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Be Ready For Anything With This Business Continuity Plan Template

March 29, 2021
Bill Kimball

bcp template

Data, such as financial records and other mission-critical information such as user login credentials, require storage where recovery is convenient and easy. Store data according to priority based on the importance of the data to the business. Use this step by step guide for preparing your comprehensive preparedness plan. When it comes to disaster recovery strategies, each company will have varying strategies based on geographical locations, the organization’s structure, system, environments, and the severity of the disaster in question. With the help of RingCentral, NADA was able to transition with ease to remote working solutions as the pandemic hit. Thanks to NADA’s proactive thinking and RingCentral cloud communications, the company did not have to slow down their operations due to the unexpected disruption that hit in 2020. You’ve put in the groundwork and now it’s time to start planning.

bcp template

If you operate a medium to large business, you should consider including additional personnel to form command and control teams as well as the task-orientated teams. As the Covid-19 crisis has shown, it’s essential to put a Business Continuity Plan in place to defend against every type of disaster using our best practices.

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strategies are mobilized in times of emergency, or sudden, unexpected disruption. VoIP internet calling for remote communications, or pre-established relationships with off-site third-party resources can be called on in times of need. Having these foundations in place is the best way to guarantee essential services continue no matter what. These roles should have clear expectations attached and an understanding of what steps they need to take in a crisis. Every team member should have their contact information to ease communication in an emergency situation. That way it’s simple and easy to keep your team updated from wherever you are with document sharing, check-off tasks, meetings with a click, live collaboration, and integrated apps.

Have all the information you need to implement the solutions in one document, ready to hand, so you do not have to search different folders and files for information during a stressful situation. Send a page to your own unit to ensure it is also functioning correctly. The following facilities have been identified as designated recovery sites for restoration of processing under the MIT Business Continuity Planning strategy.

bcp template

Identify the coverage required for both hardware, media, media recovery, liability and extra expense. The MIT News Office will be the interface between MIT and the public or news media.

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Failure to do so can mean financial loss or damage to your company’s reputation. Start preparing, contact us or use our free BCP template to get started today. It is natural for employees to worry if systems are compromised due to a crisis. This situation makes them worry about how and when to proceed with their delegated tasks, negatively affecting the workflow. This scenario is especially true for customer-centric organizations.

  • You’re going to need to identify the broader scope of your plan to set sensible, appropriate goals.
  • When disaster strikes, you can’t expect your personnel to know what to do in the situation without having a concrete plan that came directly from you, the owner.
  • A rapid recovery means less money lost, less uncertainty, and less disruption and confusion for your customers.
  • In many cases, the organizations comprising these support teams have as their normal responsibility the provision of these support services.
  • Firstly, think about every disaster event that can negatively affect your business tasks.

It should give step by step instructions to administrators, which includes all necessary information for backup site providers, key personnel, and emergency responders. Your business continuity management team will be responsible for implementing and then executing the final plan when the time comes.

The Plan is a document that reflects the changing environment and requirements of MIT. Therefore, the Plan requires the continued allocation of resources to maintain it and to keep it in a constant state of readiness. The Plan is based on the availability of the hot sites or the back-up resources, as described in Part IV. The accessibility of these, or equivalent back-up resources, is a critical requirement. MIT increasingly depends on computer-supported information processing and telecommunications. This dependency will continue to grow with the trend toward decentralizing information technology to individual organizations within MIT administration and throughout the campus.

Protect Against Different Disasters

This includes such as the particular business functions that have to be prioritized for recovery during an emergency. Perform regular audits of your organization’s BCP using this business continuity plan checklist. Whether small or medium business, this checklist can be used to ensure BCPs are up to date and reflect current high impact operations.

Extensive lists may need to be prepared, depending on the company’s set up and geographical location. Yet, it encompasses much more than an organization’s future profitability. It covers all aspects of a business’s longevity, prosperity and success. cloud phone system in place means that, if your staff suddenly have to change offices or switch to remote or hybrid work, they can still work together from anywhere, uninterrupted.

This may include creating remote work solutions for your employees, having backup utility providers, alternative network resources, data backups, and server backups. The next step is to perform a detailed risk assessment on your company. A risk assessment allows you to understand the physical, financial, reputational, and operational risks to your company should a major disruption occur. Your BCP should include the title and contact information of each of the team members listed above. When creating the scope of your plans, you should also define the successful outcome of your plan and which milestones should be tracked during an emergency. It will allow your business to provide reasonable service to your customers during and after an emergency.

Send and share an updated business continuity plan report to your team in a few taps. States the purpose of the BCP, including specific business functions that should be prioritized for recovery during an emergency. This section should include examples of emergency events that would trigger the response of this BCP. Business continuity templates can be used in any industry for IT disaster recovery, continuity of customer-facing operations, and backup of transport & logistics operations. A step-by-step guide to creating a small business disaster recovery plan. Find out which business objectives they support, how often they occur, which departments they affect, and what other aspects of the business are dependent on these to function?

To minimize the damage to your business in the event of an emergency or disruption of business. Emergency events can also include natural disasters, workplace violence, utility failures, cyber-attacks, supply shortages, economic downturns, or any event that will result in the disruption of business processes. When teams have clarity into the work getting done, there’s no telling how much more they can accomplish in the same amount of time. The Smartsheet platform makes it easy to plan, capture, manage, and report on work from anywhere, helping your team be more effective and get more done. Report on key metrics and get real-time visibility into work as it happens with roll-up reports, dashboards, and automated workflows built to keep your team connected and informed. Your needs and requirements will change over time and your plan needs to follow suit.

Use this business continuity plan template to keep your SaaS business productive and efficient, despite any unforeseen events or disruptions. With space to record everything from recovery procedures and strategies to relocation strategies and alternate site locations, you’ll be able to keep business moving and remain productive during a crisis or disruption. This template is geared specifically to IT business operations and aims to maintain IT processes despite any possible harmful disruption. Use this template to document recovery objectives, teams, and strategies in order to accurately capture all facets of the continuity plan needed for an IT team. To draw up the plan, companies need to make a list of all the disruptions that could affect a company’s operations. Pinpoint critical functions in everyday business processes and formulate practical recovery strategies for each possible disaster scenario.

The disaster recovery strategy explained below pertains specifically to a disaster disabling the main data center. This functional area provides mainframe computer and major server support to MIT’s administrative applications. Especially at risk are the critical applications those designated as Category I systems. The O&S FARM Team Plan provides for recovering the capacity to support these critical applications within ___ hours. Summarizing the provisions of the O&S Plan, subsections below explain the context in which the Institute’s Business Continuity Plan operates. The Business Continuity Plan complements the strategies for restoring the data processing capabilities normally provided by Operations & Systems. Under the overall direction of the Business Continuity Management Team, support is provided to assist a functional area’s recovery by Institute Support Teams.

Read about the structure of a layoff letter due to COVID-19 with a free downloadable template for employers. At a minimum, you will want your team to consist of a Business Continuity Manager, an assistant manager, and an administrative assistant for each department in your company. All businesses, including smaller businesses, should also consider the expectations and regularity standards that come from external stakeholders including investors, external partners, and auditors. The roles and responsibilities of your BCM team and your staff. A comprehensive list of tasks required to keep your operations going. Empower your people to go above and beyond with a flexible platform designed to match the needs of your team — and adapt as those needs change.

It will help you to know what to do in an emergency and other disastrous scenarios. This Business Continuity Plan specifies the responsibilities of the Business Continuity Management Team, whose mission is to establish Institute level procedures to ensure the continuity of MIT’s business functions. In the event of a disaster affecting any of the functional areas, the Business Continuity Management Team serves as liaison between the functional area affected and other Institute organizations providing major services.