Develop a Business Continuity Plan
Streamline the traditional approach to make BCP development manageable and repeatable.
Unlock This BlueprintBlueprint Contents:
Start here – read the Executive Brief
Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you should develop a business continuity plan, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the four ways we can support you in completing this project.
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Develop a Business Continuity Plan – Executive Brief -
Develop a Business Continuity Plan – Phases 1-4
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Case Study: Practical, Right-Sized BCP
1. Identify BCP maturity and document process dependencies
Assess current maturity, establish a team, and choose a pilot business unit. Identify business processes, dependencies, and alternatives.
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BCP Maturity Scorecard -
BCP Pilot Project Charter Template -
BCP Business Process Workflows Example (.vsd) -
BCP Business Process Workflows Example (.pdf)
2. Conduct a BIA to determine acceptable RTOs and RPOs
Define an objective impact scoring scale, estimate the impact of downtime, and set recovery targets.
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BCP Business Impact Analysis Tool
3. Document the recovery workflow and projects to close gaps
Build a workflow of the current steps for business recovery. Identify gaps and risks to recovery. Brainstorm and prioritize solutions to address gaps and mitigate risks.
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BCP Tabletop Planning Template (.vsd)
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BCP Tabletop Planning Template (.pdf)
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BCP Project Roadmap Tool
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BCP Relocation Checklists
4. Extend the results of the pilot BCP and implement governance
Present pilot project results and next steps. Create BCMS teams. Update and maintain BCMS documentation.
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BCP Pilot Results Presentation
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BCP Summary
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Business Continuity Teams and Roles Tool
5. Appendix: Additional BCP tools and templates
Use these tools and templates to assist in the creation of your BCP.
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BCP Recovery Workflow Example (.vsd)
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BCP Recovery Workflow Example (.pdf)
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BCP Notification, Assessment, and Disaster Declaration Plan
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BCP Business Process Workarounds and Recovery Checklists
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Business Continuity Management Policy
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Business Unit BCP Prioritization Tool
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Industry-Specific BIA Guidelines
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BCP-DRP Maintenance Checklist
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Develop a COVID-19 Pandemic Response Plan Storyboard
Your Challenge
- Recent crises have increased executive awareness and internal pressure to create a business continuity plan (BCP).
- Industry and government-driven regulations require evidence of sound business continuity practices.
- Customers demand their vendors provide evidence of a workable BCP prior to signing a contract.
- IT leaders, because of their cross-functional view and experience with incident management and DR, are often asked to lead BCP efforts.
Our Advice
Critical Insight
- BCP requires input from multiple departments with different and sometimes conflicting objectives. There are typically few, if any, dedicated resources for BCP, so it can't be a full-time, resource-intensive project.
- As an IT leader you have the skill set and organizational knowledge to lead a BCP project, but ultimately business leaders need to own the BCP – they know their processes, and therefore, their requirements to resume business operations better than anyone else.
- The traditional approach to BCP is a massive project that most organizations can’t execute without hiring a consultant. To execute BCP in-house, carve up the task into manageable pieces as outlined in this blueprint.
Impact and Result
- Implement a structured and repeatable process that you apply to one business unit at a time to keep BCP planning efforts manageable.
- Use the results of the pilot to identify gaps in your recovery plans and reduce overall continuity risk while continuing to assess specific risks as you repeat the process with additional business units.
- Enable business leaders to own the BCP going forward. Develop a template that the rest of the organization can use.
- Leverage BCP outcomes to refine IT DRP recovery objectives and achieve DRP-BCP alignment.
Member Testimonials
After each Info-Tech experience, we ask our members to quantify the real-time savings, monetary impact, and project improvements our research helped them achieve. See our top member experiences for this blueprint and what our clients have to say.
9.3/10
Overall Impact
$37,643
Average $ Saved
25
Average Days Saved
Client
Experience
Impact
$ Saved
Days Saved
Albaugh, LLC
Guided Implementation
9/10
N/A
70
Children's Hospital Colorado
Guided Implementation
9/10
N/A
N/A
It is difficult to estimate the amount of time or financial impact of the advice that we received about extended downtime preparedness. The inform... Read More
Everly Health, Inc.
Guided Implementation
10/10
$19,865
20
Frank was very responsive and gave clear and concise feedback to help us grow our BC program.
Fernco Inc
Workshop
10/10
$34,250
20
Best: Good method quickly ramp-up newest Infrastructure Team member on the business activities their relevant people technologies, and facilities d... Read More
Johnson County Library
Workshop
10/10
$68,500
10
best - great facilitator, extremely knowledgeable, able to understand our environment and technology infrastructure with little description. worst ... Read More
Air Tractor
Workshop
10/10
N/A
N/A
Dave Kernohan did a great job. He engages the group and knows when to be quiet and listen. As far as the NA responses above, we have a lot more... Read More
AgWest Farm Credit, FLCA
Guided Implementation
9/10
$21,920
20
Best part was having a subject matter expert to lean into while starting the BC program....No worst parts of the time spent with Info-Tech team. Al... Read More
New York Property Insurance Underwriting Association
Workshop
10/10
N/A
5
Cross Country Mortgage, Inc.
Guided Implementation
10/10
$4,110
2
Valley Strong Credit Union
Workshop
10/10
$68,500
32
Dave was amazing. This workshop did not seem like a class because Dave made it fun and very interesting. We learned a lot. He took the time to exp... Read More
AgWest Farm Credit, FLCA
Guided Implementation
9/10
$13,700
5
Independent Health
Guided Implementation
10/10
$9,590
20
Frank's ability to facilitate the exercise effectively helped our team gain valuable knowledge about contingency strategies that should be implemen... Read More
MyPath, Inc.
Workshop
10/10
$47,950
14
The Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority
Workshop
9/10
N/A
50
The entire workshop led by Dave was fantastic. There were no parts of the experience that were worse per se, with the exception of the length of ti... Read More
Cross Country Mortgage, Inc.
Guided Implementation
8/10
$12,999
5
Mutual Benefit Group
Guided Implementation
10/10
N/A
50
Benedict did a great job explaining your research and tools as well as options for us to move forward. I don't feel there was a 'worst' part of our... Read More
Incharge Debt Solutions
Guided Implementation
9/10
$64,999
47
Burke and Herbert Bank and Trust Company
Workshop
10/10
$12,999
35
There were no bad parts. Frank worked well with us on prep for the workshop and all expectations were met
Independent Health
Guided Implementation
8/10
$26,649
20
The overall experience.
Community Health Choice, Inc.
Guided Implementation
10/10
$24,699
10
The best part was the expertise Frank provided on the subject and how the InfoTech tools can be seamless integrated into the work already done. No ... Read More
Community Health Choice, Inc.
Guided Implementation
9/10
$30,549
20
The knowledge of Frank (InfoTech) was outstanding. I have nothing negative to say about the experience.
Coachella Valley Water District
Workshop
10/10
$61,749
50
Sumit is very knowledgeable on the BCP subject. His workshop delivery skills are outstanding. He was able to explain the concepts extremely well. T... Read More
Colonial Savings, F.A.
Guided Implementation
9/10
$2,599
20
I was a pleasure working with Darin. He definitely helped point us in the right direction. I would highly recommend him to others and would look fo... Read More
Auckland Transport
Guided Implementation
10/10
$32,499
10
For the purposes of question 3, we didn't have a budget, so I cannot estimate the savings in $. There were no 'worst' parts of my experience. The... Read More
Avalon Health Care Management Inc.
Workshop
10/10
$31,499
50
I found the workshop beneficial is jump starting our business continuity. Best part was seeing the documents 'in action' and how they are valuabl... Read More
Great Clips Inc.
Guided Implementation
9/10
$51,999
14
Best: The resources are incredibly helpful to jumpstart the process for us, and Andrew Sharp does a great job of leading us through the process and... Read More
WVU Foundation
Workshop
9/10
$129K
10
We’ve done several of these workshops over the years, they’re always very good. As one of our folks said “without the workshop we would never talk ... Read More
OnPoint Group, LLC
Workshop
9/10
$12,999
10
Sumit has been a PHENOMINAL facilitator for all 5 of our workshops (this was our 5th with him). He is prepared, picks up on the business context, a... Read More
OnPoint Group, LLC
Workshop
8/10
$32,499
20
eGov Jamaica Ltd.
Guided Implementation
9/10
$31,499
80