Business Continuity Workshop Laura Dalgleish Risk and Business Continuity Professional

What is Business Continuity? Business continuity is about having a plan to deal with difficult situations, so your organisation can continue to function with as little disruption as possible. Note the definition says with as little disruption as possible. Not no disruption. Business Continuity is about planning for the worst in order to get the best outcome possible. Source: BCI.org.au Source: thebci.org

Why do you need Business Continuity? What is the objective of the organisation you work for? What does your world look like if you couldn’t meet that objective? Ask them to elaborate on their objective. What are the other impacts of not being able to educate for any other reason?

Business Continuity in Action Case Study – 2011 Floods - Brisbane In 2011 I led the response of some 550 people in the back office operations area at Suncorp Bank. Day 1 – watch and communicate, media outlets warning of impending doom for the City, people asking questions about getting home Day 2 – It was happening. The rain wouldn’t stop, our people were getting more and more nervous and reports were coming in about leaving the City early. A decision was made to send people home and only keep those critical staff in our building. At midday we were told the water was heading for the basement – we had to leave. The alternate site was ready to go and we shipped our critical staff there by taxi. This took some time… Day 3 – Our first day at the alternate site. We kept the site ready for people at all times with stationery etc… People were working, it was kind of fun. Lots to do with communications internally and externally, prioritising work via our Business Impact Assessment and BC plan Day 4 – People are getting tired, the tension is high, the sun is shining but the river is yet to peak. Cracks begin to show. Day 5 – We get the all clear to return to our normal work place.

What about you? I heard about an event that impacted St Brendan’s College at Yepoon – call on Gordon to talk about the response for the cyclone (or any cyclone)

So how do I “do” Business Continuity? Source: BCI.org.au Analysis – Using BIA Design – Worksheets, contact lists – the body of the plan Implement – Tell people about it, get people on board Validation – Test and Learn – update the plan! Source: thebci.org

Step 1 – Analysis – the BIA What do you do all day? Can you do something else? Can someone else do it for you? What if you couldn’t do it? BIA = Business Impact Assessment/ Analysis What do you do all day? Make a note for a week, major tasks that you do within your day What if you couldn’t do them – forget the reason why, just pretend you couldn’t – what would happen? Give me the “so what” What else could you do to get the same outcome? If there isn’t anything – note that! Remember that this is People, Process and Systems. These are all the things you need to have in order to do the function or activity. How long can you do nothing?

Step 2 – Design – What are you going to do? Refer to Worksheet Template and Dependencies template Speak in plain English. What should the person do first, then? And after? Don’t make it hard! Make sure you add critical reference points, contacts, records. Things the person needs to know but may not remember

Step 2a – Who you gonna call? Create a contacts template and record required information, who should be notified and when and by who? Contacts are vital. What if someone is injured/ missing? What are you going to do to get the message out there? Do you have a communications plan, media officer… What happens if your usual communication method is down? Eg phone lines

Step 2b – What does it look like? The process document is a great overview to give comfort that things are structured even though everything may be in chaos

Step 2b – What does it look like? A full list of every process in order of criticality (MAO) shows the logical sequence of response.

Step 3 – Getting people on board By far the best way to get people on board with the plan is to have a disaster but…that’s not always what we need… - Explain the importance of the plan - Give real life examples with pictures - Ask them to relate – what would you do - Run scenarios with critical team members

Test Review Update Step 4 – Practise makes perfect! - Always test – every year at least! - Make it a time when you can get maximum buy in – before cyclone season? Review the plans – did it work for everyone, are there things you could do better, who didn’t follow? Review the process, are the right people involved, were decisions made in reasonable time with confidence? If things didn’t work, change them!

Thank you! Questions?