Create a Business Continuity Plan

White papers, plans, how-to, and other business continuity and business disaster recovery information is available from CIO here.
Some topics include:
What’s the difference between disaster recovery and business continuity planning?
What does a disaster recovery and business continuity plan include?
How do I get started?
Is it really necessary to disrupt business by testing the plan?
What kinds of things have companies discovered when testing a plan?
What are the top mistakes that companies make in disaster recovery?
I still have a binder with our Y2K plan. Will that work?
Can we outsource our contingency measures?
How can I sell this business continuity planning to other executives?
How do I make sure the plans aren’t overkill for my company?
Related articles from CSO magazine

Business Continuity Disaster Recovery Plan Outline

Why create and use a Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Plan (BCDRP)?

For the same reason you have a health plan, a car insurance plan, or a home owner’s policy...to prepare for, respond to, and successfully overcome a disaster.  If you experience a major disaster, and man-made and natural disasters happen daily, having a BCDRP may make the difference between your business surviving or going out of business.  

As importantly, having one may mean the difference between who lives and who dies. Think of it as life insurance YOU write that helps ensure that you, your loved ones, your employees, and your business go on.

What follows are some of the major parts of any BCDRP. It is only a guide. 

Every BCDRP must be custom written and tested to your unique needs and circumstances. Use this for ideas of how to create your plan, but make sure you create a plan that reflects your needs.

Disaster Management Plan Purpose

The purpose of the BCDRP is to ensure that a clearly define BCDRP structure and accountable and responsible Disaster Management Team is in place to quickly, efficiently and effectively recognized and respond to any business disruption to:

•         Ensure the safety of our employees and the security of our property
•          Coordinate continuity of high quality service to customers
•          Coordinate communication (both external and internal)
•           Prioritize recovery efforts
•          Activate  the BCDRP
•          Invoke emergency authorization to procure and allocate resources and support

What is a Disaster

•    ·       Anything that causes harm to people or significant damage to property
•          Anything that adversely affects the value or financial survival of the company
•         Anything that disrupts routine business operations or wastes significant management time or financial resources

BCDRP Guiding Principles

Any good BCDRP includes the following tested and proven principles:

•         Describe the business impact
•         Identify impacted stakeholders
•         Identify who does what and when
•         Do not use overly technical information
•         Provide an escalation point for issues and concerns
•         Test the plan and incorporate lessons learned for future plans

In addition, here are some fundamentals your basic plan should cover:

•         Develop and practice a contingency plan that includes a succession plan for your leadership.
•         Train backup employees to perform emergency tasks. The employees you count on to lead in an emergency will not always be available.
•         Determine off site disaster meeting places and disaster communication plans for all your employees.
•         Practice disaster communication with employees, customers, suppliers and the outside world.
•         Invest in an alternate means of communication in case the phone networks go down.
•         Make sure that all employees are involved in the exercises so that they get practice in responding to an emergency.
•         Make business continuity exercises realistic enough to tap into employees' emotions so that you can see how they'll react when the situation gets stressful.
•         Form partnerships with local emergency response groups (firefighters, police and EMTs) to establish a good working relationship. Let them become familiar with your company and site.
•         ·Evaluate your company's performance during each test, and work toward constant improvement.
•          Conduct continuity and disaster recovery exercises to reveal any changes and weaknesses. Technology, personnel and facilities are in a constant state of flux at any company.

BCDR Plan Outline

The most important fact about the BCDRP is that those who need the information can get it quickly, efficiently, and easily. 

One way to accomplish that goal is to separate the plan into two major sections: the plan itself and the material that supports the plan that goes into the appendix. 

Here is a suggested outline that has worked well for many companies.

Disaster recovery planning is the process of creating a document that details how your business will recover from a catastrophic event. These steps include:

•        Create a List of Jobs: Know all the office jobs that would have to be relocated to an alternate location.
•        Create an Inventory Necessary Office Equipment:  For each employee, list only the essential office equipment and furniture that they need to perform their jobs. Remember, in the event of a disaster, space, time and money will be at a premium.
•         Create a Catalog of Supporting Software and Computer Equipment: Create a catalog of the essential office computer software and equipment you use.
•         Identify an Alternate Office Space:  Now that you have a list of people, furniture and computer software, networks and equipment, you will need a physical place to put them. Find several alternative places to relocate your office.
•        Create an Insurance and Budget Document:  After you decide where to put people, you will need to start buying them the stuff they need to do their jobs. Estimate how much each piece will cost to buy or lease. The time spent up front on this task will shave days off of the recovery process because you will be able to provide a list to your insurance agent of what you need.
•        Share It and Store the Plan Off-site: Share your plan with several people and keep it in several places.
• See the table below for a suggested table of contents that should be included in any BCDRP.

Recommended BCDRP Table of Contents

What	Description
Business Continuity Contact List	Name, phone, email, home address, home numbers. Placing it upfront makes it easier to find in an emergency.
Disaster Recovery Contact List	Name, phone, email, home address, home numbers. Placing it upfront makes it easier to find in an emergency.
Disaster Recovery Escalation Process	Clearly identify who is to be notified and who has the title and responsibility for declaring an event and activating the plan.
If Disaster Recovery Plan is Activated	Concise immediate steps that must be taken once a disaster is declared. Goal is to preserve life, prevent injury, and protect property and to lay the foundation for restoring normal business operations.
Disaster Recovery Plan Major Steps	Clearly identified major steps that must be taken to resume routine business operations
Disaster Recovery Facilities Location	Location of the alternative recovery location along with instructions for whom to contact and what to do when there. It can be held in readiness for use during the disaster to recover technical assets and for recovery of business processes. For small- and medium-sized businesses, this can mean employees working from home using their laptops.
Resuming Daily Business Operations	Establish the goals, milestones and metrics that will indicate that the disaster recovery has succeeded and routine business operations have resumed.

See the table below for what material belongs in the appendix to the BCDRP. By organizing your document in this way it is easier to write, organize, and update.

Recommended BCDRP Appendix Sections

What	Description
Appendix A: Disaster Management Team Activation Guide	Rules for the activation and the Incident Commander, Coordinator and the rest of the Disaster Management Team.
Appendix B: Emergency Evacuation Procedure and Safe Assembly Areas	Instructions for when and how to evacuate and where to gather once out of the building.
Appendix C: Exit, Fire Extinguisher, Fire Alarm and Hose Locations	Description of how to exit the floor and building, and the location of the emergency equipment.
Appendix E: Shelter-in-Place Instructions	Instructions for when and how to shelter in place if necessary
Appendix F:  Reporting Disasters	Instructions for how and to whom to concisely and accurately report disaster.
Appendix G: Floor Plan	Drawing of each floor with employee name, phone, and email on the drawing, along with clearly identified exits.
Additional Appendixes	Add any sections that are necessary to your plan.

Additional Tips

•        Make a list of all your software you may need to replace.
•        Back up all your files.
•         Put your essential files of a thumb drive. You may need them to get restarted.

 Using Social Media to Respond to a Disaster

Increasing, using social media correctly to respond to a disaster is one of the most critical parts of your BCDRP. To ensure your social media presence is ready for a disaster, make sure that you:

•        Have a media plan with the tools, skills and resources to promptly execute your media
•        Have accounts with the right social media outlets (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.) before the disaster
•         Monitor social media before, during and after the disaster
•        Designate one employee to speak for the company through social media outlets because social media is driven by trust in people, not an organization
•         The audience has the tools to investigate, record, and publish, so content accuracy is critical
•        A good response should include negative perceptions and address causes and facts
•        With your posts, tweets, photos etc. a link with more information will always help support your message

Disaster Management Team Roles and Responsibilities

When the Incident Commander convenes the Disaster Management Team (DMT), he or she also authorizes the BCDRP and declares an emergency. Each member of that team has specific responsibilities that are listed below.

Core DMT Roles and Responsibilities

Role	Responsibilities
Incident Commander	Leads the CMT. Provides guidance to the team and is the final decision maker in the case of conflict or lack of consensus.
CMT Coordinator	Assembles the team at the request of the Incident Commander. Schedules meetings, assists with meeting facilities and general support, and completes additional tasks requested by the Incident Commander. Informs other levels for the Incident Commander.
CMT Member	Participate in discussion and take ownership of actions to ensure resolution of issues within their area of expertise.
Note Taker	Documents all CMT meetings to capture discussion points, actions, owners and deadlines.
Social Media Liaison	Social media expert who has preexisting accounts on social media platforms who professionally and accurately communicate with external and internal customers.
Trusted Advisor	Provides detailed specialized knowledge to provide additional capacity.

Tabletop Exercise

Every BCDRP requires a test to prove that it works and to identify areas that need improvement, also known as a tabletop exercise. Each participant undertakes the actions and tasks as they would during a real disaster. 

After the exercise, the team members identify the plan strategies that worked and did not work. Then they identify and implement actions that improve the plan, including adding them to the plan.

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Business Continuity Disaster Response Plan Terms 

 Like any field, BCDRP has its own terms used by those who work with it to communicate. To help you better understand some of those terms. The table below lists and describes a number of those terms.

BCDRP Glossary

Term	Description
Awareness	To create understanding of basic BCDRP issues and limitations. This will enable staff to recognize threats and respond accordingly. Examples of creating such awareness include: distribution of posters and flyers targeted at company-wide audience or conducting specific business continuity briefings for executive management.
Backup	A process by which data, electronic or paper based is copied in some form so as to be available and used if the data from which it originated is lost, destroyed or corrupted.
Backup Generator	An independent source of power, usually fueled by diesel or natural gas.
Business Continuity	Capability of the organization to continue delivery of products or services at acceptable predefined levels following disruptive event
Business Continuity Plan	Documentation that contains all alternative activities to recover and continue disrupted business activities on an acceptable minimum level, including the transition back to normal operations.
Business Recovery	Recovery steps taken to resume the business within an acceptable time frame following a disruption.
Call Tree	A structured cascade process that enables a list of persons, roles or organizations to be contacted as a part of information exchange or plan invocation procedure. Includes a document that graphically depicts the calling responsibilities and the calling order used to contact management, employees, customers, vendors, and other key.
Communications Recovery	The restoration or rerouting of an organization’s telecommunication network so that it continues to work with few or no interruptions.
Desktop Exercise	Technique for training emergency teams in which participants review and discuss the actions they would take according to their plans, but do not perform any of these actions; can be conducted with a single team, or multiple teams, typically under the guidance of exercise facilitators. You can conduct them at your office, off-site, or in th e back of a truck. During a disaster, you don't always get to choose the best setting.
Disaster Management	Involves the management of an event appropriate to the severity and the impact of the event. It consists of the communication that occurs within the response phase of the continuity event management scenarios.
Disaster Recovery Plan	This refers to the management approved document that defines the resources, actions, tasks and data required to manage the technology recovery effort. It is the result of the Disaster Recovery Planning effort. Documentation that defines the resources, actions, tasks and data required to manage the technology recovery effort. Usually refers to the technology recovery effort.
Emergency Evacuation	The immediate and rapid movement of people to a place of safety away from an area that is subject to a potential imminent major disruption such as natural disasters or terrorist attack.
Emergency Management	Refers to the actions taken in response to an event that has occurred, or is anticipated, and the planning that precedes those actions. This primarily includes safety of employees and security of facilities. Medical alert teams, Floor Warden programs and regular fire drills would all be considered part of Emergency Management.
Emergency Response	The response of an organization to a disaster or other significant event that may significantly impact the organization, its people, or its ability to function productively. Emergency response may include evacuation of a facility, sheltering in place, ensuring the health and safety of employees, performing a damage assessment, and any other measures necessary to bring an organization to a more stable status after an event.
Go Bag	A bag, backpack or other easily transportable carrier, pre-filled with items individuals should have with them if directed to evacuate their home or workplace. The Go Bag should only be taken during the evacuation if it is immediately available and will not create a danger to others during the evacuation.
Loss	Negative consequence, which may be financial, e.g. loss of revenue or cash, or non-financial, e.g. loss of information, goodwill, economic value, function, natural resources, ecological systems, environmental impact, health deterioration, mortality, morbidity.
Off-Site Storage	Any place physically located a significant distance away from the primary site, where duplicated and vital records (hard copy or electronic or equipment) may be stored for use during recovery. Or, the process of storing hard copy or electronic records at a secure location removed from the normal place of use.

Civil Defense Family Security Life Hacks

Ever since I discovered the wonder of Civil Defense at 27 in doing contract work inspecting Emergency Operations Plans (EOPs) on Emergency Operations Centers (EOCs) all over the United States and teaching emergency managers for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, I have been fascinated by how critical it is to this nation's survival. (More here.)

Just before that, I practiced Civil Defense the United States Air Force without knowing it as an additional duty helping the disabled service members and veterans vacate the Eglin Air Force Base hospital during monthly hurricane exercises in the early 1980's,

(For more background, please see my bio at The American Civil Defense website where I am the volunteer Vice President https://tacda.org/about/#board.)

I believe deeply in American Civil Defense because I have been involved in it professionally and as a volunteer for 40 years.

Despite being seen as a throwback to a Cold War era with little contemporary use, civil defense is alive and well, especially among the elite who take it very seriously.

I have accumulated a wealth of knowledge I would like to share with other Americans, especially Moms, Dads, Grand Moms, Grand Dads, and small business owners.

Why them?

Well, for the last 3 years I have handed out over 5,000 civil defense business cards with contact information for how to prepare for natural and manmade disasters and parents and small business owners have been the most receptive, even grateful.

Given the high rate of heart attacks, blood clots, and other medical complications that have resulted from the medical experiments since we were attacked 3 years ago by the Communist Chinese Party bioweapon, hopefully you realize your health and survival are your responsibility.

If the Bible teaches us anything, it is to be prepared for this life…and the next.

Here, I will concentrate on being prepared for this life.

I would like to help you meet that responsibility for yourself and your family, friends, neighbors, and nation.

I will post Civil Defense Hacks to make the year more fruitful, productive, interesting, loving, disciplined, virtuous, good, holy, and beautiful.

I share my civil defense knowledge, plans, practices, and tips in the Civil Defense Hacks below.

Please join me.

CIVIL DEFENSE LIFE HACK #1: MATERIAL PREPARATION IS THE EASIEST PART OF CIVIL DEFENSE

When I was interviewed on Civil Defense Radio several years ago, I was asked what the difference was between FEMA, Preppers, and Civil Defense.

My answer was this: FEMA shows up a month after a natural and manmade disasters and writes you a check eventually...if you qualify.

Preppers, God love 'em because they are trying, concentrate too much on the materialistic and solitary, when it is through strategy, plans, friends, family, and neighbors you survive.

Civil defense, in contrast, is as old as the Bible and had survived the test of time and the prepares you to not just survive, but to triumph over natural and manmade disasters.

Material preparations for disasters is important, but it is the easiest part of the plan.

Here is a link to tested, verified, and practical items to prepare you and your family for such events.

I especially recommend purchasing WaterBricks (clean water is THE essential to survival), Waterproof USB drives (data preservation is critical to your family and business), and the Go Dark Bag (because there are tyrants with bad intent, sadly.)

https://tacda.org/the-survival-store/

#business #data #love #strategy #events #water #civildefense #waterbricks #water #fema #preppers #prepare #smallbusiness #family #familybusiness #civil #tacda

CIVIL DEFENSE HACK #3: IT'S ABOUT THE CHILDREN'S FUTURE

https://poetslife.blogspot.com/2018/10/why-civil-defense-matters-for-children.html

Now a grandfather, I think in terms of generations and centuries, not just years or decades.

I am planting trees from which I will never enjoy the fruit, but I am happy to do so to benefit my progeny.

Nothing is more important for our future generations than teaching children civil defense. The rugby player is is my wee one in the photos.

He is gifted in music, engineering, athletics, and many other areas, but if he does not know how to survive, the rest does not happen.

After years of teaching him the importance of survival skills, he knows how to survive.

Many times, he now teaches me new skills.

I could leave the earth today and be confident he will survive and survive well.

Just yesterday I went over my last will and testament with him and given his reaction I am confident he is a highly skilled, intelligent, mature, loving, giving, Christian man who knows the facts of life.

In the link above to my blog post, you can discover ways you can be sure your children and grandchildren will survive...and PROSPER because they know how to survive.

You can also read my article Children and Civil Defense in the TACDA.ORG Journal of Civil Defense 

 https://tacda.org/journal/journal-of-civil-defense-2018-vol-51-no-1-emergency-water-storage/

I worked many months to make the TACDA.ORG search engine optimization terms relevant, so please explore other civil defense topics in the Journal of Civil Defense's illustrious 65-year history of knowledge based articles while you are there.

https://poetslife.blogspot.com/2018/10/why-civil-defense-matters-for-children.html

#future #engineering #music #civil #teaching #children #childrensfure #love #family #survival #survivalskills

CIVIL DEFENSE HACK #4: MACRO CYBERSECURITY

https://poetslife.blogspot.com/2017/10/when-state-hackers-take-aim-at-power.html

As with micro and macro economics, there is micro and macro cybersecurity.
Think of whatever you put your hands on for personal communication as micro cybersecurity.
Think of all the systems you depend on to make sure those personal computers and phones depend on as macro cybersecurity.
Here we are concerned with macro cybersecurity, or who watches the watchers.
Most Americans don't realize that right now a disciplined People's Liberation Army Lt. Colonel under the direction of a Communist Chinese Party (CCP) commissar actively owns, or is seeking, details on their DNA, emotional IQ, habits, weaknesses, and thinking.
That Lt. Colonel is working with creative Chinese criminal hackers who were given the choice of death or helping the CCP to dominate the world.
Despite the years of CCP data breaches of local, state, and federal government data centers and the exfiltration of that data to the CCP, and the parallel pirating of private sector data to CCP data servers, Americans generally are oblivious to the threat.
As proof, tens of millions of Americans freely and enthusiastically send terabytes of their personal data to the CCP via TikTok every day.
That will change soon.
Once Russia conquers the territory it wants soon, the world will change and this hidden war will become more visible.
Data breaches against the West, and especially the United States, that could have only been imagined in the past, will become reality.
I do not want this to happen, but after much research it looks like it will happen.
Civil defense is about thinking about the impossible and improbable and gaming it out just in case.
Still, it is not all bleak.
There are professionals who work 24/7/365 to countermand this CCP/Russian/North Korean/Iranian stealth digital plan to take down the American system.
I include links with a brief introduction to those government and private sector actors who are responsible for protecting our safety and security.
If you doubt me, recall that "someone" just took down our Air Traffic Control system...nationwide.
It is one more reminder of how vulnerable we are in our advanced, electricity based civilization.
I wrote https://lnkd.in/eDkHniiH in 2017.
You can also read my piece in the The American Civil Defense Association Journal of Civil Defense.
https://lnkd.in/eg88CGSi

Has anything improved since then?
Not really, so I pray every day that Americans wake up in time, aware that John F. Kennedys great book Why England Slept is now Why America Slept as we now, like England then, is mostly asleep.

#cybersecurity #people #work #data #digital #research #security #cloud #communication #insurance #safety #creative #mortgage #medical #banking #gaming #civil #electricity #iphone #change #macroeconomics

CIVIL DEFENSE HACK #5: MAKE A BUSINESS CONTINUITY PLAN

https://poetslife.blogspot.com/2016/09/business-continuity-disaster-recovery.html

Very large insurance and other corporations have detailed business continuity plans.
Why?
To survive if a manmade or natural disaster strikes suddenly.
But small businesses need such a plan even more.
If you run a business as a plumber, HVAC, electrician, small store owner, painter, mechanic, etc., you need a business continuity plan.
I attach a link to a continuity of business plan on my civil defense blog you can use to complete to help make sure your business survives a major dislocation.
Use what is useful in this plan and disregard the rest.
One tip is that businesses now go out of business not from the flood, fire, earthquake, hurricane, riot, etc....but due to data loss.
So, back up your data...daily.
We have a simple waterproof, EMP hardened, USB drive you can purchase at the TACDA.ORG survival store.
In addition to backing up your data, these USB drives have our disaster coursework so you can learn how to deal with all the threats on the threat matrix.
The time is growing late to get started on this plan, so please start on it now.
#help #business #smallbusiness #data #event #insurance #hvac #civil #corporations #corporations #insurance #continuity
https://lnkd.in/eUzYSrw3

CIVIL DEFENSE HACK #6: ALWAYS PREPARE IN ADVANCE

https://poetslife.blogspot.com/2018/10/why-civil-defense-matters-for-children.html

Consider how you prepare for a newborn baby.
Take that enthusiasm to your preparation for natural and manmade disasters.
To illustrate the point, years ago I prepared an emergency management plan for the Town of Mount Airy, MD where I lived at the time.
It was a comprehensive plan but, most importantly, it included a memorandum of understanding (MOA).
These are agreements signed in advance of an event.
They enable the rapid marshalling of the services, people, and resources needed immediately after a manmade or natural disaster strikes.
In hack #7, I will show how this memorandum of understanding, when activated after a tornado hit Mount Airy, MD, helped make the recovery faster and easier.
#people #civil #event #emergencymanagement #memorandumofunderstanding

CIVIL DEFENSE HACK #7: EF1 TORNADO LESSONS

https://poetslife.blogspot.com/2018/11/ef-1-tornado-lessons-from-mt-airy-md.html

NOTE: I use a tornado example here, but these tips apply to the whole threat matrix.

With a Memorandum of Understanding (MOA)in place with Wal-Mart, Ace Hardware, a rubble removal company, and others, the recovery from this tornado in Mount Airy, MD, because this simple task was done in advance, the town returned to operation quickly.
As with all natural disaster planning, the fundamentals must be repeated.
1.  Learn IN ADVANCE what you must do to prepare to save yourself, your family, your pets, and your neighbors when disaster strikes.
2. Stockpile, within reason, items you will need to survive ( water, food, medical, electronic, etc.).
3.  Exercise for an event.  Make if fun with children . This is vital. You will discover holes in your plan, supplies, contacts, etc. you will need to fill.
Here are natural disaster lessons explored in greater detail in the link below.
1. The Media Only Reports Part of the Story
2. Dishonest Contractors will Always Show up Post Disaster.
3. Your Insurance Only Covers Part of the Cost
4. Drones are the Future of Planning for and Recovering from Natural and Man-Made Disasters
5. Have a Damage Survey Form Template Ready
7. Good Government Governance and Communication Tools are Critical
8. Neighbors Must Help Neighbors
#future #help #communication #food #insurance #contractors #media #medical #water #civil #hardware #civildefense #event #planning