-sized businesses—it constitutes a fundamental business practice that builds resilience and supports sustainable growth. By implementing the strategies outlined in this guide, you can develop documentation practices proportionate to your business size while capturing the essential information needed to protect your operations from disruption. Remember that effective documentation starts with identifying your specific risks, creating practical assessment frameworks, and integrating these practices into your daily operations through appropriate technology and cultural approaches.
The journey toward mature risk documentation doesn’t happen overnight. Begin with the highest priority risks in your business and gradually expand your documentation scope as processes become embedded in your operations. Celebrate small wins along the way—the near-miss that was properly documented and addressed, the smooth handling of an incident because response procedures were readily available, or the informed decision that avoided a potential problem because risks had been thoroughly assessed. These successes demonstrate the tangible value of your documentation efforts.
As your business grows and evolves, your risk documentation practices should mature accordingly. Regularly reassess whether your approach still fits your business needs, making adjustments to simplify overcomplicated processes or enhance areas where gaps have emerged. Remember that the ultimate goal isn’t perfect documentation—it’s building a business that can identify, understand, and effectively manage the risks it faces. With thoughtful implementation of the practices outlined in this guide, your operational risk documentation can become a genuine competitive advantage rather than a compliance burden.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the minimum operational risk documentation a small business should maintain?
At minimum, small businesses should maintain a basic risk register that identifies their most significant operational risks, potential impacts, and mitigation measures. This should be accompanied by incident response procedures for the most critical scenarios that could threaten business continuity, such as data breaches, natural disasters, or supply chain disruptions. Documentation of compliance requirements relevant to your industry and regular review dates for all risk documents completes the essential foundation. As your business grows, this documentation can be expanded to include more detailed assessments and specialized plans.
How often should we update our risk documentation?
Risk documentation should follow both scheduled reviews and event-triggered updates. High-priority risks should be reviewed quarterly, while a comprehensive review of all documentation should occur at least annually. However, significant business changes should prompt immediate documentation updates regardless of the calendar schedule. These triggering events include entering new markets, launching major products, changing key suppliers or systems, experiencing incidents or near-misses, or facing new regulatory requirements. The key principle is that risk documentation should always reflect your current business reality rather than historical conditions.
Can we use templates for risk documentation or do we need customized solutions?
Templates provide an excellent starting point for small businesses developing their risk documentation. Industry associations, business advisors, and risk management websites offer various templates that can save significant development time. However, these templates should be thoughtfully adapted to your specific business context rather than used without modification. The most effective approach is to begin with relevant templates, simplify them to match your resource constraints, and then customize the content to address your unique risk profile. As your risk management matures, you can gradually refine these documents to better fit your evolving needs.
How do we get employees engaged with risk documentation when they already have full workloads?
Employee engagement with risk documentation improves dramatically when you focus on relevance, simplicity, and integration with existing workflows. Start by clearly communicating how proper documentation directly protects both the business and individual employees from disruptions. Simplify documentation requirements to capture only essential information using intuitive formats. Integrate risk considerations into processes employees already perform rather than creating separate activities. Recognize and celebrate contributions to risk management. Most importantly, demonstrate how documented insights actually inform decisions and improvements, proving that the effort delivers real value rather than disappearing into an administrative void.