Contingency Planning Methodology
Introduction
This methodology is simply a set of instructions and ideas to aid you in collecting the information required to identify, assess and manage contingency and crisis management teams. Within each task is an explanation of what the task is to accomplish, possible sources for the information the task requires, where and how to record the information and any important notes pertaining to the task.
A typical task is outlined with the following entries:
Documentation about the task
How to record:
Each of the tools shown below is described in more detail in the 'II Preparation, B' section of this workbook.
Forms:
A worksheet for documenting the information related to the contingency plan.
Database:
An explanation of how to use the Contingency Planning Database with the context of that task.
Best Source:
The best ideas on where to obtain the information required.
Other Possible Sources:
Other possible sources the information.
Deliverables:
A description of the deliverable(s) for the task.
Here are some further considerations when using the workbook:
The key deliverable is documentation on how a business unit will respond to problems that impact a business function, system / technology, interface, 3rd party, site, division or other entity.
This workbook contains suggestions, not policies. Contact internal management related company policies.
One component of the contingency plan will reflect bottom-up responses for system, interface and third party failures.
The main goal of the contingency planning process, however, is to build top-down contingencies that outline how to maintain business operations in the case of a functional failure.
Functional contingency planning includes enterprise and infrastructure related functions as well as functions localized to an individual business unit.
Contingency Planning Forms and Contingency Planning Database are tools to help build the contingency plan. These items are shown in more detail within the Appendix sections of this workbook.
Be sure to save time and costs by discovering and reusing existing information, contingency plans and emergency response teams.
Contingency Planning involves practically every aspect of running a business making it a vast effort. Such large projects do not lend themselves well to addressing everything about a particular item (business function, system, interface, 3rd party, contingency plan, etc.) at one time. Therefore, the workbook divides the tasks into steps that involve discovering and documenting bits of information about an item then revisiting the information for expansion at a later time. Review the complete workbook to get a complete understanding of the steps involved. Follow these steps and each business unit will eventually have everything it needs to be properly prepared with good contingency plans.
Important Note:
You are trying to develop and manage contingency plans to minimize business interruptions should a system, interface, and/or 3rd party fail. To do this, you require information about business operations (functions) and their relationship to systems, interfaces and 3rd parties.
So why track information about systems, interfaces and 3rd parties that relate to each business unit? Because eventually you will need to develop a plan for repairing the item that failed. Tracking and managing the plans to keep a business running and repairing the items that the business depends upon are easily recorded and managed together. This is why bottom-up and top-down contingency plans are critical to operational continuity.
This workbook assumes that you want to track the plans for both the business and the items that the business depends upon. The forms and database support risk analysis for all items.