Creating, Testing and Updating Your Business Continuity Plan

One Call Now CREATING, TESTING AND UPDATING YOUR BUSINESS CONTINUITY PLAN HOW TO BE PREPARED FOR A DISASTER! THE BUSINESS CONTINUITY PLAN, OR BCP. KNOWN AS A DISASTER RECOVERY PLAN, IS THE DOCUMENT BY WHICH YOU MANAGE YOUR ORGANIZATION AFTER A CRITICAL LOSS OF FUNCTIONS, RESOURCES. OR PERSONNEL. YOU HOPE YOU DON'T NEED IT, BUT WITHOUT IT, YOUR ORGANIZATION MAY NEVER RECOVER FROM A DISASTER. WHY YOU NEED A BCP 31% OF PC USERS HAVE LOST ALL OF THEIR FILES DUE TO EVENTS BEYOND THEIR CONTROL. 93% OF COMPANIES THAT LOST THEIR DATA CENTER FOR 10 DAYS OR MORE DUE TO A 10 DISASTER FILED FOR BANKRUPTCY WITHIN ONE YEAR OF THE DISASTER. 80% OF BUSINESSES SUFFERING A MAJOR DISASTER GO OUT OF BUSINESS IN THREE YEARS, COMPANIES THAT ARENT ABLE TO RESUME OPERATIONS WITHIN TEN DAYS (OF A 10 DISASTER HIT) ARE NOT LIKELY TO SURVIVE. 70% OF ALL PRO RE DUE TO INTERNAL MALFUNCTIONS OF HARDWARE OR SOFT- WARE, OR HUMAN ERRORS THAT MAY LEAD TO FRAUD THE COSTS CAUSED BY A FLU PANDEMIC, A TSUNAMI, HURRICANE OR NUCLEAR DISASTER CAN HAVE IMMEDIATE COSTS OF OVER $10O BILLION. ONLY YOU AND YOUR TEAM KNOW WHICH AREAS ARE HOW TO USINESS CONTINUITY PLAN MOST CRITICAL TO AND SHOULD BE A PRIORITY IN EVERY BCP IS UNIQUE. CASE OF A DISASTER. CREATE PLAN DETAILS. INVOLVE DETERMINE AN ACCEPTABLE INCLUDE A COMMUNICATIONS SUBJECT MATTER EXPERTS FROM DEFINE THE SCOPE AND CRITICAL DOWNTIME FOR EACH AREA PLAN TO COMMUNICATE WITH AREAS - THE SCOPE OF RECOVERY OF YOUR BUSINESS. EACH AREA TO DEFINE HOW NEEDS AT EACH PHASE OF KEY PERSONNEL. FUNCTIONS CAN BE BROUGHT ONLINE. RECOVERY. RECOVERY IS DONE IN SEVERAL PHASES. MAKE SURE EVERYONE UNDERSTANDS THE INITIAL GOALS OF A BCP: TO PROVIDE MINIMAL BCP VIABLE SERVICE AND OPERATION THE CORE TEAM SHOULD INCLUDE EXPERIENCED CANDI- ASSIGN AN EXPERIENCED PROJECT TIPS: DATES FROM TECHNICAL, ACCOUNTING, LEGAL, CUSTOMER MANAGER TO LEAD THE CORE TEAM. SERVICE, PR/MARKETING & FACILITIES DEPARTMENTS HOW TO TEST A BUSINESS CONTINUITY PLAN TECHNICAL TESTING IS AN ESSENTIAL PART OF ENSURING YOUR BCP IS LIKELY TO WORK. TESTING SHOULD BEGIN WITH CONNECTIVITY. F THINGS TO DO: RUN PRACTICE SCENARIOS IN SOME DEPARTMENTS. YOUR TECHNICAL STAFF MUST ENSURE THAT THE SERVER IS REACHABLE FROM A VARIETY OF DEVICES AND LOCATIONS. YOUR TESTING PLAN SHOULD CALL FOR PERIODIC TESTING OF ALL CONNECTIONS NECESSARY TO YOUR BCP. THE TECHNICAL TEAM CAN CREATE TEST ENVIRONMENTS FOR STRESS, VOLUME AND FLOW TESTING. TECHNICAL DEPARTMENTS SHOULD CONDUCT QUALITY ASSURANCE TESTING FOR ALL BCP FUNCTIONALITY. END-USER TESTING TESTING TRAINING IDENTIFY USE AND TRAIN STAFF YOU INTEND IDENTIFY KEY PERSONNEL FOR THE INITIAL CONDUCT END-USER TESTING TO BE FIRST-LINE RESPONDERS IN A RECOVERY PERIODS. YOU CAN USE TESTING WHEREVER YOU CAN ON RECOVERY EVENT. SESSIONS TO PROVIDE SOME TRAINING TECHNICAL PROCESSES. REGARDING EXPECTED BCP PROTOCOLS. NONTECHNICAL TESTING ONE WAY TO TEST COMMUNICATION AND LEADERSHIP AHEAD OF A CRITICAL EVENT IS TO STAGE A DISASTER SCENARIO. ORGANIZATIONS MUST ENSURE THAT LEADERSHIP CAN QUICKLY DISSEMINATE INFORMATION IN A TIME OF CRISIS. AN ENTIRE BUSINESS CONTINUITY PLAN SHOULD BE TESTED CERTAIN ELEMENTS OF THE PLAN. SUCH AS IT CONNECTIVITY AND COMMUNICATION, SHOULD BE TESTED RANDOMLY DURING THE YEAR TO AVOID SURPRISES IF A CRITICAL EVENT OCCURS INCLUDING TEST CHECKLISTS IN YOUR BCP ENSURES THAT NO ESSENTIAL COMPONENTS ARE OVERLOOKED THE BCP CREATION TEAM SHOULD WRITE TEST CHECKLISTS FOREVERY CREATE TESTING CHECKLISTS RESOURCE AND PROCESS INCLUDED IN THE PLAN HOW TO UPDATE A BUSINESS CONTINUITY PLAN THE BCP IS A LIVING DOCUMENT. MOST EXPERTS RECOMMEND REVIEWING THE BUILD AN DOCUMENT AT LEAST ONCE A YEAR TO MAKE NECESSARY UPDATES. UPDATE TEAM. BY TAKING AN ORGANIZED AND CONSISTENT APPROACH TO BCP UPDATES, YOUR COMPANY CAN BE PREPARED AND THE BCP TEAM SHOULD PLAN TO SPEND AN HOUR OR TWO EACH ORGANIZED IN THE FACE OF DISASTER OR DAY FOR SEVERAL WEEKS ON THE REVIEW PROCESS. THE BULK CRITICAL LOSS. OF THAT TIME WILL INVOLVE INTERVIEWING DEPARTMENT LEADERS AND EMPLOYEES TO IDENTIFY CURRENT PROCESSES. BCP .COMMUNICATION -COMPARE THE TEMPLATES. EXISTING PLAN TO CURRENT PROCESSES. . CONTACT - RECORD ALL CHANGES - IMPLEMENT A INFORMATION. ENSURE CHECKLIST OF ALL CONTACT INFO - USE A CHANGE FORM NON-PROCESS DETAILS IS ACCURATE AND THAT TO NOTE WHEN CHAN- TO REVIEW THAT ALL INCLUDED GES ARE MADE. SHOULD INCLUDE: INFORMATION IS FREE ANY SPECIFIC NAMES. OF TYPOS. CHANGES MAY BE NECESSARY DUE TO PROMOTIONS, TERMINATIONS, OR RESTRUCTURING. CREATE YOUR BCP TAKE ACTION! AS SOON AS POSSIBLE One Call Now