The challenge

• Recent crises have put business continuity firmly on the radar with executives. The pressures mount to have a proper BCP in place.

• You may be required to show regulators and oversight bodies proof of having your business continuity processes under control.
• Your customers want to know that you can continue to function under adverse circumstances and may require proof of your business continuity practices and plans.
• While your company may put the BCM function in facility management or within the business, it typically falls upon IT leaders to join the core team to set up the business continuity plans.

Our advice

Insight

• Business continuity plans require the cooperation and input from all departments with often conflicting objectives.
• For most medium-sized companies, BCP activities do not require a full-time position. 
• While the set up of a BCP is an epic or project, embed the maintenance and exercises in its regular activities.
• As an IT leader in your company, you have the skillset and organizational overview to lead a BCP set up. It is the business that must own the plans. They know their processes and know where to prioritize.
• The traditional approach to creating a BCP is a considerable undertaking. Most companies will hire one or more consultants to guide them. If you want to do this in-house, then carve up the work into discrete tasks to make it more manageable. Our blueprint explains to you how to do that.

Impact and results 

• You have a structured and straightforward process that you can apply to one business unit or department at a time.
• Start with a pilot, and use the results to fine-tune your approach, fill the gaps while at the same time slowly reducing your business continuity exposure. Repeat the process for each department or team.
• Enable the business to own the plans. Develop templates that they can use.
• Leverage the BCP project's outcome and refine your disaster recovery plans to ensure alignment with the overall BCP.

The roadmap

Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to :

Get started

Our concise executive brief shows you why you should develop a sound business continuity practice in your company. We'll show you our methodology and the ways we can help you in completing this.

• Develop a Business Continuity Plan – Executive Brief (ppt)
• Develop a Business Continuity Plan – Phases 1-4 (ppt)
• Case Study: Practical, Right-Sized BCP (zip)

Identify your current maturity and document process dependencies.

Choose a medium-sized department and build a team. Identify that department's processes, dependencies, and alternatives.

• BCP Maturity Scorecard (xls)
• BCP Pilot Project Charter Template (doc)
• BCP Business Process Workflows Example (Visio)
• BCP Business Process Workflows Example (PDF)

Conduct a business impact analysis to determine what needs to recover first and how much (if any) data you can afford to lose in a disaster.

Define an objective impact scoring scale for your company. Have the business estimate the impact of downtime and set your recovery targets.

• BCP Business Impact Analysis Tool (xls)

Document the recovery workflow entirely.

The need for clarity is critical. In times when you need the plans, people will be under much higher stress. Build the workflow for the steps necessary to rebuild. Identify gaps and brainstorm on how to close them. Prioritize solutions that mitigate the remaining risks.

• BCP Tabletop Planning Template (Visio)
• BCP Tabletop Planning Template (PDF)
• BCP Project Roadmap Tool
• BCP Relocation Checklists

Report the results of the pilot BCP and implement governance.

Present the results of the pilot and propose the next steps. Assign BCM teams or people within each department. Update and maintain the overall BCMS documentation.

• BCP Pilot Results Presentation (ppt)
• BCP Summary (doc)
• Business Continuity Teams and Roles Tool (xls)

Additional business continuity tools and templates

These can help with the creation of your BCP.

• BCP Recovery Workflow Example (Visio)
• BCP Recovery Workflow Example (PDF)
• BCP Notification, Assessment, and Disaster Declaration Plan (doc)
• BCP Business Process Workarounds and Recovery Checklists (doc)
• Business Continuity Management Policy (doc)
• Business Unit BCP Prioritization Tool (xls)
• Industry-Specific BIA Guidelines (zip)
• BCP-DRP Maintenance Checklist (xls)
• Develop a COVID-19 Pandemic Response Plan Storyboard (ppt)