Key Components of an Effective Business Continuity Plan

September 14, 2021 | By IANS Faculty

What does a business continuity plan typically include? This piece explains the key components of a typical business continuity plan and recommends ways to ensure the plan is flexible enough to meet all the needs of the organization.

Using a Business Continuity Plan 

Before specific business continuity plans components can be discussed, it is important to understand the many uses to which a business continuity plan document may be put. Internal teams require more practical detail, whereas such detail – and the caveats associated – can actively work against the use of a business continuity plan for assurance.

Figure 1 lists the different audiences for a typical business continuity plan, along with how each uses the plan.

Figure 1: BCPs Must Serve Many Audiences and Uses

Audience

Purpose

Internal recovery team

 

Specific guidance

Testing

Larger company

General guidance

Management, board, etc.

Oversight, assurance, defining metrics

Prospects, customers, partners and auditors

Due diligence, assurance, defining metrics

Source: IANS, 2021


Business Continuity Plan Components

Examining a business continuity plan from a component perspective requires a firm understanding of the plan’s audience and the use to which it will be put. Figure 2 describes key components of an effective business continuity plan and details when to include each.

Specific BCP Components

Looking at BCP from a component perspective is an interesting exercise, because it requires a firm understanding of the plan’s audience and the use to which it will be put. Figure 2 describes each component of a BCP and details when to include each.

Figure 2: Typical BCP Components

Component

Summary

When to Include

Quick Contact

Half-page identifying the specific people to contact (phone or instant message) for emergency-related questions

Only when sharing internally

 

Other Contacts

Half-page identifying other contacts, such as fire, ambulance, rescue, police, police non-emergency, Department of Homeland Security (in the U.S.), poison control, the FBI, and related critical contacts

Always

 

System/ Business Description

Summary section covering the overall plan, surfacing critical metrics, e.g., recovery time objective (RTO), recovery point objective (RPO), service-level agreements (SLAs) etc., and describing what is being recovered

Always

 

Inventory

Detailed list of system components with discussions of how they connect and who is responsible for what

Only when sharing internally

Physical Overview

Descriptions of offices, data centers, call centers and other facilities, with short summaries of security controls in place and a discussion of how each combination of location/control are to operate during recovery/continuity operations

Only if the business has a high reliance on physical presence; not needed in “work from anywhere” setups

Remote Connectivity

Descriptions of how remote connectivity works during normal operations and how it is expected to work during recovery/continuity operations

 

Care should be taken as to whether remote connectivity connects users to a “place” (high reliance on physical location) or to a “system” (work from anywhere)

Always

 

Recovery Design

Discussion of whether the recovery uses a hot/hot, hot/warm or hot/cold design (cloud-based businesses may not fit this model, but it will still need to be discussed)

Always

 

Data Flow

Description of how data moves through the system and how that data flow is expected to change/continue during recovery/continuity

Only for internal use and/or assurance; never share externally without a non-disclosure agreement (NDA)

Assumptions

Detailed list of assumptions made during the creation of the plan so rapid assessment of the plan’s applicability under specific circumstances can be assessed

Only when sharing internally

Outage Types

Listing of outage types, ranked from least to most severe. Include critical metrics, such as:

  • Anticipated recovery time (ART)
  • Recovery time objective (RTO)
  • Recovery point objective (RPO)

Even if the “classic” outage types are unlikely to cause damage – such as short-term power outages when on-site UPS provides for 12 hours of power – they should be discussed here because this is where people will look for assurance.

Always, but only include ART for internal audiences (never external audiences)

 

Recovery Priorities

Multiple sections detailing which systems are to be recovered in which order. Consider technical dependencies as well as recovery of systems/ processes that will “buy time” during the recovery, allowing other business groups to be effective.

Only when driving internal work; exclude when sharing externally or for assurance purposes

Personnel Recovery

Discussion of which teams are expected to take on specific roles during the recovery/continuity operations

Always

 

Personnel Reassignment

Discussion of which roles otherwise non-essential teams are to take on during recovery. For example, it is wise to repurpose a sales team into a customer assurance team because they have no direct recovery/continuity role and customer inquiries are likely to increase during such operations.

Only when sharing internally to guide internal practices

Connectivity

Discussion around all the types of connectivity the organization requires and any methods of redundancy, as well as how workers are to access systems and communicate with one another while connectivity is problematic

Only if system/environment is complex and guidance is needed (e.g., exclude if cloud provider handles connectivity redundancy)

Contact Responsibilities

Detailed list of which internal roles are expected to contact which external parties, such as designating a specific executive for public relations and another for operational oversight, or delegating communications with insurance to the finance or risk departments.

Only when sharing internally

 

Partners

List of business-critical partners, description of what each does, their contact information and a discussion of how the partner fits into the recovery/continuity operations as well as what recovery/continuity operations exist for the partner itself

Only when sharing internally

 

Disaster Declaration

Description of who is empowered to declare a disaster, who is to declare a disaster in their absence, and what processes are to be followed when deciding a disaster must be declared.

Always

 

Activation Process

Detailed procedure of activating the plan, identifying which roles perform which actions when, where the checkpoints may be, and what steps are to be taken should a primary path fail.

 

This process requires considerable thought because some triggering events (aka disasters) can result in personnel unavailability. Process and personnel redundancy is essential.

Always

 

Plan Activation Checklist

Pairs with the Activation Process, ensuring that all dependencies are met during the activation process.

Only when sharing internally

Pandemic Discussion

Discussion of how business is expected to operate during a pandemic. Traditionally not emphasized, pandemic planning has grown in prominence in the last year.

 

While most disaster declaration processes tend to skip human resources (HR), it is wise to give the director of HR the power to declare pandemic continuity operations, with board-level overrides.

Always

 

Preparedness

Discussion of “classic” disaster types and the type of preparedness in place to reduce the overall risk of such events.

 

Even if the “classic” disaster types are unlikely to cause damage – such as tornadoes for an underground bunker – they should be discussed here because this is where people will look for assurance.

Always

 

Finance Issues

Discussion of how the business expects to continue to provide paychecks to personnel as well as pay for non-standard expenses while in recovery/continuity operations.

Only when sharing internally

 

Recovery Administrative Support

Discussion of how record-keeping, status meetings, communications and other critical “invisible labor” elements of the business will continue to function during recovery/continuity operations.

These are potentially political issues. It is important to plan for this work, but in practice, if this section is omitted, specific individuals will likely step forward to ensure these actions are taken. Recognizing this fact can cause political blow-back, but not recognizing it can cause put-upon workers to leave the organization after recovery is complete.

Recovery HR Support

Discussion of how employee issues are to be addressed during recovery/continuity operations. Including, but not limited to:

  • Injuries and sickness*
  • Family concerns
  • Travel – personal/work balance

* Disasters can involve circumstances that make illnesses and injuries more likely than normal.

Testing

Detailed section discussing how often disaster recovery/business continuity tests are to be run, how they are to be run, and who is responsible for ensuring they are run properly.

 

In complex environments, this section can define how often “full” tests are run vs “bubble” tests.

Always, but reduce to a summary for external use

Test Results

List of previous tests, results compared to RTO/RPO, and explanations for deviations.

Always

 

Call Scripts

Pre-defined scripts to use when communicating recovery/continuity transitions to customers, clients, partners, workers, the press, government officials, etc.

Only when sharing internally

 

Impact Analysis/ Lessons Learned

Discussion of what was learned from the previous execution of this plan – either live or through a tabletop exercise

Always

 

Source: IANS, 2021


Business Continuity Plan Best Practices 

A business continuity plan can be a robust document or a simple list of expectations. There are no firm requirements – other than the document must meet the needs of its audience. Additionally, the increasing adoption of cloud-based technologies shifts the need for such plans from point-wise procedural documents to more comprehensive business-level essays of consideration.

Whatever you do to create your business continuity plan, it is extremely likely your first draft will be lacking – sometimes significantly so. Do not let this fact keep you from continually revising the plan so it best fits all the needs of the organization. A solid business continuity plan can take years to iterate into, but it is possible, and the process can be valuable in unexpected ways.

Although reasonable efforts will be made to ensure the completeness and accuracy of the information contained in our blog posts, no liability can be accepted by IANS or our Faculty members for the results of any actions taken by individuals or firms in connection with such information, opinions, or advice.


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