Develop a Business Continuity Plan

Streamline the traditional approach to make BCP development manageable and repeatable.

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Contributors

Dr. Bernard A. Jones, MBCI, CBCP, Berkeley College
Kris Roberson, Disaster Recovery Analyst, Veterans United Home Loans
Trevor Butler, General Manager of Information Technology, City of Lethbridge
Robert Miller, Information Services Director, Witt/Kieffer

Your Challenge

Natural disasters such as Hurricane Sandy have increased executive awareness and internal pressure to create a business continuity plan (BCP).
Similarly, industry and government-driven regulations are placing more focus on business continuity capabilities.
Customers are also demanding that organizations provide evidence that they have a workable BCP before agreeing to do business.

Our Advice

Critical Insight

BCP requires input from multiple departments with different and sometimes conflicting objectives. There are typically few, if any, dedicated resources for BCP, so it can't be a full-time, resource-intensive project.
As an IT leader you have the skill set and organizational knowledge to lead a BCP project, but ultimately business leaders need to own the BCP – they know their processes, and therefore, their requirements to resume business operations better than anyone else.
The traditional approach to BCP is a massive project that most organizations can’t execute without hiring a consultant. To execute BCP in-house, carve up the task into manageable pieces as outlined in this blueprint.

Impact and Result

Focus on implementing a structured and repeatable process that can be applied to one business unit at a time to avoid BCP becoming an overwhelming project.
Enable business leaders to own the BCP going forward by establishing a template that the rest of the organization can follow.
Leverage BCP outcomes to refine IT DRP recovery objectives and achieve DRP-BCP alignment.

Start here – read the Executive Brief

Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you should develop a business continuity plan, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the four ways we can support you in completing this project.

Develop a Business Continuity Plan – Executive Brief

1. Define BCP scope, objectives, and stakeholders

Assess current maturity, establish a team, and choose a pilot business unit. Identify business processes, dependencies, and alternatives.

2. Define RTOs and RPOs based on your BIA

Define an objective impact scoring scale, estimate the impact of downtime, and set recovery targets.

3. Create a recovery workflow

Build a workflow of the current steps for business recovery. Identify gaps and risks to recovery. Brainstorm and prioritize solutions to address gaps and mitigate risks.

4. Establish a BCMS to govern and improve your BCP

Present pilot project results and next steps. Create BCMS teams. Update and maintain BCMS documentation.

Guided Implementations

This guided implementation is a ten call advisory process.

Guided Implementation #1 - Define BCP scope, objectives, and stakeholders

Call #1 - Scope your requirements. Assess current maturity. Identify fit-for-need and a pilot project.

Call #2 - Create business process workflows.

Guided Implementation #2 - Define RTOs and RPOs based on your BIA

Call #1 - Identify process dependencies, alternates and workarounds.

Call #2 - Create an impact scoring scale and conduct a BIA.

Call #3 - Identify target RTO and RPO.

Guided Implementation #3 - Create a recovery workflow

Call #1 - Conduct a tabletop planning exercise and document the recovery workflow.

Call #2 - Identify gaps in recovery capabilities and alternate site requirements.

Guided Implementation #4 - Establish a BCMS to govern and improve your BCP

Call #1 - Summarize the pilot results and plan next steps, including additional documentation.

Call #2 - Define BCMS roles and responsibilities.

Call #3 - Make the case for a wider BCMS program.

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Business Continuity

Streamline the traditional approach to make BCP development manageable and repeatable.
This course makes up part of the Security & Risk Certificate.

Course information:

Title: Business Continuity
Number of Course Modules: 5
Estimated Time to Complete: 2-2.5 hours
Featured Analysts:
Frank Trovato, Research Director, Infrastructure Practice
Eric Wright, SVP of Research and Advisory
Now Playing: Academy: Business Continuity | Executive Brief

Book Your Workshop

Onsite workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost onsite delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.

Module 1: Define BCP Scope, Objectives, and Stakeholders

The Purpose

Define BCP scope, objectives, and stakeholders.

Key Benefits Achieved

Prioritize BCP efforts and level-set scope with key stakeholders.

Activities

Outputs

1.1

Assess current BCP maturity.

BCP Maturity Scorecard: measure progress and identify gaps.

1.2

Identify key business processes to include in scope.

1.3

Flowchart key business processes to identify business processes, dependencies, and alternatives.

Business process flowcharts: review, optimize, and allow for knowledge transfer of processes.
Identify workarounds for common disruptions to day-to-day continuity.

Module 2: Define RTOs and RPOs Based on Your BIA

The Purpose

Define RTOs and RPOs based on your BIA.

Key Benefits Achieved

Set recovery targets based business impact, and illustrate the importance of BCP efforts via the impact of downtime.

Activities

Outputs

2.1

Define an objective scoring scale to indicate different levels of impact.

BCP Business Impact Analysis: objective scoring scale to assess cost, goodwill, compliance, and safety impacts.

2.2

Estimate the impact of downtime.

Apply the scoring scale to estimate the impact of downtime on business processes.

2.3

Determine acceptable RTO/RPO targets for business processes based on business impact.

Acceptable RTOs/RPOs to dictate recovery strategy.

Module 3: Create a Recovery Workflow

The Purpose

Create a recovery workflow.

Key Benefits Achieved

Build an actionable, high-level, recovery workflow that can be adapted to a variety of different scenarios.

Activities

Outputs

3.1

Conduct a tabletop exercise to determine current recovery procedures.

Recovery flow diagram – current and future state
Identify gaps and recovery risks.

3.2

Identify and prioritize projects to close gaps and mitigate recovery risks.

Create a project roadmap to close gaps.

3.3

Evaluate options for command centers and alternate business locations (i.e. BC site).

Evaluate requirements for alternate business sites.

Module 4: Establish a BCMS to Govern and Improve Your BCP

The Purpose

Establish a BCMS to govern and improve your BCP.

Key Benefits Achieved

Outline the actions required for the rest of your BCMS, and the required effort to complete those actions, based on the results of the pilot.

Activities

Outputs

4.1

Summarize the accomplishments and required next steps.

Pilot BCP Executive Presentation

4.2

Identify required BCM roles.

BCP Reference Workbook: teams, roles, and action items

4.3

Review the documentation strategy to create and maintain your overall BCP.

BCP templates to complete the relevant documentation (BC Policy, BCP Action Items, Recovery Workflow, etc.)

After each Info-Tech experience, we ask our members to quantify the real time savings, monetary impact, and project improvements our research helped them achieve. See our top member experiences for this Blueprint, and what our clients have to say.

Client

Experience

Impact

$ Saved

Days Saved

Testimonial

Montana Department of Revenue

Guided Implementation

9/10

$6,618

It was both high-level strategy as well as thorough and structured. For me, one of the main stumbling blocks in a very large project is just figuring out what to do first, or next. InfoTech's suggestions for the next steps were clear and made a lot of sense. I am confident this will get the project moving along. Worst seems like a harsh word. There was nothing bad about the experience let alone worst. All good!

City Of Kawartha Lakes

Workshop

10/10

$25,000

X-Gen Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Guided Implementation

9/10

$23,164

The documents provided. The advice during the call. The follow-up notes with action items. Flexibility to reschedule meetings/calls when business required it. We have no negative comments.

Cree Board of Health & Social Services of James Bay

Workshop

10/10

$50,000

The best parts was the knowledge and experience of your resources. The worst part is the time constraint that we suffer on our side.

Kentucky Housing Corporation

Guided Implementation

10/10

$33,091

Frank is the man. He is a great sounding board to bounce things off of. He understands any obstacle that I am going through. When you are taking on a task in your corporation that nobody else is doing with you, it can get pretty quiet. And, you start overthinking things because they are just YOUR idea. It's nice to speak with Frank and hear that I am still sane. I appreciate his knowledge and desire to help me succeed.

University of Exeter

Guided Implementation

10/10

N/A

Very early stages but some really good pointers as to where to start and focus priorities, will have a better understanding of the savings as the project progresses.

Mott MacDonald Ltd

Guided Implementation

7/10

$9,767

excellent documentation and knowledge from templates and call

UGI Utilities, Inc

Guided Implementation

8/10

N/A

Witt Kieffer

Guided Implementation

10/10

N/A

As Frank and I discussed today this BRP project does not have a specific timeline. If it were not for Franks guidance and the scheduling of the meetings this project would be at risk of being sidelined and not completed. The scheduled calls have been able to keep me moving this effort forward. The value is not just the technical expertise or the dollar savings but successfully completing the project.

Westoba Credit Union Limited

Workshop

10/10

$65,000

105

Best part: the facilitation by Frank and Teo! Worst part: the amount of work ahead of us! :^)

WVU Foundation

Guided Implementation

10/10

N/A

The regular calls helped us keep this on track, Thanks Frank!!

Blessing Hospital

Guided Implementation

10/10

$66,183

Frank keeps us moving forward in the right direction. His advice and experience is what our team needed.

Canadian Stewardship Services Alliance Inc. (CSSA)

Workshop

10/10

$13,000

The detailed walkthrough of a BCP event helped to identify gaps which require input from our leadership team.

Dentons Canada LLP

Guided Implementation

8/10

N/A

Blessing Hospital

Guided Implementation

10/10

$99,274

Frank's knowledge, advice, and partnership in this experience has made this engagement successful and easier for our team to move this initiative forward with confidence it's being done at the highest level.

Public Safety Canada

Guided Implementation

10/10

$25,000

Great exchange of information, and gave me lots of avenues to explore. Nothing negative.

Edmonton Police Services

Guided Implementation

9/10

$10,000

Witt Kieffer

Guided Implementation

10/10

N/A

Greenleaf Hospitality Group

Guided Implementation

10/10

N/A

Witt Kieffer

Guided Implementation

10/10

N/A

Clarifying when and how to do tabletop testing.

X-Gen Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Workshop

10/10

N/A

X-Gen Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Workshop

10/10

N/A

Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Trust

Guided Implementation

8/10

N/A

Useful to discuss the toolkit with on the call. Nothing bad so far. Difficult to estimate financial impact at this stage, probably would have done a poorer less detailed job without the tool set and have to buy in other materials.

Government of New Brunswick

Guided Implementation

10/10

N/A

Suggestions to improve documentation are always welcome.

Kentucky Housing Corporation

Guided Implementation

10/10

N/A

I will try to gauge the savings for the next survey, but it has been the best experience for me. I'm someone that has no background in writing a company's BCP plan correctly to now writing one, it's awesome. The guidance and templates that are readily provided helps to ensure the correctness of the document.

Office of the State Treasurer

Guided Implementation

10/10

$2,647

This was very helpful as I plan to provide a presentation. Saved me a ton of time on a short notice project/presentation.

Fernco Inc

Workshop

9/10

N/A

The BCP and DRP workshops are the beginning of the process to define projects on how to address the risks identified so a time and dollar amount savings are not feasible to estimate at this time.

Intercambio Express

Guided Implementation

9/10

$33,091

Best understand more in depth the process to built BCP Worst No availability eith some people in other areas

Todd Energy Limited

Guided Implementation

7/10

$7,941

Best: - Insight and knowledge around domain experience. - Availability of tools. Worst: - Although knowledge was available via a resource it wasn't available in a lessons learned database.

Fernco Inc

Workshop

9/10

N/A