Develop a Business Continuity Plan

Streamline the traditional approach to make BCP development manageable and repeatable.
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Major Business Pain Points

  • Recent crises have increased executive awareness and internal pressure to create a business continuity plan (BCP).
  • Industry and government-driven regulations require evidence of sound business continuity practices.
  • Customers demand their vendors provide evidence of a workable BCP prior to signing a contract.
  • IT leaders, because of their cross-functional view and experience with incident management and DR, are often asked to lead BCP efforts.
Develop a Business Continuity Plan-Pain Points

Recommendations

Key Points

  • 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.

Approach

Develop a Business Continuity Plan-Recommendations
  • Implement a structured and repeatable process that you apply to one business unit at a time to keep BCP planning efforts manageable.
  • Use the results of the pilot to identify gaps in your recovery plans and reduce overall continuity risk while continuing to assess specific risks as you repeat the process with additional business units.
  • Enable business leaders to own the BCP going forward. Develop a template that the rest of the organization can use.
  • Leverage BCP outcomes to refine IT DRP recovery objectives and achieve DRP-BCP alignment.
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Methodology and Tools

Executive Brief

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

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

1. Identify BCP maturity and document process dependencies

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

  • BCP Maturity Scorecard
  • BCP Pilot Project Charter Template

BCP Business Process Workflows Example (Visio)

  • BCP Business Process Workflows Example (PDF)

2. Conduct a BIA to determine acceptable RTOs and RPOs

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

  • BCP Business Impact Analysis Tool

3. Document the recovery workflow and projects to close gaps

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.

BCP Tabletop Planning Template (Visio)

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

4. Extend the results of the pilot BCP and implement governance

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

  • BCP Pilot Results Presentation
  • BCP Summary
  • Business Continuity Teams and Roles Tool

5. Appendix: Additional BCP tools and templates

Use these tools and templates to assist in the creation of your BCP.

    BCP Recovery Workflow Example (Visio)

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

    All resources on this page are provided to Cyber Leadership Hub members under license from third parties including Info-Tech Research Group Inc, a global leader in providing IT research and advice.