Business Continuity Plan

The steps to create a BCP are Identify the scope and boundaries of a business continuity plan while communicating the importance of such a plan throughout the organization. The result of the thorough analysis in step 1 is the creation of the business impact assessment. The BIA measures the operating and financial loss to the organization resulting from a disruption to critical business functions. Once the BIA is complete, those responsible for creating the plan must sell the concept of the BCP to key senior management and obtain organizational and financial commitment. Once the BCP has gained the approval of upper management who have signed off on the plan and released the necessary resources to implement it, each department will need to understand its role in the plan and support and help maintain it. The business continuity plan purpose describes the critical processes, procedures, and personnel that must be protected in the event of an emergency and uses the business impact analysis (BIA) to evaluate risks to the organization and to prioritize the systems in use for purposes of recovery.

For the past four years, IEEE has used Strohl Consulting Services to assist in building and exercising its overall Business Continuity Plan. SCS has diplomatically convinced senior management that BCP is more than sending backup computer tapes to an off-site storage facility. The SCS guided the IEEE through the development of a comprehensive recovery strategy. At the same time, SCS has conscientiously sought to maximize the impact of every dollar we spend on disaster preparedness. Finally, SCS has made sure that the disaster recovery team understands why we have this process in place and, where necessary, SCS has trained or assisted in getting training for these team members. IEEE senior management is extremely satisfied with the services provided by SCS.