key components of a business continuity plan

What are the 5 key components of a business continuity plan?

Putting together a robust business continuity plan means that your business is more likely to be able to react confidently and quickly in the event of disruption. this can help you to keep customer dissatisfaction at bay, give your team confidence and reduce recovery timescales. in order to achieve this, every business continuity plan needs to incorporate five key elements., 1. risks and potential business impact.

Any business continuity plan worth its salt will be based on a business impact analysis, which identifies potential risks and vulnerabilities both within and outside the business. These risks could be anything from flooding or a major IT disruption to a failure from an important supplier. By knowing what you could potentially face, you can begin to take steps to prevent or mitigate the risk.

A strong plan will also use the output of your business impact analysis to reveal the possible consequences of disruption on your business. This will enable you to anticipate its cost, the effect it could have on essential business functions and the time needed to recover.

2. Planning an effective response

Once you have an awareness of the types of risks and threats your business may be vulnerable to, you can begin to form an effective plan.

A comprehensive business continuity plan will take each risk identified in the business impact analysis and develop an appropriate response strategy to either minimise it or prevent it altogether. These detailed plans will describe the action needed and outline who needs to be involved to implement it. Timescales and resources, such as laptops, alternative warehouse space and mobile phones, should also be laid out to ensure a quick and relevant response.

3. Roles and responsibilities

In order for a crisis or disruption to be met confidently, the key people in your business need to know their roles and responsibilities. A business continuity plan will therefore document which key personnel need to be involved in the response to the disruption. This will typically be more senior staff members, but this depends on your business and the type of risk you are dealing with.

Once these people have been identified, their roles and actions need to be clearly defined so that they can react quickly and efficiently. The resources they need following a disruption should also be clearly stated so that they can be prioritised ahead of the rest of the team. For instance, if a remote office needs to be set up following a disruption, critical personnel will need to be prioritised when it comes to allocating resources such as laptops, tablets and mobile phones.

4. Communication

Clear communication is vital during business disruptions. Effective communication across your business can reassure team members and give them confidence that the organisation is taking effective steps to respond and recover. Outside of your company, good communication is also necessary in order to liaise with suppliers and customers and minimise dissatisfaction.

To prepare for this, a business continuity plan will normally include a list of key contacts as well as templated press releases and social media posts. Having these in place in advance can speed up communication in a crisis and ensure that both your staff and external contacts are kept up to speed. In larger organisations, it may be necessary to have a separate communication plan that provides a comprehensive approach to communication during a crisis.

5. Testing and training

Business continuity plans are not just theoretical – they need to be robust enough to be put into action. In order to check this, the final key component of a business continuity plan is testing and exercising.

Realistic scenarios can be used to test the plan and your team’s response. By doing so, you can identify room for improvement and take action to improve the plan before a disruption occurs. Testing and exercising business continuity plans also helps to ensure that key personnel understand the plan and their role in it. This means that the company can respond quickly and efficiently when a disruption occurs.

Raising awareness of the business continuity plan among your wider staff will also help them to understand their role in responding to disruptions. Many companies run regular awareness training sessions and include business continuity as a key topic during new staff inductions. This training can then improve the resilience of the company overall.

Building your own business continuity plan

An internationally recognised mark of best practice, ISO 22301 will enable you to implement, maintain and improve a business continuity management system, which will support your business before, during and after disruption.

To find out more, visit our dedicated webpage for ISO 22301 .

You can also get in touch on 0333 259 0445 or by emailing [email protected] .

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Claire worked for Citation ISO Certification between 2020 and 2022 writing creative and informative content on ISO certification and consultation to help businesses reach their potential.

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How to Write a Business Continuity Plan Step-by-Step: Our Experts Provide Tips

By Andy Marker | October 21, 2020 (updated August 17, 2021)

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In order to adequately prepare for a crisis, your company needs a business continuity plan. We’ve culled detailed step-by-step instructions, as well as expert tips for writing a business continuity plan and free downloadable tools.

Included on this page, find the steps to writing a business continuity plan and a discussion of the key components in a plan . You’ll also find a business continuity plan quick-start template and a disruptive incident quick-reference card template for print or mobile, and an expert disaster preparation checklist .

Step by Step: How to Write a Business Continuity Plan

A business continuity plan refers to the steps a company takes to help it continue operations during a crisis. In order to write a business continuity plan, you gather information about key people, tools, and processes, then write the plan as procedures and lists of resources.

To make formatting easy, download a free business continuity plan template . To learn more about the role of a business continuity plan, read our comprehensive guide to business continuity planning .

Write a Mission Statement for the Plan: Describe the objectives of the plan. When does it need to be completed? What is the budget for disaster and recovery preparation, including research, training, consultants, and tools? Be sure to detail any assumptions about financial or other resources, such as government business continuity grants.
Set Up Governance: Describe the business continuity team. Include names or titles and role designations, as well as contact information. Clearly define roles, lines of authority and succession, and accountability. Add an organization or a functional diagram. Select one of these free organizational chart templates to get started.
Write the Plan Procedures and Appendices: This is the core of your plan. There's no one correct way to create a business continuity document, but the critical content it should include are procedures, agreements, and resources.Think of your plan as lists of tasks or processes that people must perform to keep your operation running. Be specific in your directions, and use diagrams and illustrations. Remember that checklists and work instructions are simple and powerful tools to convey key information in a crisis. Learn more about procedures and work instructions . You should also note who on the team is responsible for knowing plan details.

Set Procedures for Testing Recovery and Response: Create test guidelines and schedules for testing. To review the plan, consider reaching out to people who did not write the plan. Put together the forms and checklists that attendees will use during tests.

A business continuity plan is governed by a business continuity policy. You can learn more about creating a business continuity policy and find examples by reading our guide on developing an effective business continuity policy .

How to Create a Business Continuity Plan

Creating a business continuity plan (BCP) involves gathering a team, studying risks and key tasks, and choosing recovery activities. Then write the plan as a set of lists and guidelines, which may address risks such as fires, floods, pandemics, or data breaches.

According to Alex Fullick, your best bet is to create a simple plan. “I usually break everything down into three key categories: people, places, and things. If you focus on a couple of key pieces, you will be a lot more effective. That big binder of procedures is absolutely worthless. You need a bunch of guidelines to say what you do in a given situation: where are our triggers for deciding we’re in a crisis and we have to stop doing XYZ, and just focus on ABC.”

“Post-pandemic, I think new managers will develop more policies and guidelines of all types than required, as a fear response,” cautions Michele Barry.

Because every company is different, no two approaches to business continuity planning are the same. Tony Bombacino, Co-Founder and President of Real Food Blends , describes his company’s formal and informal business continuity approaches. “The first step in any crisis is for our nerve center to connect quickly, assess the situation, and then go into action,” he explains.

“Our sales manager and our marketing manager might discuss what’s going on, and say, ‘Are we going to say anything on social media? Do we need to reach out to any of our customers? The key things, like maintaining stock levels or what if somebody gets sick? What if there's a recall?’ Those plans we have laid out. But we're not a 5,000-person multi-billion-dollar company, so our business continuity plan is often in emails and Google Docs.”

“I've done planning literally for hundreds of businesses where we've just filled out basic forms,” says Mike Semel, President and Chief Compliance Officer of Semel Consulting . “For example, noting the insurance company's phone number — you know, on the back of your utility bill, which you never look at, there's an emergency number for if the power goes out or if the gas shuts off. We've helped people gather all that information and put it down. Even if there's no other plan, just having that information at their fingertips when they need it may be enough.”

You can also approach your business continuity planning as including three types of responses:

Proactive Strategies: Proactive approaches prevent crises. For example, you may buy an emergency generator to keep power running in your factory, or install a security system to prevent or limit loss during break-ins. Or you may create a bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policy and offer training for remote workers to protect your network and data security.
Reactive Strategies: Reactive strategies are your immediate responses to a crisis. Examples of reactive methods include evacuation procedures, fire procedures, and emergency response strategies.
Recovery Strategies: Recovery strategies describe how you resume operations to produce a minimum acceptable level of service. The recovery plan includes actions to stand up temporary processes. The plan also describes the longer-term efforts, such as relocation, data restoration, temporary workaround processes, or outsourcing tasks. Recovery strategies are not limited to IT and data recovery.

Quick-Start Guide Business Continuity Plan Template

Business Continuity Quick Start Guide and template

If you don’t already have a business continuity plan in place, but need to create one in short order to respond to a disruption, use this quick-start business continuity template. This template is available in Word and Google Docs formats, and it’s simply formatted so that you can focus on brainstorming and problem-solving.

Download Quick-Start Guide Business Continuity Plan Template

Word | PDF | Google Docs | Smartsheet

For other most useful free, downloadable business continuity plan (BCP) templates please read our "Free Business Continuity Plan Templates" article.

Key Components of a Business Continuity Plan

Your company’s complete business continuity plan will have many details. Your plan may differ from other companies' plans based on industry and other factors. Each facility or business unit may also conduct an impact analysis and create disaster recovery and continuity plans . Consider adding these key components to your business plan:

Contact Information: These pages include contact information for key employees, vendors, and critical third parties. Locate this information at the beginning of the plan.
Business Impact Analysis: When you conduct business impact analysis (BIA), you evaluate the financial and other changes in a disruptive event (you can use one of these business impact templates to get started). Evaluate impact in terms of brand damage, product failure or malfunction, lost revenue, or legal and regulatory repercussions.
Risk Assessment: In this section, assess the potential risks to all aspects of the organization’s operations. Look at potential risks related to such matters as cash on hand, stock levels, and staff qualifications. Although you may face an infinite number of potential internal and external risks, focus on people, places, and things to keep from becoming overwhelmed. Then analyze the effects of any items that are completely lost or need repairs. Also, understand that risk assessment is an ongoing effort that works in tandem with training and testing. Consider adding a completed risk matrix to your plan. You can create one using a downloadable risk matrix template .
Critical Functions Analysis and List: As a faster alternative to a BIA, a critical functions analysis reveals what processes are critical to keeping your company running. Examples of critical functions include payroll and wages, accounts receivable, customer service, or production. According to Michele Barry, with a values-based approach to critical functions, you should consider who you really are as a company. Then decide what you must continue doing and what you can stop doing.
Trigger and Disaster Declaration Criteria: Here, you should detail how your executive management will know when to declare an emergency and initiate the plan.
Succession Plan: Identify alternate staff for key roles in each unit. Schedule time throughout the year to observe alternates as they make important decisions and complete recovery tasks.
Alternate Suppliers: If your goods are regulated (i.e., food, toy, and pharmaceutical manufacturing), your raw resources and parts must always be up to standard. Source suppliers before a crisis to ensure that regulatory vetting and approval do not delay supplies.
Operations Plan: Describe how your organization will resume and continue daily operations after a disruption. Include a checklist with such items as supplies, equipment, and information on where data is backed up and where you keep the plan. Note who should have copies of the plan.
Crisis Communication Strategy: Detail how the organization will communicate with employees, customers, and third-party entities in the event of a disruption. If regular communications systems are disabled, make a plan for alternate methods. Download a free crisis communication strategy template to get started on this aspect.
Incident Response Plan: Describe how your organization plans to respond to a range of likely incidents or disruptions, and define the triggers for activating the plan.
Alternate Site Relocation: The alternate site is the location that the organization moves to after a disruption occurs. In the plan, you can also note the transportation and resources required to move the business and the processes you must maintain in this facility.
Interim Procedures: These are the critical processes that must continue, either in their original or alternate forms.
Restoration of Critical Data: Critical data includes anything you must immediately recover to maintain normal business functions.
Vendor Partner Agreements: List your organization’s key vendors and how they can help you maintain or resume operations.
Work Backlog: This includes the work that piles up when systems are shut down. You must complete this work first when processes start again.
Recovery Strategy for IT Services: This section details the steps you take to restore the IT processes that are necessary to maintain the business.
Recovery Time Objectives (RTO) and Recovery Point Objectives (RPO): RTO refers to the maximum amount of time that a company can stop its processes and the length of time without access to data before productivity substantially drops. Determine RTOs for each unit, factoring in people, places, and things.
Backup Plans: What if plans, processes, or resources fail or are unavailable? Determine alternatives now, so you don't have to scramble. Decide on a backup roster for personnel who are unavailable.
Manual Workarounds: This section details how a business can operate by hand, should all failsafe measures break down.
External Audit Details: For regulated organizations, external audits may be compulsory. Your scheduled internal audits will prepare you for external audits.
Test and Exercise Plan: Identify how and when you will test the continuity plan, including details about periodic tabletop testing and more complex real-world scenario testing.
Change Management: Note how you will incorporate learnings from tests and exercises, disseminate changes, and review the plan and track changes.

Key Resources for Business Continuity

To fix problems, restore operations, or submit an insurance claim, you need readily available details of the human resources and other groups that can assist with business continuity. (Your organization's unique situation may also require specific types of resources.) Add this information to appendices at the back of your continuity plan.

Fullick suggests broadening the definition of human assets. "People are our employees, certainly. But we forget that the term ‘people’ includes executive management. Management doesn't escape pandemics or the flu or a car crash. Bad things can happen to them and around them, too."

Use the following list as a prompt for recording important information about your organization. Your unique situation may require other types of information.

Lists of key employees and their contact information. Also, think beyond C-level and response team members to staff with long-term or specialized knowledge
Disaster recovery and continuity team contact names, roles, and contact information
Emergency contact number for police and emergency services for your location
Non-emergency contact information for police and medical
Emergency and non-emergency contact numbers for facilities issues
Board member contact information
Personnel roster, including family or emergency contact names and numbers for the entire organization
Contractors for any repairs
Client contact information and SLAs
Insurance contacts for all plans
Key regulatory contacts.
Legal contacts
Vendor contact information and partner agreements and SLAs
Addresses and details for each office or facility
Primary and secondary contact and information for each facility or office, including at least one phone number and email address
Off-site recovery location
Addresses and access information for storage facilities or vehicle compounds
Funding and banking information
IT details and data recovery information, including an inventory of apps and license numbers
Insurance policy numbers and agent contact information for each plan, healthcare, property, vehicle, etc.
Inventory of tangibles, including equipment, hardware, supplies, fixtures, and fittings (if you are a supplier or manufacturer, include an inventory of raw materials and finished goods)
Lease details
Licenses, permits, other legal documents
List of special items that you use regularly, but don't order frequently
Location of backup equipment
Utility account numbers and contact information (for electric, gas, telephone, water, waste pickup, etc.)

Activities to Complete Before Writing the Business Continuity Plan

Before you write your plan, take these preliminary steps to assemble a team and gather background information.

Incident Commander: This person is responsible for all aspects of an emergency response.
Emergency Response Team: The emergency response team refers to the group of people in charge of responding to an emergency or disruption.
Information Technology Recovery Team: This group is responsible for recovering important IT services.
Alternate Site/Location Operation Team: This team is responsible for maintaining business operations at an alternate site.
Facilities Management Team: The facilities management team is responsible for managing all of the main business facilities and determining the necessary responses to maintain them in light of a disaster or disruption.
Department Upper Management: This includes key stakeholders and upper management employees who govern BCP decisions.
Conduct business impact analysis or critical function analysis. Understand how the loss of processes in each department can affect internal and external operations. See our article on business continuity planning to learn more about BIAs.
Conduct risk analysis. Determine the potential risks and threats to your organization.
Identify the scope of the plan. Define where the business continuity plan applies, whether to one office, the entire organization, or only certain aspects of the organization. Use the BIA and risk analysis to identify critical functions and key resources that you must maintain. Set goals to determine the level of detail required. Set milestones to track progress in completing the plan. "Setting scope is essential," Barry insists. "You need to define the core and noncore aspects of the business and the minimum requirements for achieving continuity."
Strategize recovery approaches: Strategize how your business should respond to a disruption, based on your risk assessment and BIA. During this process, you determine the core details of the BCP, add the key components and resources, and determine the timing for what must happen before, during, and after a disruptive event.

Common Structure of a Business Continuity Plan

Knowing the common structure should help shape the plan — and frees you from thinking about form when you should be thinking about content. Here is an example of a BCP format:

Business Name: Record the business name, which usually appears on the title page.
Date: The day the BCP is completed and signed off.
Purpose and Scope: This section describes the reason for and span of the plan.
Business Impact Analysis: Add the results of the BIA to your plan.
Risk Assessment: Consider adding the risk assessment matrix to your plan.
Policy Information: Include the business continuity policy or policy highlights.
Emergency Management and Response: You can detail emergency response measures separately from other recovery and continuity procedures.
The Plan: The core of the plan details step-by-step procedures for business recovery and continuity.
Relevant Appendices: Appendices can include such information as contact lists, org charts, copies of insurance policies, or any supporting documents relevant in a crisis.

Keep in mind that every business is different — no two BCPs look the same. Tailor your business continuity plan to your company, and make sure the document captures all the information you need to keep your business functioning. Having everything you need to know in an emergency is the most crucial part of a BCP.

Disruptive Incident Quick-Reference Card Template

Disruptive Incident Quick Reference Cad Template

Use this quick-reference card template to write the key steps that employees should take in case of an emergency. Customize this template for each business unit, department, or role. Describe what people should do immediately and in the following days and weeks to continue the business. Print PDFs and laminate them for workstations or wallets, or load the PDFs on your mobile phone.

Download Disruptive Incident Quick-Reference Card Template

Expert Disaster Preparation Checklist

Business continuity and disaster planning aren’t just about your buildings and cloud backup — it’s about people and their families. Based on a document by Mike Semel of Semel Consulting, this disaster checklist helps you prepare for the human needs of your staff and their families, including food, shelter, and other comforts.

Tips for Writing a Business Continuity Plan

With its many moving parts and considerations, a business continuity plan can seem intimidating. Follow these tips to help you write, track, and maintain a strong BCP:

Take the continuity management planning process seriously.
Interview key people in the organization who have successfully managed disruptive incidents.
Get approval from leadership early on and seek their ongoing championship of continuity preparedness.
Be flexible when it comes to who you involve, what resources you need, and how you achieve the most effective plan.
Keep the plan as simple and targeted as possible to make it easy to understand.
Limit the plan to practical disaster response actions.
Base the plan on the most up-to-date, accurate information available.
Plan for the worst-case scenario and broadly cover many types of potential disruptive situations.
Consider the minimum amount of information or resources you need to keep your business running in a disaster.
Use the data you gather in your BIA and risk analysis to make the planning process more straightforward.
Share the plan and make sure employees have a chance to review it or ask questions.
Make the document available in hard copy for easy access, or add it to a shared platform.
Continually test, review, and maintain your plan to keep it up to date.
Keep the BCP current with organizational and regulatory changes and updates.

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7 Elements and Components of a Business Continuity Plan

Data breaches, natural disasters, and other business disruptions can significantly impact your business, but they don’t have to. By understanding and applying the key elements of a business continuity plan (BCP), you can reduce the threat of disasters by guaranteeing a quick recovery.

A BCP serves as an emergency response plan that is put in place to ensure your business processes are maintained around the clock – even when an unexpected disaster occurs.

However, creating a complete business continuity plan requires specialized IT knowledge. With more than 90% of enterprises already completed their digital transformation, IT expertise has become increasingly integral to every possible business disaster.

At the same time, it’s also necessary to possess a thorough understanding of the essential elements of a business continuity plan. Without one, businesses are ill-equipped to face disasters – which is a startling fact given that an estimated 48% of small businesses don’t have a BCP in place.

In this article, we’ll explore what should be included in a business continuity plan, and discuss how you can create a business continuity plan of your own.

Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity – The Differences

While similar (and often used interchangeably), DRPs and BCPs differ greatly from each other.

The main difference between the two is that a DRP helps businesses resume IT access post-disaster, while a BCP helps businesses remain operational.

What are the Elements of a Business Continuity Plan?

Now that you understand the difference between disaster recovery and business continuity, let’s take a closer look at some of the key elements of a business continuity plan.

1. A Dependable Business Continuity Team

When disaster strikes, your team can’t afford to waste any time determining who is responsible for getting things back on track.

Your business continuity team should consist of key personnel who are not only trained to respond to crises, but who also participate throughout the disaster recovery and business continuity planning and testing stages.

These key employees should include personnel at all levels of your company, including local branches.

2. Contact Information

Once your business continuity team is assembled, another key component is making sure you’re able to communicate essential information to all affected parties immediately with a list of contact information that includes:

Stakeholders
Backup operators
Third-party vendors
Anyone else crucial to your BCP
BCP team members (and their roles)

3. An Effective Crisis Communications Plan

Don’t let the outside world hear about your disaster from someone else first. Get ahead of a potential fallout with an effective crisis communications plan that includes templated social media posts and press releases that you can tailor to deal with any situation.

4. An In-Depth Risk Assessment

In order to plan for potential risks, you must first determine what those risks are. A risk assessment, another key component of a business continuity plan, is the process through which you identify risks (e.g., natural disasters, cyber attacks, flooding, etc.) and vulnerabilities (e.g., people, property, reputation, etc.).

5. Business Impact Analysis (BIA)

Perhaps the most vital component of a business continuity plan, the BIA identifies the impact that disruption would have on all aspects of the business.

This should include potential legal, financial and reputational consequences of disasters, and should outline what you require (including an estimated time) to recover.

6. A Detailed Response Plan

Once you’ve completed the aforementioned key components of your business continuity plan, it’s time to create the plan itself.

As one of the most important elements of a business continuity plan, your response should be exhaustive and take into account every risk, vulnerability and impact you’ve identified.

You’ll also need to rank your risks based on likelihood and vulnerabilities based on importance, and determine which impacts would be most damaging.

Based on this, you can decide on the strategies you’ll use to both respond to disasters, and prevent them (e.g., regular data backup). This is a process that your team shouldn’t take lightly, and one that you likely can’t complete without help from your in-house IT team or experienced managed services provider.

7. Testing Your Business Continuity Plan

Even the most expertly designed business continuity plan components can become meaningless if they’re not kept up-to-date through regular testing.

Effective testing ensures that your plan fits your current needs, based on any changes to your IT infrastructure, business processes, etc.

This element should include regular reviews (and, as necessary, updates) and simulations. A solid MSP will spearhead the testing for you, and guarantee that you’re always prepared for the worst.

Improve Your Business Continuity Plan Components With TAG

Understanding the elements of a business continuity plan is important for every business leader, but familiarity alone is not enough to protect your company.

If your business is trying to create a business continuity plan, or needs assistance with updating your existing one, we can help.

At Technology Advisory Group, our experts have helped companies across Rhode Island and New England mitigate business disruptions by helping them understand the key elements of a business continuity plan to improve their resilience and emergency response.

For more information about how we can help you develop and implement a plan of your own, contact us today to schedule a consultation with our business continuity specialists.

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Business Continuity Planning

Organize a business continuity team and compile a business continuity plan to manage a business disruption. Learn more about how to put together and test a business continuity plan with the videos below.

Business Continuity Plan Supporting Resources

Business Continuity Plan Situation Manual
Business Continuity Plan Test Exercise Planner Instructions
Business Continuity Plan Test Facilitator and Evaluator Handbook

Business Continuity Training Videos

The Business Continuity Planning Suite is no longer supported or available for download.

Business Continuity Training Introduction

An overview of the concepts detailed within this training. Also, included is a humorous, short video that introduces viewers to the concept of business continuity planning and highlights the benefits of having a plan. Two men in an elevator experience a spectrum of disasters from a loss of power, to rain, fire, and a human threat. One man is prepared for each disaster and the other is not.

View on YouTube

Business Continuity Training Part 1: What is Business Continuity Planning?

An explanation of what business continuity planning means and what it entails to create a business continuity plan. This segment also incorporates an interview with a company that has successfully implemented a business continuity plan and includes a discussion about what business continuity planning means to them.

Business Continuity Training Part 2: Why is Business Continuity Planning Important?

An examination of the value a business continuity plan can bring to an organization. This segment also incorporates an interview with a company that has successfully implemented a business continuity plan and includes a discussion about how business continuity planning has been valuable to them.

Business Continuity Training Part 3: What's the Business Continuity Planning Process?

An overview of the business continuity planning process. This segment also incorporates an interview with a company about its process of successfully implementing a business continuity plan.

Business Continuity Training Part 3: Planning Process Step 1

The first of six steps addressed in this Business Continuity Training, which detail the process of building a business continuity plan. This step addresses how organizations should “prepare” to create a business continuity plan.

Business Continuity Training Part 3: Planning Process Step 2

The second of six steps addressed in this Business Continuity Training, which detail the process of building a business continuity plan. This step addresses how organizations should “define” their business continuity plan objectives.

Business Continuity Training Part 3: Planning Process Step 3

The third of six steps addressed in this Business Continuity Training, which detail the process of building a business continuity plan. This step addresses how organizations should “identify” and prioritize potential risks and impacts.

Business Continuity Training Part 3: Planning Process Step 4

The fourth of six steps addressed in this Business Continuity Training, which detail the process of building a business continuity plan. This step addresses how organizations should “develop” business continuity strategies.

Business Continuity Training Part 3: Planning Process Step 5

The fifth of six steps addressed in this Business Continuity Training, which detail the process of building a business continuity plan. This step addresses how organizations should define their “teams” and tasks.

Business Continuity Training Part 3: Planning Process Step 6

The sixth of six steps addressed in this Business Continuity Training, which detail the process of building a business continuity plan. This step addresses how organizations should “test” their business continuity plans.

Last Updated: 11/08/2023

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What Is a Business Continuity Plan (BCP)?

A business continuity plan (BCP) is a system of prevention and recovery from potential threats to a company. The plan ensures that personnel and assets are protected and are able to function quickly in the event of a disaster.

Key Takeaways

Business continuity plans (BCPs) are prevention and recovery systems for potential threats, such as natural disasters or cyber-attacks.
BCP is designed to protect personnel and assets and make sure they can function quickly when disaster strikes.
BCPs should be tested to ensure there are no weaknesses, which can be identified and corrected.

Understanding Business Continuity Plans (BCPs)

BCP involves defining any and all risks that can affect the company's operations, making it an important part of the organization's risk management strategy. Risks may include natural disasters—fire, flood, or weather-related events—and cyber-attacks . Once the risks are identified, the plan should also include:

Determining how those risks will affect operations
Implementing safeguards and procedures to mitigate the risks
Testing procedures to ensure they work
Reviewing the process to make sure that it is up to date

BCPs are an important part of any business. Threats and disruptions mean a loss of revenue and higher costs, which leads to a drop in profitability. And businesses can't rely on insurance alone because it doesn't cover all the costs and the customers who move to the competition. It is generally conceived in advance and involves input from key stakeholders and personnel.

Business impact analysis, recovery, organization, and training are all steps corporations need to follow when creating a Business Continuity Plan.

Benefits of a Business Continuity Plan

Businesses are prone to a host of disasters that vary in degree from minor to catastrophic. Business continuity planning is typically meant to help a company continue operating in the event of major disasters such as fires. BCPs are different from a disaster recovery plan, which focuses on the recovery of a company's IT system after a crisis.

Consider a finance company based in a major city. It may put a BCP in place by taking steps including backing up its computer and client files offsite. If something were to happen to the company's corporate office, its satellite offices would still have access to important information.

An important point to note is that BCP may not be as effective if a large portion of the population is affected, as in the case of a disease outbreak. Nonetheless, BCPs can improve risk management—preventing disruptions from spreading. They can also help mitigate downtime of networks or technology, saving the company money.

How to Create a Business Continuity Plan

There are several steps many companies must follow to develop a solid BCP. They include:

Business Impact Analysis : Here, the business will identify functions and related resources that are time-sensitive. (More on this below.)
Recovery : In this portion, the business must identify and implement steps to recover critical business functions.
Organization : A continuity team must be created. This team will devise a plan to manage the disruption.
Training : The continuity team must be trained and tested. Members of the team should also complete exercises that go over the plan and strategies.

Companies may also find it useful to come up with a checklist that includes key details such as emergency contact information, a list of resources the continuity team may need, where backup data and other required information are housed or stored, and other important personnel.

Along with testing the continuity team, the company should also test the BCP itself. It should be tested several times to ensure it can be applied to many different risk scenarios . This will help identify any weaknesses in the plan which can then be identified and corrected.

In order for a business continuity plan to be successful, all employees—even those who aren't on the continuity team—must be aware of the plan.

Business Continuity Impact Analysis

An important part of developing a BCP is a business continuity impact analysis. It identifies the effects of disruption of business functions and processes. It also uses the information to make decisions about recovery priorities and strategies.

FEMA provides an operational and financial impact worksheet to help run a business continuity analysis. The worksheet should be completed by business function and process managers who are well acquainted with the business. These worksheets will summarize the following:

The impacts—both financial and operational—that stem from the loss of individual business functions and process
Identifying when the loss of a function or process would result in the identified business impacts

Completing the analysis can help companies identify and prioritize the processes that have the most impact on the business's financial and operational functions. The point at which they must be recovered is generally known as the “recovery time objective.”

Business Continuity Plan vs. Disaster Recovery Plan

BCPs and disaster recovery plans are similar in nature, the latter focuses on technology and information technology (IT) infrastructure. BCPs are more encompassing—focusing on the entire organization, such as customer service and supply chain.

BCPs focus on reducing overall costs or losses, while disaster recovery plans look only at technology downtimes and related costs. Disaster recovery plans tend to involve only IT personnel—which create and manage the policy. However, BCPs tend to have more personnel trained on the potential processes.

Why Is Business Continuity Plan (BCP) Important?

Businesses are prone to a host of disasters that vary in degree from minor to catastrophic and business continuity plans (BCPs) are an important part of any business. BCP is typically meant to help a company continue operating in the event of threats and disruptions. This could result in a loss of revenue and higher costs, which leads to a drop in profitability. And businesses can't rely on insurance alone because it doesn't cover all the costs and the customers who move to the competition.

What Should a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) Include?

Business continuity plans involve identifying any and all risks that can affect the company's operations. The plan should also determine how those risks will affect operations and implement safeguards and procedures to mitigate the risks. There should also be testing procedures to ensure these safeguards and procedures work. Finally, there should be a review process to make sure that the plan is up to date.

What Is Business Continuity Impact Analysis?

An important part of developing a BCP is a business continuity impact analysis which identifies the effects of disruption of business functions and processes. It also uses the information to make decisions about recovery priorities and strategies.

FEMA provides an operational and financial impact worksheet to help run a business continuity analysis.

These worksheets summarize the impacts—both financial and operational—that stem from the loss of individual business functions and processes. They also identify when the loss of a function or process would result in the identified business impacts.

Business continuity plans (BCPs) are created to help speed up the recovery of an organization filling a threat or disaster. The plan puts in place mechanisms and functions to allow personnel and assets to minimize company downtime. BCPs cover all organizational risks should a disaster happen, such as flood or fire.

Federal Emergency Management Agency. " Business Process Analysis and Business Impact Analysis User Guide ," Pages 15 - 17. Accessed Sept. 5, 2021.

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What does a business continuity plan include? 5 key elements

The COVID-19 crisis has forced businesses to tackle a multitude of challenges over the past few months, but one of the most important involves the business continuity (BC) plan. Many companies learned too late that their plans were inadequate, lacking interoperability with other critical plans for crisis management, disaster recovery, and pandemic readiness.

Many business contnuity plans are either too high-level to offer any real actionable detail or consist of content that is out of date. In other instances, plans place too much emphasis on short-term disturbances and forsake long-lasting disruptions. Many also gloss over pre-event preparations and work acceleration strategies.

The pandemic has reset expectations. While CIOs have a vested interest in the effectiveness of BC plans – after all, they ensure essential activities can withstand a variety of disruptions to keep the business running as IT reinstates services after an incident – resilience should be a company-wide priority.

[ Also read: Digital transformation: Why data leaders must play offense during COVID-19 . ]

1. Build your business continuity plan foundation

As you reimagine your entire business resilience program, here’s what your BC plans should include. Effective BC plans start with the following five essential framework elements:

Objectives: What will the plan cover, and how does it fit into a larger organizational response to disruption?
Activation procedure: What sets the BC plan in motion? Who is involved, and what resources — i.e., backups, workplace recovery facilities, etc. — are available?
Priorities: How will you communicate with staff, vendors, customers, and others? What are the most business-critical applications and systems that you need to focus on reviving?
Assumptions and limitations: You can’t foresee every disruption, but you can detail limitations in your plan to allow for effective decision-making. Identify limitations in the extent, duration, and impact of your plan.
Standing down procedures: Determine your criteria for saying an incident is closed and how to extract lessons learned from the experience. This section can also include an appendix of relevant resources, from templates like action logs to meeting agendas.

Within this framework, there’s a lot of room to customize for your size, maturity, compliance requirements, and other factors. While every organization’s BC plan approach will be unique, it’s important to consider the following aspects when designing your plan.

2. Develop response strategies if key resources are unavailable

Effective BC plans must include well-defined strategies and actions for responding in the event that key resources become unavailable. These could include:

Third-party services
IT services

You need to have planned business responses for each of these disruption scenarios, and they must be at the individual resource level. Generic statements that convey the “what’s” without the “how’s” aren’t helpful. For example, if your inventory management system is unavailable, how will you continue your receiving activity? Be specific in your plans.

IT must be aware of the part it plays in enabling disruption response strategies. For example, remote working is one possible business response for workplace unavailability. In that event, IT might be tasked with upgrading your company’s virtual meeting service and expanding the IT help desk staff.

[ Read also: LogMeIn CIO: This is IT's time to shine on business continuity and Moving from COVID-19 crisis leadership to strategic leadership . ]

However, in a workforce unavailability scenario, your solution might be to transition work to personnel in another geography. In this case, IT’s response might be to adjust network configuration in anticipation of increased volumes from a network node.

BC planning is also essential within IT, which relies on people, workplaces, equipment, third-party services, supporting systems, and data. Put comprehensive BC plans in place for key IT activities where ongoing service levels are of paramount importance. This includes:

Network operations centers
Information security operations centers
IT help desks
Disaster recovery teams

3. Work out timing for each response strategy

Timing is critical.

Determine the anticipated time to implement each of your defined response strategies, as well as how long each strategy can remain effective.

For some strategy options, the goal should be quick implementation times. For others, focus on ensuring the response strategies will be effective for sustained timeframes – ideally three to six months or longer.

Let's look at two more important elements:

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How to create an effective business continuity plan

A business continuity plan outlines procedures and instructions an organization must follow in the face of disaster, whether fire, flood or cyberattack. Here's how to create one that gives your business the best chance of surviving such an event.

We rarely get advance notice that a disaster is ready to strike. Even with some lead time, though, multiple things can go wrong; every incident is unique and unfolds in unexpected ways.

This is where a business continuity plan comes into play. To give your organization the best shot at success during a disaster, you need to put a current, tested plan in the hands of all personnel responsible for carrying out any part of that plan. The lack of a plan doesn’t just mean your organization will take longer than necessary to recover from an event or incident. You could go out of business for good.

What is business continuity?

Business continuity refers to maintaining business functions or quickly resuming them in the event of a major disruption, whether caused by a fire, flood or malicious attack by cybercriminals. A business continuity plan outlines procedures and instructions an organization must follow in the face of such disasters; it covers business processes, assets, human resources, business partners and more.

Many people think a disaster recovery plan is the same as a business continuity plan, but a disaster recovery plan focuses mainly on restoring an IT infrastructure and operations after a crisis. It’s actually just one part of a complete business continuity plan, as a business continuity plan looks at the continuity of the entire organization.

Do you have a way to get HR, manufacturing and sales and support functionally up and running so the company can continue to make money right after a disaster? For example, if the building that houses your customer service representatives is flattened by a tornado, do you know how those reps can handle customer calls? Will they work from home temporarily, or from an alternate location? The BC plan addresses these types of concerns.

Note that a business impact analysis is another part of a business continuity plan. A business impact analysis identifies the impact of a sudden loss of business functions, usually quantified in a cost. Such analysis also helps you evaluate whether you should outsource non-core activities in your business continuity plan, which can come with its own risks. The business impact analysis essentially helps you look at your entire organization’s processes and determine which are most important.

Why business continuity planning matters

Whether you operate a small business or a large corporation, you strive to remain competitive. It’s vital to retain current customers while increasing your customer base — and there’s no better test of your capability to do so than right after an adverse event.

Because restoring IT is critical for most companies, numerous disaster recovery solutions are available. You can rely on IT to implement those solutions. But what about the rest of your business functions? Your company’s future depends on your people and processes. Being able to handle any incident effectively can have a positive effect on your company’s reputation and market value, and it can increase customer confidence.

“There’s an increase in consumer and regulatory expectations for security today,” says Lorraine O’Donnell, global head of business continuity at Experian. “Organizations must understand the processes within the business and the impact of the loss of these processes over time. These losses can be financial, legal, reputational and regulatory. The risk of having an organization’s “license to operate” withdrawn by a regulator or having conditions applied (retrospectively or prospectively) can adversely affect market value and consumer confidence. Build your recovery strategy around the allowable downtime for these processes.”

Anatomy of a business continuity plan

If your organization doesn’t have a business continuity plan in place, start by assessing your business processes, determining which areas are vulnerable, and the potential losses if those processes go down for a day, a few days or a week. This is essentially a business impact analysis.

Next, develop a plan. This involves six general steps:

Identify the scope of the plan.
Identify key business areas.
Identify critical functions.
Identify dependencies between various business areas and functions.
Determine acceptable downtime for each critical function.
Create a plan to maintain operations.

One common business continuity planning tool is a checklist that includes supplies and equipment, the location of data backups and backup sites, where the plan is available and who should have it, and contact information for emergency responders, key personnel and backup site providers.

Remember that the disaster recovery plan is part of the business continuity plan, so developing a disaster recovery plan if you don’t already have one should be part of your process. And if you do already have a disaster recovery plan, don’t assume that all requirements have been factored in, O’Donnell warns. You need to be sure that restoration time is defined and “make sure it aligns with business expectations.”

As you create your plan, consider interviewing key personnel in organizations who have gone through a disaster successfully. People generally like to share “war stories” and the steps and techniques (or clever ideas) that saved the day. Their insights could prove incredibly valuable in helping you to craft a solid plan.

The importance of testing your business continuity plan

Testing a plan is the only way to truly know it will work, says O’Donnell. “Obviously, a real incident is a true test and the best way to understand if something works. However, a controlled testing strategy is much more comfortable and provides an opportunity to identify gaps and improve.”

You have to rigorously test a plan to know if it’s complete and will fulfill its intended purpose. In fact, O’Donnell suggests you try to break it. “Don’t go for an easy scenario; always make it credible but challenging. This is the only way to improve. Also, ensure the objectives are measurable and stretching. Doing the minimum and ‘getting away with it’ just leads to a weak plan and no confidence in a real incident.”

Many organizations test a business continuity plan two to four times a year. The schedule depends on your type of organization, the amount of turnover of key personnel and the number of business processes and IT changes that have occurred since the last round of testing.

Common tests include tabletop exercises , structured walk-throughs and simulations. Test teams are usually composed of the recovery coordinator and members from each functional unit.

A tabletop exercise usually occurs in a conference room with the team poring over the plan, looking for gaps and ensuring that all business units are represented therein.

In a structured walk-through, each team member walks through his or her components of the plan in detail to identify weaknesses. Often, the team works through the test with a specific disaster in mind. Some organizations incorporate drills and disaster role-playing into the structured walk-through. Any weaknesses should be corrected and an updated plan distributed to all pertinent staff.

It’s also a good idea to conduct a full emergency evacuation drill at least once a year. This type of test lets you determine if you need to make special arrangements to evacuate staff members who have physical limitations.

Lastly, disaster simulation testing can be quite involved and should be performed annually. For this test, create an environment that simulates an actual disaster, with all the equipment, supplies and personnel (including business partners and vendors) who would be needed. The purpose of a simulation is to determine if you can carry out critical business functions during the event.

During each phase of business continuity plan testing, include some new employees on the test team. “Fresh eyes” might detect gaps or lapses of information that experienced team members could overlook.

Review and improve your business continuity plan

Much effort goes into creating and initially testing a business continuity plan. Once that job is complete, some organizations let the plan sit while other, more critical tasks get attention. When this happens, plans go stale and are of no use when needed.

Technology evolves, and people come and go, so the plan needs to be updated, too. Bring key personnel together at least annually to review the plan and discuss any areas that must be modified.

Prior to the review, solicit feedback from staff to incorporate into the plan. Ask all departments or business units to review the plan, including branch locations or other remote units. If you’ve had the misfortune of facing a disaster and had to put the plan into action, be sure to incorporate lessons learned. Many organizations conduct a review in tandem with a table-top exercise or structured walk-through.

How to ensure business continuity plan support, awareness

One way to ensure your plan is not successful is to adopt a casual attitude toward its importance. Every business continuity plan must be supported from the top down. That means senior management must be represented when creating and updating the plan; no one can delegate that responsibility to subordinates. In addition, the plan is likely to remain fresh and viable if senior management makes it a priority by dedicating time for adequate review and testing.

Management is also key to promoting user awareness. If employees don’t know about the plan, how will they be able to react appropriately when every minute counts? Although plan distribution and training can be conducted by business unit managers or HR staff, have someone from the top kick off training and punctuate its significance. It’ll have a greater impact on all employees, giving the plan more credibility and urgency.

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The 10 Components of a Business Continuity Plan

Business continuity is essential in ensuring that the operations of a company do not get interrupted even in emergencies. Learn more about the components of a Business Continuity Plan here.

As the world becomes increasingly interconnected and reliant on technology, the importance of having a robust business continuity plan (BCP) in place is more important than ever. Many organizations think they are prepared for an emergency simply because they have insurance, but this is only a small part of the puzzle. A comprehensive BCP must address all aspects of the organization, from people and facilities to processes and technology. In this article, we will explore the 10 key components of a business continuity plan and more.

.css-706nk0{position:absolute;margin-left:-2em;margin-top:3px;font-size:0.5em;color:#22445F;opacity:0;} .css-14nvrlq{display:inline-block;line-height:1;height:1em;background-color:currentColor;-webkit-mask:url(https://assets.xometry.com/fontawesome-pro/v6/svgs/light/link.svg) no-repeat center/contain content-box;mask:url(https://assets.xometry.com/fontawesome-pro/v6/svgs/light/link.svg) no-repeat center/contain content-box;-webkit-mask:url(https://assets.xometry.com/fontawesome-pro/v6/svgs/light/link.svg) no-repeat center/contain content-box;aspect-ratio:640/512;vertical-align:-15%;}.css-14nvrlq:before{content:"";} What Is Business Continuity?

Business continuity is the ability of an organization to keep its operations running in the event of an interruption. The goal of business continuity is to minimize the disruption to the organization and to ensure that it can resume its operations as quickly as possible. While business continuity is often thought of in terms of natural disasters, it can also apply to other types of disruptions, such as power outages, cyberattacks, and pandemics.

What Is a Business Continuity Plan?

A business continuity plan (BCP) is a document that outlines how an organization will continue to function during and after an emergency or major disruptive event. The goal of a BCP is to help the organization minimize downtime and maintain its core functions and operations. Tasks that are typically included in a BCP are: maintaining customer service, keeping the lights on, and ensuring safety. A well-executed BCP will help to minimize the financial and reputational impact of an emergency. A BCP is not a static document; it should be regularly reviewed and updated to reflect changes in the organization, such as new facilities, processes, or technology.

Importance of a Business Continuity Plan

A high-quality business continuity plan helps to ensure that the organization is prepared to respond quickly and efficiently to an emergency, minimizing the damage to its reputation. Some of its benefits include:

Helps to ensure the safety of employees, customers, and other stakeholders.
Helps to minimize downtime and maintain operations.
Helps to protect the organization’s reputation.
Helps to minimize the financial impact of an emergency.

The Components of a Business Continuity Plan

To have an effective business continuity plan, the following components must be present:

.css-2xf3ee{font-size:0.6em;margin-left:-2em;position:absolute;color:#22445F;} 1. Business Impact Analysis

The first step in creating a business continuity plan is to conduct a business impact analysis (BIA). This is a process of identifying and assessing the potential impact of an interruption to critical business operations. The BIA will help you to identify which business processes are critical to the survival of the organization and which can be interrupted without major consequences.

2. Risk Assessment

Once you have identified the business processes that are critical to the organization, the next step is to assess the risks that could potentially disrupt those processes. This includes natural disasters, power outages, cyberattacks, and pandemics. Risk assessment will help you to prioritize the relevant business processes and create a plan to mitigate the risks.

3. Business Continuity Strategy

The business continuity strategy outlines the steps that will be taken to keep the organization running in the event of an interruption. The strategy should be tailored to the specific needs of the organization and should address all aspects of the business continuity plan, from people and facilities to processes and technology.

4. Recovery Team

The recovery team is responsible for implementing the business continuity plan. The team should be made up of key personnel from all departments of the organization. The team should meet regularly to review the business continuity plan and to identify any changes that need to be made.

5. Training

All members of the business recovery team should be trained in their roles and responsibilities. Training should also be provided to all employees, so they know what to do in the event of an emergency.

6. Business Continuity Exercises

Business continuity exercises are simulations of an interruption to business processes. They are conducted to test the business continuity plan and to identify any weaknesses. Exercises should be conducted regularly and should be adapted to reflect changes in the organization.

7. Communication

Communication is essential for keeping employees, customers, and other stakeholders informed during an interruption. The business continuity plan should include a communication plan that outlines who will be responsible for communicating with different groups of people. The communication plan should also include a method for distributing information, such as email, text message, or social media.

8. Backup Locations and Physical Assets

In the event of an interruption, it may be necessary to relocate business processes to a different location. The business continuity plan should include a list of backup locations and contact information for those locations. The plan should also include a list of physical assets, such as computer equipment, that will be needed to continue business processes at the backup location.

9. Periodic Review and Recommendations

The business continuity plan should be reviewed regularly, and changes should be made as needed. The plan should also be reviewed after any major changes to the organization, such as a merger or acquisition. Business continuity professionals can help to review and update the business continuity plan. They can also provide recommendations for improvements to the plan.

10. Technology

Technology is a critical part of business continuity. The business continuity plan should include a plan for maintaining access to critical systems in the event of an interruption. This could include things like data backup, emergency power, and redundant systems. As technology evolves, the business continuity plan should be updated to reflect changes in the organization. Also, employees should be trained on how to use the technology that is critical to business continuity.

How to Create a Business Continuity Plan

The following steps can be taken to get started on a BCP:

The risk profile of the organization should be determined.
Business processes that are critical to the organization should be identified.
A strategy should be developed to keep the organization running in the event of an interruption.
Key products, services, or functions should be documented.
The business-continuity-plan objectives, scope, and assumptions should be documented.
Contact lists should be organized.
A business continuity plan should be continuously reviewed and kept up to date.

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How To Create a Business Continuity Plan Template

By Wrike Team , May 14, 2023 - 10 min read

Modern businesses face countless risks and challenges, and it is critical to have a business continuity plan (BCP) in place. A BCP helps an organization prepare for disasters, respond to disruptions, and recover in an efficient manner. In this article, we will walk you through a step-by-step guide on crafting the perfect business continuity plan template. Grab your notebook, and let’s dive in!

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Understanding the importance of a business continuity plan template

A business continuity plan (BCP) is a preventive and proactive plan that helps an organization manage its operations during emergencies and disasters. It involves identifying and assessing potential threats and hazards that may disrupt a business’s operations. The purpose of a BCP is to minimize the impact of unexpected incidents. The goal is to ensure the company can maintain its essential operations with little interruption.

Defining business continuity

Business continuity refers to a business’s ability to continue its critical functions during a disruption, whether natural or human-made. This type of plan is a holistic approach that encompasses people, processes, and technology.

Identifying potential risks and disruptions

The initial stage in BCP development is assessing risks to identify potential threats that could affect the business’s operations. Organizations can categorize risks into internal or external factors, such as cyber threats, natural disasters, power outages, or supply chain disruptions. Once the organization has identified the risks, it needs to evaluate them to determine their potential impact.

It’s crucial to assess both the likelihood of these risks happening and the potential consequences of not having a BCP. If a company heavily depends on its computers, a cyberattack or computer failure could be expensive and damage its reputation. A BCP can help mitigate these risks and ensure that the company can continue to operate with minimal disruption.

The benefits of having a business continuity plan

A BCP helps a company by reducing downtime, cutting financial losses, keeping employees safe, and protecting the brand’s reputation. It enables the organization to respond quickly and effectively to a disruption, resulting in minimal business interruption. Having a BCP in place can also increase customer trust and confidence in the companies ability to handle crises.

Another advantage of having a BCP is that it helps spot areas for improvement in how the organization works. These changes allow for making processes more efficient, saving money, and becoming more resilient for the business as a whole.

Lastly, BCPs hold organizations accountable, ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements. Failure to comply with certain regulations can result in fines and reputation damage, along with endangering employees and customers.

Key components of a business continuity plan template

A BCP template has the following key parts: analyzing business impact, recovery plans, incident responses, crisis communication, and training. A BCP template is an essential tool for ensuring business continuity. In addition to the key parts mentioned, it should also include clear roles and responsibilities for employees during a crisis.

These roles can help streamline decision making and ensure a swift response to any disruptions. Furthermore, the template should incorporate regular testing and revision of the plan to adapt to evolving threats and changing business needs. Good business continuity planning is an ongoing process that protects your organization and makes it stronger when facing challenges.

Let’s take a closer look at each of these components:

Business impact analysis

A business impact analysis (BIA) consists of two main parts. The first part involves identifying important functions within the organization. The second part involves determining how a disruption could impact the business’s finances, reputation, and compliance. Keep doing this analysis regularly to make sure it stays current and helpful for the business’s present operations.

Recovery strategies

Recovery strategies are what a company does to fix important things when something bad happens, using info from the BIA. These strategies include recovering data and systems, relocating staff, or seeking assistance from another company until things are back to normal.

Remember to document the recovery strategies in detail and have them regularly reviewed and updated. Regularly test them to ensure they function well and you can use them quickly if there’s an issue.

Communication and crisis management

A communication and crisis management plan tells you how to talk to employees, suppliers, regulators, and customers when something goes wrong. The plan should ensure everyone understands the company’s response to the problem and its impact on the business.

Training and awareness

Make sure employees understand the BCP through education and regular training so they know what to do during disruptions. This preparation helps the organization respond effectively and minimize disruptions to its operations.

Overall, your program should include training on the BIA, recovery strategies, incident response plan, and communication and crisis management plan.

Two people sitting at a desk speaking with a laptop open and notebooks

Step-by-step guide to creating a business continuity plan template

Business continuity planning is a critical process for any organization. Here is your step-by-step approach to creating a BCP template.

Step 1: Assemble a business continuity team

Assemble a business continuity team consisting of employees from various departments and functions, such as IT, operations, finance, and human resources. These staff members, who know the organization’s important tasks, will create and put the BCP template into action.

Also, it is important that the team members have the necessary resources and support to carry out their responsibilities effectively. This may involve giving the team training, making sure they have the right tools and technology.

Step 2: Conduct a risk assessment

Next, conduct a comprehensive risk assessment to identify internal and external risks that may impact the organization’s operations. The assessment should consider a range of scenarios, including natural disasters, cyberattacks, and other potential disruptions. It should also take into account the potential impact of these risks on the organization’s critical functions.

Step 3: Identify critical business functions

After assessing risks, determine which essential tasks must continue during a disruption. Critical functions are the top tasks the organization needs to prioritize, such as assisting customers, handling orders, and managing finances. Remember to involve key stakeholders in the identification of critical functions.

Step 4: Develop recovery strategies

Next, develop recovery strategies that outline the procedures for restoring each function in the event of a critical disruption.

Make sure you test and validate your strategies for effectiveness so you can implement them quickly and efficiently. This testing may involve conducting simulations or other exercises to identify any gaps or weaknesses in your recovery strategies.

Step 5: Create an incident response plan

Craft a plan that provides details on how the organization will respond to an incident. Ensure the procedures detail how to reach the crisis management team, evaluate the situation, and talk to stakeholders, employees, and customers.

Make sure the plan explains how to use recovery strategies from Step 4 quickly and effectively when there’s a problem.

Step 6: Establish a communication plan

Develop a communication plan that outlines how to approach all stakeholders, employees, and customers regarding the disruption and the organization’s response. This plan needs a crisis management team, and their job is to organize how the organization deals with the problem. Establish this team in advance, and have their contact information readily available.

Step 7: Train and educate employees

Train and educate employees on the BCP and their responsibilities so that they know what to do during a disruption. Do practice runs often to make the plan work better. Everyone, including those not in the business continuity team, should take part.

Step 8: Regularly review and update the plan

Every year, go and update the BCP template to ensure accuracy. This will make sure it still works and fits any changes in the company’s operations, risks, and threats.

It is also important to review the BCP following any significant changes to the organization’s operations or infrastructure. This may include changes to key personnel, IT systems, or the business’s physical location.

Business continuity plan example

In this business continuity plan example, we’ll explore the key components of a robust strategy to ensure an organization can weather unexpected disruptions. L et’s consider a manufacturing company.

Its BCP might include strategies for relocating production to alternate facilities in case of a natural disaster or supply chain interruption. It may also detail communication protocols to keep employees, customers, and stakeholders informed during such events.

Additionally, the plan could address data backup and recovery procedures to ensure critical information remains accessible. With a good business continuity plan, organizations can avoid long disruptions. They can keep a good reputation and hold on to trust from customers and partners, even in tough times.

How Wrike can help with a business continuity plan template

Wrike helps organizations create and maintain a good business continuity plan by being a flexible project management and collaboration platform. By leveraging Wrike, businesses can streamline their continuity planning efforts in several ways.

Wrike helps team members communicate and work together easily, with real-time updates and task assignments — especially important during crises. Secondly, the platform supports comprehensive document management, making it easy to store and access critical documents, such as emergency response protocols and contact lists.

Moreover, Wrike’s customizable workflow automation guarantees that it meets crucial tasks and deadlines without fail. This enhances the speed and efficiency of responding to disruptions, ensuring that the business can recover quickly and minimize downtime.

In summary, Wrike provides a robust framework for designing, implementing, and maintaining a business continuity plan, helping organizations safeguard their operations and respond effectively to unforeseen challenges.

A BCP is essential for any organization that wants to ensure business continuity during a disruption. You can create a BCP template by following the steps in this article. This template will assist your organization in managing risks and recovering from disruptions. Remember to review and update your plan regularly and educate your employees to ensure its effectiveness.

Ensure your organization’s resilience by crafting an effective business continuity plan template with Wrike. Start your free trial today and safeguard your business from unforeseen risks and disruptions.

Note: This article was created with the assistance of an AI engine. It has been reviewed and revised by our team of experts to ensure accuracy and quality.

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What is Business Continuity

A-to- Z erto Glossary of Terms

BACK TO THE GLOSSARY

Business continuity refers to an organization’s ability to operate uninterrupted. Generally, this means maintaining critical functions during an emergency, but it also encompasses planned downtime. Constant availability of employee- and customer-facing operations is both the goal of business continuity and a way to enable business resilience.

What Is Business Continuity ?

Business continuity means being connected and operational 24/7. This continuous availability and functionality of your organization is fundamental to maintaining brand trust and employee morale. Business continuity requires strategic planning, including a contingency plan for unplanned disruptions as well as investments that reduce planned downtime.

Business continuity encompasses the people, processes, technologies, and frameworks needed for an organization to ensure continuously deliver critical business functions when a disaster occurs.

Business Continuity (BC) Guide: Everything You Need to Know about BC

Why Is Business Continuity Important?

In today’s digital-first world, business continuity has become a commonplace expectation, even though it’s admittedly difficult to achieve. Regularly scheduled downtime will frustrate your employees and customers alike. Unplanned disruptions are also more common than ever, owing to a number of causes:

Natural disasters
Labor disagreements
Digital heists and ransomware attacks
System failures and outages

But failing to plan for unexpected disruptions could be disastrous for your organization. In a worst-case disruption scenario, a business may even close permanently. No matter the circumstance, any time offline can have potentially dire consequences. That’s why business continuity is so important.

In an emergency, business continuity is going to:

Ensure services or products are delivered to customers
Support employees and their safety and security
Map out the steps and actions to be taken
Have the right technology and solutions in place for disaster recovery

What Does Business Continuity Means in a Business Emergency

Key Components of a Business Continuity Plan to Complete the 4 R’s

According to ISO 22301 ¹ , a business continuity plan is defined as “documented procedures that guide organizations to complete the four R’s— R espond, R ecover, R esume, and R estore— to reach a pre-defined level of operations following disruption.” Therefore, at a minimum, the business continuity plan should contain some specific items.

Contact information of the key individuals in charge of the business continuity plan
Instructions about how to use the plan end-to-end
Service level agreements over key business processes
References to the DR, crisis management and emergency response plans

Key Elements of a Business Continuity Plan

The 3 Basic Elements of Business Continuity

Business continuity does not come up on its own, nor out of the blue. There are three foundational elements that make business continuity a reality.

Business Continuity Management Team (BCMT)

This is the one team, or actually the many teams involved in the design, implementation, activation and maintenance of the business continuity plan(s). It is a cross-functional group that spans the entire organization from executives to front-line employees.

Business Continuity Planning

This is the set of activities required to establish a viable and effective business continuity plan. Business continuity planning is made of several parts such as business impact analysis (BIA) and risk assessment . Some key business continuity metrics — MDT and MTDL — also get established along the way. This planning process will only be as strong as the BCM team leading and running it, emphasizing the importance of the people involved and their expertise.

Business Continuity Plan (BCP)

This is the result of the business continuity planning. The BCP is a document containing processes and procedures to be activated in the event of a disaster or major disruption. While aiming to ensure the business’s continued operations, the business continuity plan also ensures the protection of an organization’s employees, resources and assets. Very often, an organization has multiple BCPs, especially if it is large and with an international footprint.

Business Continuity vs Disaster Recovery?

Business continuity is interconnected with disaster recovery (DR), forming the common acronym of BCDR . Although the two terms tend to be used interchangeably, they aren’t identical. Business continuity means maintaining organizational operability, while disaster recovery denotes restoring IT systems after a disruption.

Pyramid showing plans involved in Business Continuity

Business continuity planning establishes a business continuity plan, whereas disaster recovery planning produces a disaster recovery plan. The DR plan is a subset of the business continuity plan, along with the crisis management plan and the emergency response plan.

A DR plan may not always be triggered when the business continuity plan is invoked. There are situations that impact business continuity without affecting an organization’s IT infrastructure and systems. A staff strike at a hospital, for example, will likely activate business continuity and crisis management plans without needing to invoke any DR plan.

Business Continuity Plan (BCP) vs. Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP): What’s the Difference?

The Plans in Business Continuity

Business Continuity vs Business Resilience?

Business continuity is critical to establishing an organization’s resilience against disruptive events in the immediate to short-term horizon.

Business continuity plans, which are the result of risk assessment , business impact analysis (BIA) , and planning and testing activities, address several aspects of business resilience —including operational resilience , IT resilience , and cyber resilience —and set the readiness level of an organization.

When disruption strikes, various plans are invoked and executed as needed. After normal operations are restored, an organization usually conducts a post-mortem analysis to identify gaps and implement improvements that consequently update and enhance the business continuity plan. This builds and improves business resilience.

Comparing Resilience – Part One: Business Resilience

Comparing Resilience – Part 5: Resilience with Business Continuity and Business Strategy

Why Use Zerto for Business Continuity

An essential part of business continuity, disaster recovery focuses on IT and technology infrastructure. Zerto, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, is a DR solution that greatly reduces the downtime associated with unplanned disruptions and minimizes the impact of planned disruptions, enabling true business continuity. Zerto also enables an always-on experience, providing organizations with more time for innovation and business transformation.

The Zerto solution ensures that your IT systems are resilient through emergencies that threaten to disrupt your operations. Zerto enables IT transformation through a single, simple, and scalable solution that offers unparalleled protection. It includes features critical to business continuity:

Instant file restore
Automated VM protection
Instant VM restore
Real-time analytics and capacity planning

By taking away the risks and complexity of modernization and cloud adoption, the software-only Zerto solution supports true business continuity.

Zerto Solution Overview

Frequently Asked Questions

General questions about business continuity.

Q: Who is responsible for business continuity?

A: The business continuity management team is responsible for all the activities enabling business continuity. But that team is not a monolithic group: it is made of many people from different functions and spans across all layers of management (from executives to front line employees). In fact, it is often many teams instead of one. But at the end of the day, every employee carries the responsibility of ensuring business continuity in the face of a major disruption or disaster, by complying with steps and actions described in the activated BCP, either as a “commander” or “executioner”.

Q: Is business continuity the same as business resilience?

A: Business continuity is a major element in enabling business resilience, especially in the face of operational risks, but it is only one facet of it. Business resilience is broader and considers other types of risks, usually more holistically managed under the risk management function in an organization.

Q: What is BCDR (Business continuity and disaster recovery)?

A: There can be two interpretations for this term. BCDR can refer to the part of business continuity that is covered by disaster recovery. Disaster recovery in itself is usually not enough to ensure business continuity —even if sometimes it does, when the disruption is self-contained in IT— because there are more than systems involved in business processes. However, in today’s environment, most businesses rely on IT systems and applications, and therefore definitely need a solid disaster recovery strategy and plan.

BCDR can also mean the combination of an organization’s business continuity plan with its disaster recovery plan. As mentioned above, the DRP would be part of the BCP, since the scope of the latter is broader than the former. A BCDR plan would therefore cover the recovery from an IT standpoint with all the steps and activities —beyond IT— to get the operations back to normal. This would apply to some types of disruptions, but not all.

Questions About the Business Continuity Plan – BCP

Q: How many business continuity plans, or BCPs, can a business have?

It all depends as no one business is similar to another. Based on the size and global footprint of an organization, there might be requirements to get specific BCPs by region, country or even site location. Also, some organizations may decide to have their BCP split into multiple ones to address specific types of risks, while others may decide to have everything under one master BCP. The BCM team will usually determine what is best for the business based on applicable compliance requirements and what the organization can manage from a complexity standpoint.

Q: How is a BCP activated or de-activated?

A business continuity plan can be activated at multiple levels of the business continuity chain-of-command. This is to ensure speed over the business reaction to a disruption. Then the situation may end up being managed at a level different from where it started. The de-activation of an active BCP is usually driven by the crisis management team, based on specific criteria spelled out in the BCP, and is a step-down process (it is not an On-Off transition).

Q: Who should have access to the BCP?

Anybody should be able to access the BCP. However, it is crucial that the individuals involved in executing the BCP —because of their role in its execution— could access it at any time, and especially during a crisis. Indeed, even if access to the BCP is not a substitute for training, during a crisis there might be a need to check some of its elements. Old-fashion printed versions of a BCP should not be discarded, as some type of disruptions may prevent access to a BCP in a digital format.

Q: What is the difference between a business continuity plan (BCP) and a disaster recovery plan (DRP)?

A DR plan helps to reduce the impact and duration of unexpected disruptions by minimizing the data loss and downtime of key IT infrastructure, systems, and applications. The BCP details your organization’s entire prevention, mitigation, response, and recovery protocols for all kinds of threats and disasters. The DRP is part of the BCP.

Other Resources

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1. ISO 22301:2019 – Security and resilience — Business continuity management systems — Requirements

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Key Elements of Business Continuity Management

February 24, 2022

Business continuity management elements include; establishing a BCM program, risk assessment, business impact analysis, programme training. Testing and updating the plan which includes the BCM and Communication plan.

(BCM) is a term that is used in a variety of ways, but at its core it is the process of ensuring that an organization can continue to function during and after a disruptive event. While there are many elements to BCM, some key components include business impact analysis (BIA), risk assessment, recovery planning, and testing and exercises. By taking these steps, organizations can reduce the chances of major disruptions and ensure that they can still meet their goals even in times of crisis.

Business Continuity Management

Building a successful business takes a lot of hard work, dedication, and planning. But what happens when something unexpected happens? How do you make sure your business can keep going despite any challenges that come up? By implementing a sound business continuity management plan , you can help ensure your company’s survival in the face of disaster. In this blog post, we’ll discuss some key elements of effective BCM and explain why it’s so important for businesses to have a plan in place.

In order to keep a business running smoothly, it is important to have a business continuity management (BCM) plan in place. This plan outlines how the company will continue to operate in the event of an unexpected disruption. There are several key elements that should be included in a BCM plan. In this blog post, we will discuss some of those key elements and provide tips for creating a successful BCM plan.

In order for a company to be successful, it is important that it has a plan in place for continuity in the event of an emergency. Business continuity management (BCM) is a process that helps organizations ensure that critical functions can continue during and after an incident. There are several key elements to BCM, and each one is essential for creating a comprehensive plan. In this blog post, we will discuss the three most important components of BCM.

Business Continuity Management Process

A business continuity management (BCM) process is a series of steps or activities that are followed to ensure that critical business functions can continue in the event of a disaster or emergency. The BCM process begins with risk assessment and identification of key business functions, and then proceeds with development and implementation of continuity plans for those functions.

In order for a BCM plan to be effective, it must be regularly tested and updated to reflect changes in the business environment. The BCM process should also include regular communication and training for employees so that everyone is aware of their role in maintaining continuity of operations.

The business continuity management process is designed to help an organization prepare for, prevent, mitigate the effects of and respond to disasters. The four phases of this process are:

– Preparation phase – This includes identifying potential threats and hazards that could affect your organization’s operations as well as preparing your response plans .

– Mitigation phase – In this stage you will work on reducing any harm done by the disaster or hazard before it occurs. This may include things like closing off access points or removing hazardous materials from a location.

– Recovery phase – Here you will focus on getting back to normal operations as quickly as possible after a disaster has occurred.

Key Elements of Business Continuity Management

Business Continuity Planning

Business continuity planning (BCP) is a set of measures aimed at ensuring the continuation of an organization’s essential operations in the event of a disaster or emergency. It includes planning for both short-term and long-term disruptions, and can include provisions for dealing with both manmade and natural disasters .

Essential operations may be defined as those that are necessary to preserve life, protect property, ensure public safety, or maintain critical infrastructure. They may also include key business functions such as financial transactions or the provision of goods and services.

BCP involves creating a plan that will allow an organization to continue operating despite facing disruptions. This plan should identify which essential operations need to be maintained, how these operations will be supported and maintained.

A BCP typically includes processes for assessing risk , identifying critical functions and resources, developing backup plans and testing them to ensure readiness.

The following procedures should be followed in business continuity planning:-

Establish realistic recovery time objectives (RTOs) and recovery point objectives (RPOs) . These represent the maximum amount of time and data loss that your company can tolerate.
Document all essential business functions and processes. This will help you identify which systems and data are most critical to your organization’s ongoing operations.
Create a disaster recovery plan , outlining the steps needed to restore essential systems and data in the event of a disruption.
Test your plan regularly, rehearsing both minor disruptions (e.g., server outage) and major disasters (e.g., natural disaster).

Standard on Disaster/emergency Management and Business Continuity Programs

The ISO 22301:2019 standard establishes a best-practice BCMS. A BCMS aids businesses in managing events that affect all business-critical processes and activities, from the failure of a single server to the loss of an entire facility.

The standard covers everything you need to know about establishing, maintaining, and improving a management system to avoid, minimize the chance of, prepare for, react to, and recover from disruptions as they occur.

The requirements outlined in this paper are simply defined and intended to be applied to all organizations, regardless of type, size, or complexity. The degree to which these standards are applied is determined by the organization’s operating environment and policies.

It builds on previous regional standards like British Standard BS 25999 and others. It’s intended to shield your company from downtime due to natural disasters, fire, floods, earthquakes, theft, IT outage, staff sickness, or terrorist attack. Extreme weather events like storms and blizzards are

The ISO 22301 management system allows you to identify potential threats to your company’s vital business functions, as well as put precautions in place ahead of time to prevent your company from coming to a halt.

Importance of ISO 22301 business continuity management

Recognize and manage current and potential dangers to your company.
Take a proactive approach to mitigating the impact of incidents.
At times of crises, maintain crucial activities operational.
Minimizing downtime during incidents, as well as speeding up recovery time,
Demonstrate your ability to withstand the demands of clients, suppliers and procurement requests.

Elements of Business Continuity Management

The key elements of business continuity management (BCM) are as follows:

Establishing a BCM plan – This should include the organization’s objectives, strategies , and procedures for recovering from a disruption. The emergency planning team might include veterinarians, practice managers , and supervisors depending on the size of an organization. At smaller businesses, the selection committee may include every member of staff.
Risk assessment : This identifies and evaluates potential risks that could cause a disruption. It comprises two options i.e. threat assessment and vulnerability assessment. This assesses the likelihood and severity of threats that could affect the organization(threat)and vulnerability identifies weaknesses in systems or processes that could leave the organization vulnerable to attack or disaster.
Business impact analysis (BIA) : This involves assessing the potential impacts to the organization if a disruption occurs.
Programme management : The BCM programme should be managed by a dedicated team with clear roles and responsibilities . The organization should mitigate risks that jeopardize the organizations’ operations, assets, or the environment by lowering the risk to an acceptable level after the BIA.
Ensuring the availability of essential resources – These include people, technology , data, and facilities. Develop the strategies of disaster preparedness. Develop a business continuity management plan for the whole organization and critical processes.
Training employees on how to respond to disruptions – Employees need to be familiar with the BCM plan and know what actions to take in the event of a disruption. Train employees with significant responsibilities and assignments in the company continuity, disaster recovery, and incident response processes.
Testing and updating the BCM plan regularly – The BCM plan should be tested regularly to ensure that it is effective and up-to-date. The process of testing is referred to as test planning and execution, system rehearsing with coworkers, and technical infrastructure testing to demonstrate business continuity .
Communications plan : This outlines how information will be communicated within and outside of the organization in the event

Business continuity management is essential for all businesses, large and small. By establishing a BCM plan, conducting risk assessments , business impact analysis (BIA), and programme management, you can ensure the continued operation of your business in the event of a disruption. Essential resources must be secured and employees must be trained on how to respond to disruptions. The BCM plan should be regularly tested and updated to reflect changes in the business environment . A communication plan is also necessary to keep stakeholders informed during and after a disruption. Implementing these key elements of BCM will help you protect your business from potential disruptions .

BCM is a critical process for all organizations, and by implementing the key components we’ve outlined, you can reduce the chances of major disruptions and ensure that your business can continue to meet its goals during times of crisis.

It should be tailored to the specific needs of each organization . The key components we’ve outlined are a good starting point, but every business will have different risks and needs that need to be considered. By taking the time to map out a comprehensive BCM plan, you can rest assured that your business will be able to weather any storm. Have you put together a BCM plan for your organization? If not, now is the time to start!

Chris Ekai is a Risk Management expert with over 10 years of experience in the field. He has a Master’s(MSc) degree in Risk Management from University of Portsmouth and is a CPA and Finance professional. He currently works as a Content Manager at Risk Publishing, writing about Enterprise Risk Management, Business Continuity Management and Project Management.

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The 10 Key Components of a Business Continuity Plan

by Ian Linton

Published on 1 Jan 2021

An effective business continuity plan is essential to restore company operations, protect your reputation and minimize the risk of serious financial loss in a disaster. A computer outage, for example, costs small and medium businesses an average of $12,500 per day, as of 2011, if their computers are down, according to the software company Symantec. Survival depends on the ability not just to cope with future events but to anticipate the impact these events will have on the organization, according to the Directors & Boards website.

Risks and Impact

A business continuity plan identifies the internal and external risks your organization faces. These range from major events such as hurricanes, fires or floods to other problems such as fraud, telecommunications failures, computer viruses or supply-chain issues. The plan includes an assessment of the risk level, estimating the potential consequences of each type of disaster and the impact on business continuity. It identifies any measures in place to prevent or minimize the risk.

Response and Resources

For each risk scenario, the plan includes an appropriate response. This will describe the actions to be taken, the people involved and the resources required to restore operations. If a major disaster occurs, you may need to set up temporary facilities. The plan identifies the source and location of facilities such as temporary office accommodation, telecommunications systems and computing equipment so key employees can quickly resume work.

Duties and Priorities

A clear command structure is essential in a disaster. A continuity plan identifies the members of the business continuity team with a detailed description of roles, responsibilities and actions. It also sets out a procedure for making critical decisions or escalating responsibilities in a major crisis. Prioritizing people is critical -- if a disaster damages property, you may not be able to restore normal working conditions for all employees in the short term. The plan identifies the key employees who must be operational from the first day. Typically, these would include senior executives, sales and customer service teams, and production-planning staff to maintain service to customers.

Contacts and Communications

Effective communication keeps employees aware of their duties after a disaster. It also helps maintain confidence among customers and others who have a stake in the business. The plan includes templates for internal announcements and news releases covering different scenarios as well as an updated employee directory with contact information. It also includes contact details of suppliers and emergency services. To support crisis communications, the plan lists contact information for key customers, the media and key investors.

Testing and Maintenance

Training and testing is essential to ensure the business recovery teams can fulfill their responsibilities. The continuity plan includes a detailed training program and sets dates for regular rehearsals of the recovery procedures. An emergency plan can quickly go out of date. Risks change and new threats emerge, particularly in information technology, where attacks by cyber criminals have become increasingly sophisticated. The plan names a team member to update the procedures.

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Developing a plan is a key component of disaster recovery (DR) best practices. When creating a DR plan, make sure you use the following resources:

DR Policies and Procedures webpage to ensure compliance with university standards.
Utilize the Backup and DR Plan Job Aid when creating or reviewing backup or recovery plans.
Set prioritization by using the Criticality Matrix .
Ensure a Chain of Custody Form is completed and stored/on file in accordance with the unit’s IT procedures, for a minimum of one year unless otherwise specified by the unit’s record retention schedule. More information can be found in the university’s Information Security Control Requirements (ISCR) IT1.1.5 .

Key Terms: Recovery Time Objective and Recovery Point Objective

Recovery time objective (rto) .

As defined by the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Computer Security Resource Center (CSRC) , RTO is the overall length of time an information system’s components can be in the recovery phase before negatively impacting the organization’s mission or mission/business processes.

For the DR Program, the RTO is based off the system’s capability (the overall time length to restore – includes system components and data):

When determing the RTO for your systems, keep the following in mind:

Assume requirements outside of your control are available, e.g., power, network, and central authentication.

If you have a redundant site, assume everything there is operational.

Note: Large scale scenarios such as a mass power outage, loss of multiple data centers, the loss of staff available to do the recovery or the spread of ransomware throughout the organization would extend system recovery times past documented RTOs.

Choose from the following RTO parameters:

Additional guidance when choosing RTO:

If your RTO capability does not match one of these parameters, select the next highest RTO. For example, if your RTO capability is 26 Hours, then you would choose 48 Hours because you would not be able to meet an RTO of 24 Hours.

RTO is based on system recovery. This includes the time to recover system components and data. RTO ends when the system is operational and is handed back to the business for data validation and input of data captured from paper procedures during downtime. If a system must be available regardless of data, or if there is a difference between when the system can be available and when it must be available (for example if a system needs to be available in 12 Hours, but the system is not capable of meeting that need), Business Continuity Managment and DR must work together to understand recovery objectives.

Any system thought of as “Best Effort” should be evaluated for capability and > 30 days should only be used if the RTO is truly beyond 30 days.

RTO times should be selected based off each individual system’s (application or service) ability to recover and should not account for the time required to bring dependent systems online, for example the network or central authentication.

Recovery Point Objective (RPO)

The RPO is defined by NIST's CSRC as the point in time to which data must be recovered after an outage.

For the DR Program, the RPO is the amount of time since the data was last backed up.

Choose from the following RPO program parameters:

Additional guidance when choosing RPO:

If your RPO does not match one of these parameters, select the next higher RPO. For example, if your backup is every 8 Hours then you would choose 12 Hours because 8 Hours is not a parameter.

RPO times are used to understand how much data could be lost.

Corrin Jones

November 14, 2023

SHARING THIS ARTICLE

7 key components of an it disaster recovery plan.

An IT disaster, whether caused by natural weather-related events, human errors or cyberattacks, can disrupt business operations, lead to data loss, and result in significant financial and reputational damage. Organizations must develop and implement comprehensive IT disaster recovery plans to minimize the increasing threat from these risks and ensure business continuity. This article outlines seven critical components of an effective IT disaster recovery plan.

1. Risk Assessment and Business Impact Analysis

The first step in developing an IT disaster recovery plan is conducting a thorough risk assessment and business impact analysis. This process involves identifying potential risks, vulnerabilities and threats that could impact the organization’s IT infrastructure. It also entails assessing the potential impact of these disruptions on critical business processes, systems and data. Organizations can prioritize their recovery efforts and allocate appropriate resources by understanding these risks and potential consequences.

2. Clearly Defined Recovery Objectives

Once you’ve assessed the risks and impacts of a potential IT disaster, it is crucial to establish clear recovery objectives. These objectives should define the desired recovery time objectives (RTOs) and recovery point objectives (RPOs). RTO refers to the maximum acceptable downtime for different systems or services, while RPO refers to the maximum acceptable data loss. These objectives will guide the development of recovery strategies and help determine the necessary resources and technologies for a successful recovery.

3. Backup and Data Protection

A comprehensive backup and data protection strategy is an integral part of an IT disaster recovery plan. This plan includes regular backups of critical data and systems on-site and off-site. Organizations should consider employing full, incremental and differential backups to ensure data integrity and minimize recovery time. Additionally, robust data encryption and access controls help protect sensitive information from unauthorized access or data breaches.

4. Recovery Strategies and Solutions

Organizations must establish suitable recovery strategies and solutions to recover from an IT disaster effectively. These strategies may include hot sites, cold sites or cloud-based solutions. Hot sites are fully equipped and operational facilities allowing immediate failover during a disaster. On the other hand, cold sites provide essential infrastructure but require time for equipment setup and data restoration. Cloud-based solutions offer scalable and flexible recovery options, enabling organizations to restore their systems and data remotely or to migrate data away from a geographic-specific crisis. The choice of recovery strategy depends on factors such as budget, recovery objectives and the criticality of your systems.

5. Communication and Notification Procedures

Effective communication is vital during a disaster to coordinate recovery efforts, inform stakeholders, and manage public relations. An IT disaster recovery plan should include well-defined communication and notification procedures. This process entails establishing communication channels, contact lists and protocols for internal teams, external vendors, customers and regulatory bodies. Clear lines of communication ensure prompt crisis response and enable stakeholders to stay informed about the recovery progress and any necessary actions.

6. Regular Testing and Training

Developing an IT disaster recovery plan is insufficient; regular testing and training are essential to validate its effectiveness and ensure your readiness. Organizations should conduct comprehensive testing exercises, including simulations and mock drills, to evaluate the plan’s response and identify gaps or weaknesses. These tests help fine-tune the recovery procedures, assess the RTOs and RPOs and train the personnel involved in the recovery process. Organizations can enhance their disaster recovery capabilities by regularly reviewing and updating the plan based on lessons learned from testing and training.

7. Documentation and Maintenance

Proper documentation is crucial for successfully implementing your IT disaster recovery plan. This process includes creating detailed procedures, recovery workflows, system configurations and network diagrams. It’s essential to understand that your IT recovery document is a living document that should be regularly updated to reflect any changes in the IT infrastructure or business processes. Additionally, organizations should establish a maintenance schedule to review and update the plan at defined intervals. As technology and business requirements evolve, the disaster recovery plan should adapt accordingly to remain relevant and effective.

Talk to Red River About Your IT Disaster Recovery Plan

The risks to your IT infrastructure are ongoing, from volatile weather to a cyber-attack. An IT disaster recovery plan is critical to any organization’s overall risk management strategy. Considering the key components discussed in this article, companies can protect themselves from a business and IT meltdown even if a significant disruption occurs. An ongoing IT disaster recovery plan is your best defense against evolving threats. Red River can help by helping your team create an effective plan for any natural or human-made disaster well before it occurs. Talk with our team today about how we can help your business.

What is an IT disaster recovery plan?

An IT disaster recovery plan is a documented set of strategies, procedures, and protocols to help organizations recover their IT infrastructure and systems after a disruptive event. It outlines the steps to restore critical IT services, recover data and resume normal business operations following a disaster such as a weather-related event, cyberattacks, hardware failures or human errors. An effective IT disaster recovery plan includes risk assessments, backup and data protection measures, recovery strategies, communication protocols, regular testing and documentation. These plans aim to minimize downtime, mitigate risks, protect data integrity and ensure business continuity in the face of IT disasters.

Why would I need an IT disaster recovery plan?

Having an IT disaster recovery plan is essential for several reasons:

An IT disaster recovery plan helps mitigate the risks associated with IT disasters, such as data loss, system downtime and financial losses. A well-designed plan ensures that organizations recover quickly and efficiently from disruptive events, minimizing the impact on operations and customer satisfaction.
An IT disaster recovery plan helps you comply with regulatory requirements and maintain business continuity obligations. It also enhances the organization’s reputation by demonstrating preparedness and resilience.
In the face of increasing cyber threats, an IT disaster recovery plan provides a structured approach to respond to and recover from cyberattacks, safeguarding sensitive data and preserving trust in the organization.

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Providing thought leadership, education and training on the subjects of enterprise risk management, 2023 the state of risk oversight: an overview of enterprise risk management practices - 14th edition.

October 31, 2023 | Enterprise Risk Management Initiative Staff

2023 The State of Risk Oversight: An Overview of Enterprise Risk Management Practices - 14th Edition

Each year, the ERM Initiative at NC State University, in partnership with the AICPA, conducts research about the current state of risk oversight processes in organizations of all types and sizes to obtain an understanding of the relative maturity of underlying activities executives and boards use to monitor the rapidly changing risk landscape. We are pleased to announce that our 2023 State of Risk Oversight Report is now available reflecting insights from 454 respondents.

State of Risk Oversight

Our 14th annual report reveals that executives believe risk volumes and complexities remain high, giving ongoing concerns related to the economy and inflation, geopolitical uncertainties, potential disruptive technologies and AI, and the ongoing conflict in Eastern Europe, and a host of other risk drivers.

Recent realities are revealing a need for real change in how organizations oversee the constantly evolving risk landscape; however, our findings suggest that some organizations are prepared to navigate that landscape while others may be naively thinking their risk management processes are sufficient. Now is the time for executives to ponder whether their approaches to risk oversight are on par with the complex web of risks on the horizon.

ERM Benchmarking Data

This 2023 State of Risk Oversight Report highlights over 40 different aspects of risk management practices that readers can use to benchmark their risk management processes along several dimensions. The questions cover nine areas including:

Drivers for Enhanced Risk Management
Overall State of Risk Management Maturity
Strategic Value of Risk Management
Impact of Culture on Risk Management
Assignment of Risk Management Leadership
Risk Identification and Risk Assessment Processes
Risk Monitoring Processes
Board Risk Oversight Structure
Board Reporting and Monitoring

The report includes sub-analyses for large organizations (revenues > $1B), public companies, and not-for-profit organizations.

Diagnostic Questions to Consider and Calls to Action

The report also offers a list of diagnostic questions that executives and boards can use to assess their organization’s risk readiness and to help pinpoint tactical next steps for strengthening risk management processes. The report concludes with a series of Calls to Action that executives can use to evaluate their risk management maturity.

Key Findings

While this report provides detailed insights about specific dimensions of risk oversight practices, here are five overarching themes suggested by this year’s aggregated findings:

Risk management processes may not be keeping pace with realities in the global business environment. While two-thirds of respondents describe the volume and complexity of risks as higher than prior levels, less than one-third describe their risk management processes as mature or robust. That suggests a disconnect between risk management capabilities and needs.
Stakeholders are expecting business leaders to “up their game” in regards to how they anticipate and manage risks. Boards of directors, regulators, and shareholders are pressuring management to strengthen their organization’s resiliency and governance of organizational continuity. Unfortunately, the organization’s leadership and culture may not see risk management as an important priority for their organization.
Entities struggle to integrate risk management and strategic oversight. Most respondents do not view their organization’s risk management efforts as providing strategic insight. A majority of respondents indicate their risk management processes are not focused on assessing emerging strategic, market, and industry risks.
Fundamental risk management elements are in place, but there is room for enhancing risk metrics to monitor emerging risks from both internal and external drivers. There has been a surge in the creation of risk management committees to help management monitor risks. Despite that, only 28% describe their key risk indicators (KRIs) to monitor risks as robust and insightful for strategic decision making and most risk management processes are based on qualitative rather than quantitative approaches.
Risk governance is an important responsibility for the full board of directors; however, most delegate that to a subcommittee. Most organizations report risks to the board on an annual rather than a quarterly or more frequent basis, despite the ever-changing nature of the global risk environment. Rich insights about the inter-connected nature of risks and their impact on the strategy of the organization should be a primary and regular input to overall board discussions and governance.

The following provide more specific highlights of a number of key findings from this year’s survey results.

Risk Environment

Risk volumes and complexities are near their highest level in 14 years for all types of organizations – no type of organization is immune.
Many leaders are realizing there is a need for real change in their organizations’ business continuity and crisis management.
Organizations are facing pressures from a number of stakeholders to provide more risk information, and business leaders want to be better prepared when unexpected risk events emerge to avoid being surprised.
A number of key stakeholders are pressuring management for more effective risk oversight processes.

Maturity of Risk Management Practices

Fewer than one-half of our respondents describe their organization’s approach to risk management as “mature” or “robust.”
While progress has been made in implementing complete ERM processes, more than two-thirds of organizations surveyed still cannot claim they have “complete ERM in place.”
Public companies and financial services organizations exhibit the highest level of ERM in 2023.
Organizations continue to struggle to integrate their risk management and strategic planning efforts.
There are a number of impediments to advancing an organization’s risk management processes, with the belief that “risks are managed in other ways besides ERM” dominating the list.
There may be a disconnect between desired versus actual risk management capabilities given the majority of organizations describe their risk culture as “strongly risk averse” to “risk averse” despite the finding that only a minority of respondents describe their risk management processes as “mature” or “robust.”

Risk Management Leadership

Pinpointing an executive to lead the risk management process is becoming more common relative to a decade ago; however, only about 40% of our surveyed organizations are doing so.
Individuals serving in the CRO or equivalent role most often report directly to either the CEO or CFO.
A high percentage of organizations are creating management-level risk committees.

Ongoing Risk Monitoring

Across the full sample, only 28% describe the robustness of their key risk indicators as “mostly” to “extensively” robust.
The growing use of data analytics may provide opportunities for management to strengthen their management “dashboards” to include more information that helps track potential risks on the horizon.

Board Risk Governance

More often than not, boards of directors assign formal responsibility for overseeing management’s risk assessment and risk management process to a board committee, which is typically the audit committee, except for financial services organizations that have a risk committee at the board level.
Most organizations prepare a formal report on top risks to the board at least annually, with the percentage highest for public companies in 2023.
The majority of boards set aside a specific meeting to discuss the aggregate report of top risk exposures facing the organization, particularly for public companies.
The integration of risk information with discussion of the strategic plan is not occurring extensively across most organizations, suggesting there may be opportunities to enhance the integration of risk information with strategic planning information for most organizations.

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Listen to the Podcast

This report highlights the state of risk oversight practices in 454 organizations. We believe readers can use this report to identify a number of factors to be considered as they seek to enhance their ERM approaches to managing the ever-changing nature of risks in the global business environment.

Download the 14th Edition

You can access all of the prior years’ reports by clicking on the links below.

13th Edition
12th Edition
11th Edition
10th Edition
9th Edition
8th Edition
7th Edition
6th Edition
5th Edition
4th Edition
3rd Edition
2nd Edition
1st Edition

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Key Elements of CVIPI

Successful CVIPI efforts, no matter where they are, share several traits in common. They rely on authentic engagement with community members and strong collaborative partnerships. They collect data and select interventions that are grounded in evidence about what works. And they understand that violence is driven by social determinants of safety so they must focus on broader community needs.

Read more about the key elements of CVIPI approaches below.

Authentic community engagement and feedback

Residents, businesses, and other local stakeholders know the most about their communities and they therefore play a key role in keeping neighborhoods safe. Building collective efficacy and mutual trust among residents, community institutions, and law enforcement is critical to addressing community violence. That means engaging community members in planning, carrying out, and evaluating CVIPI approaches.

In most cases, intentional efforts will be needed to increase community and resident engagement in shaping and implementing CVIPI approaches. This requires community-serving organizations to bring residents and key leaders together, truly listen to their input, and carry out responsive strategies. These efforts much include not just the usual voices, but all of those who are impacted by community violence.

Important activities in community engagement include:

Convening residents, businesses, community-serving organizations, local government, law enforcement and other stakeholders
Ensuring equity and inclusion when bringing people to the table
Trust building and collective healing
Positive police/community engagement
Translating community input into a plan and a set of concrete actions

Learn more about community engagement in CVIPI Checklist Step 1: Engage Community Members and Conduct a Community Violence Assessment and Step 4: Setting CVI Up for Success

More resources on community engagement

Partnership and collaboration

Strong cross-sector partnerships are the key to any community initiative. CVIPI requires collaboration across a team of diverse, multi-sector partners that build a common vision and structure for their strategic approach to violence prevention. Collaborations should include stakeholders from across the community, including residents and community-serving nonprofit organizations, as well as public sector agencies and local businesses. There should be a strong lead agency that can manage a cross-sector process with many moving parts.

Important activities in partnership and collaboration include:

Identifying strategic partners, including community-based organizations, law enforcement, and service providers
Defining partner roles and responsibilities and ensuring accountability
Effective communication and coordination

Learn more about partnership and collaboration in CVIPI Checklist Step 2: Form a Community Collaboration and Step 4: Setting CVI Up for Success

More resources on partnership and collaboration

Research and evidence-based planning

It is important to use data and research to guide the local CVIPI strategy. Data gives partners a clear picture of what the community’s specific violence challenges are, where they are occurring, and when. Along with data about the community’s available assets and resources, this information helps drive selection of appropriate strategies. In turn, it is important to look at the research in selecting CVIPI strategies and choose interventions that have been shown to be effective.

Important activities in research and planning include:

Finding relevant data
Ensuring data quality
Performing a community violence scan or audit
Examining root causes of violence
Identifying assets and opportunities to build on
Data-informed strategy selection
Understanding and mitigating risk in different approaches

Learn more about research and planning in CVIPI Checklist Step 1: Engage Community Members and Conduct a Community Violence Assessment , Step 3: Implement CVI , and Step 4: Setting CVI Up for Success

More resources on research and planning

Integration with holistic community revitalization efforts

There is a strong link between public safety and the “social determinants of safety,” such as housing, education, health, and employment. Therefore, a CVIPI approach should be connected to broader neighborhood revitalization efforts so that violence prevention supports revitalization goals and vice versa. This can include physical efforts such as addressing problem properties where violence frequently occurs and helping create jobs and economic opportunity for adults and youth who are involved or at risk of becoming involved with community violence.

Important activities in integrating CVIPI with comprehensive revitalization goals include:

Coordination with other efforts that address social determinants of safety
Connecting people with wraparound services such as coaching and mentorship

Learn more about integrating CVIPI in broader community initiatives in CVIPI Checklist Step 4: Setting CVI Up for Success

More resources on comprehensive efforts

Sustainability and continuity

CVIPI efforts are only effective as long as their success can be maintained. Community conditions and needs may change over time and partners must be equipped to respond as new concerns and opportunities arise.

Important activities in sustaining CVIPI efforts include:

Building in sustainability to initial planning with both short- and long-term outcomes
Securing dedicated resource allocation for programs, participants, and staff
Maintaining ongoing relationships, engagement, and inclusion efforts
Performing evaluation, learning, and continuous improvement
Communicating effectively about successes to attract and keep support

Learn more about sustainability in CVIPI Checklist Step 4: Setting CVI Up for Success , Step 5: Measure Success , and Step 6: Sustain Success and Continuous Improvement

More resources on sustainability

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