Year Continuity & Contingency Plan
– Independent Review
A business continuity plan is a well considered, alternate course of action that avoids disruptions in business operations due to an unforeseen internal or external operating error.
Contingency planning requires a centrally coordinated, yet highly distributed, series of facilitation exercises based on a defined process and solid planning infrastructure. Unfortunately, many organizations limit contingency planning efforts to isolated components of the enterprise. Too many plans focus only on what management sees as "likely" to fail. Other plans are isolated to technology departments and omit the business continuity element.
A review by outside experts that have helped build contingency plans across a multitude of industries ensures that your plans are comprehensive, based on a solid foundation and can be implemented at the appropriate trigger points.
Contingency Planning Review: Topic Categories
I. Overall Plan
- Completeness & cohesiveness
- Ability to implement & track contingencies
- Management of enterprise & regional issues
II. Organizational Infrastructure
- Central and distributed team structure
- Business unit commitment & participation levels
- Funding availability
III. Contingency Planning Support Infrastructure
- Use of a formal process
- Use of planning forms for facilitated sessions
- Key element review
- Current mitigating action
- Failure scenario & problem identification
- Failure impact analysis
- Problem resolution options & resource analysis
- Use of reusable planning templates for multiple site situations
- Use of contingency planning database or tracking facility
- Communication infrastructure plan
IV. Infrastructure Contingency Plans
- Power / energy
- Telecommunications
- Transportation
- Water / sewage
- Local government & emergency services
- State / federal / foreign government support services
V. Enterprise-Wide Contingency Plans
- Technology infrastructure & central IT functions
- Cross-functional communication failures
- Global supplier contingency options
- Cross-enterprise functional plans (i.e. payroll, human resources, etc.)
VI. Central Site & Business Unit Specific Contingency
Review - by Unit
- Business unit & technical participation levels
- Process review of mission criticality analysis
- Business function / process contingency plans
- Level of coverage for each functional area
- Level of plan completeness
- Triage utilization
- Systems & technology contingencies
- Level of coverage for system & other technical site functions
- Triage utilization
- Business unit notification plans
- Data interface contingency plans
- Problem identification
- Backup & restart options
- Business unit notification
- Contingencies for corrupting third party data
- Supplier & third party contingencies
- Business unit versus centralized ownership
- Problem identification
- Tactical response plans such as stockpiling
- Contractual reviews (cutoff dates & cure periods)
- Alternate supplier strategies
- Business continuity & tactical plan integration
VII. Economic Viability Planning
- Senior executive commitment levels
- Business unit triage discussions
- Geographical triage options
- Customer awareness & viability planning
- Liquidity / debt planning
- Opportunity analysis based on competitor’s contingency plans
VIII. Legal & Insurance Contingency Plans
- Level of involvement with contingency planning initiative
- Contractual impact analysis on third party contingencies
- Contingencies in defense of plaintiff action against the company
- Plans for action that may be required against third parties
IX. Crisis Management Plans
- Crisis management budget
- Crisis planning and overall awareness
- Crisis team readiness
- Support infrastructure
Scheduling and Independent Review
A Contingency Planning review requires one-to-two days of onsite time and includes a report that is delivered within one week of completion of the onsite session. Onsite time varies based on the size of the organization, but assumes that all contingency plans, action to be taken and work in progress is provided to the reviewer at a single location in a single visit.
For more information call Tactical Strategy Group, Inc. at 831-464-5344 or email us at tsginc@cruzio.com.