Goals of the Business Impact Analysis

Great business continuity management goes beyond the writing of a business continuity plan or disaster recovery plan. It is the proactive approach whereby an organization provides the critical resources to ensure that the critical business objectives continue to be met irrespective of the type, or severity of a disruption to normal operations.

The key benefits of strong business continuity management and a disaster recovery program include:

Detailed understanding of what your business absolutely must achieve (the critical objectives).

An understanding of what interruptions may be faced in trying to achieve these critical objectives.

Able to predict the probable outcome of controls and other mitigation strategies.

Procedures the business can follow to achieve the critical objectives should interruptions take place.

Understanding the criteria or triggers for implementing crisis and disaster recovery procedures.

All staff are aware of their roles and responsibilities when a major disruption occurs.

A clear understanding throughout the organisation of what accountabilities and responsibilities are in place when business continuity and disaster recovery response are in effect.

Consensus and commitment to the requirements, implementation and deployment of disaster recovery measures.

Commencement

When you first get started with your business continuity project, the key questions that you need to ask yourself are:

What is important to the business of my organization?

What does my organization depend on to operate?

Determine the need:

To be successful you must start well! You'll need to clearly state your scope, objectives and desired outcomes of your project.

Suggested activities:

Utilize the critical business objectives identified in business strategies, business plans, and performance management tools

Consider geographical locations, functional units, client groups,...