The BCM life cycle -
Stage 3: Developing and implementing a BCM response
The Business Continuity Plan (BCP) is at the heart of the BCM process. The BCP provides the framework in which the organisation mobilises its response to a BCM challenge in the event of an emergency.
The BCP is also likely to address:
- solutions - how will the BCM event be managed?
- objectives - what are the recovery objectives and when should they be achieved by?
- tasks and activities - what needs to be done in order to meet recovery objectives?
- procedures and processes - what is the routemap for delivering the response?
- personnel - who is involved in delivering the response? What are their roles and responsibilities? How will they be notified?
- command and control - who has the authority to make which decisions? How will these be communicated?
In developing the plan, consideration should be given to:
- keeping it short, simple and user-friendly - it will need to be read and understood in challenging and pressured circumstances;
- ensuring the assumptions contained are realistic - eg numbers of staff directly affected by the incident, the effect of the 'backlog trap' (ie the impact of the accumulation of tasks left uncompleted on recovery);
- references to other sources of information and supporting documentation - eg guidance, databases, lists of key contacts, resources and suppliers;
- what action plans and checklists should be provided;
- ownership of key tasks - these should be reflected in job descriptions;
- pro-formas - giving templates and model documentation;
- version control - the need to implement document management procedures, including a list of all plan holders, which has to be maintained, together with a distribution and change control process; and
- communications - effective communication with stakeholders and, where appropriate, the media is crucial to an effective response.
Good business continuity planning may require both generic and specific plans.
A generic plan is a core plan which enables an organisation to respond to a wide range of possible scenarios, setting out the common elements of the response to any disruption (eg invocation procedure, command and control, access to financial resources).
Within the framework of the generic plan, specific plans may be required in relation to specific risks, sites or services. Specific plans provide a detailed set of arrangements designed to go beyond the generic arrangements when these are unlikely to prove sufficient.
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