Develop and maintain business continuity capabilities including Business Impact Analysis, communication plans, recovery procedures, and testing schedules for organizational resilience.
When to Use
- Developing a formal Business Continuity Plan (BCP) for the organization
- Conducting a Business Impact Analysis (BIA) to prioritize recovery efforts
- Establishing communication plans for crisis scenarios
- Defining recovery procedures for critical business processes
- Scheduling and conducting BCP exercises and tests
- Meeting compliance requirements for continuity planning (SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, FedRAMP)
BCP Framework
bcp_phases:
1_governance:
actions:
- Obtain executive sponsorship and funding
- Assign BCP coordinator and team
- Define BCP scope and policy
- Establish BCP committee with cross-functional representation
deliverables:
- BCP policy statement
- BCP team charter and roster
- Scope document
2_analysis:
actions:
- Conduct Business Impact Analysis (BIA)
- Perform risk assessment for continuity threats
- Identify critical business processes and dependencies
- Determine recovery priorities and resource requirements
deliverables:
- BIA report
- Risk assessment report
- Critical process inventory
3_strategy:
actions:
- Select recovery strategies for each critical process
- Identify alternate work arrangements (remote, alternate site)
- Define technology recovery strategies (DR plan)
- Establish vendor and supply chain contingencies
deliverables:
- Recovery strategy document
- Technology recovery plan
- Alternate site arrangements
4_plan_development:
actions:
- Write detailed recovery procedures
- Develop communication plans (internal and external)
- Create emergency response procedures
- Document roles, responsibilities, and contact information
deliverables:
- Business Continuity Plan document
- Communication plan
- Emergency response procedures
- Contact lists and call trees
5_testing:
actions:
- Develop test plan and schedule
- Conduct exercises (tabletop, functional, full-scale)
- Evaluate results and identify gaps
- Update plans based on lessons learned
deliverables:
- Test plan
- Exercise reports
- Updated BCP based on findings
6_maintenance:
actions:
- Review and update BCP annually (minimum)
- Update after significant organizational changes
- Refresh BIA when business processes change
- Maintain training and awareness program
deliverables:
- Annual BCP review record
- Updated BIA (if changes occurred)
- Training completion records
Business Impact Analysis Template
bia_template:
process_assessment:
process_name: ""
process_owner: ""
department: ""
description: ""
criticality_classification:
mission_critical:
max_tolerable_downtime: "0-4 hours"
description: "Failure causes immediate, severe impact to customers or revenue"
examples:
- Payment processing
- Authentication and authorization
- Core API serving customer requests
- Order fulfillment
essential:
max_tolerable_downtime: "4-24 hours"
description: "Failure causes significant degradation but not complete loss"
examples:
- Customer support systems
- Reporting and dashboards
- Email and notifications
- Billing and invoicing
important:
max_tolerable_downtime: "1-3 days"
description: "Failure causes inconvenience and workarounds are available"
examples:
- Internal collaboration tools
- Analytics and BI platforms
- HR self-service systems
- Knowledge base
non_essential:
max_tolerable_downtime: "3-7 days"
description: "Failure has minimal operational impact"
examples:
- Development and test environments
- Training platforms
- Archive systems
impact_categories:
financial:
revenue_loss_per_hour: ""
penalty_or_fine_risk: ""
recovery_cost_estimate: ""
operational:
affected_employees: ""
affected_customers: ""
workaround_available: "yes/no"
workaround_description: ""
reputational:
customer_visibility: "high/medium/low"
media_attention_risk: "high/medium/low"
regulatory_reporting_required: "yes/no"
legal_regulatory:
compliance_impact: ""
contractual_sla_breach: "yes/no"
sla_penalty_details: ""
dependencies:
technology:
- system: ""
rto: ""
rpo: ""
dr_strategy: ""
people:
- role: ""