Business
Continuity Planning has three complementary features:
- Risk reduction - the management
of risks to prevent a disaster. This is done by
identifying and assessing the risks faced by a Department
at their premises which could result in a disaster;
- Emergency Plan - crisis management
of the incident when it occurs (Incident Control)
to prevent it from developing into a disaster, and
to lessen its impact. The priority is to evacuate
staff and others when this is necessary, but essential
or valuable information and objects can often be
rescued without risk to personal safety;
- Business Continuity Plan - a
Plan for the fast, efficient resumption of essential
business operations by directing the recovery actions
of specified recovery teams. The three elements
to consider are the continuity of:
- Office services - premises,
furniture, stationery etc;
- Information technology -
communications and computing services; and
- Human and other resources
- ensuring that staff:
- are aware of the alternative arrangements;
- have the resources they need; and
- are productively employed.
The key tasks in Business Continuity
Planning are to:
- Identify which operations and supporting activities
need to be restarted after a disaster, the maximum
acceptable time limits by which they must restart,
and the resources needed to restart them;
- Identify contingencies for the required resources;
- Select a cost-effective strategy for restarting
operations;
- Develop the BCP to guide and direct the restart
of operations;
- Test the BCP, train staff in how to use it, and
keep it up to date
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