Business Continuity Information Gathering Template

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Business Continuity Information Gathering Template

August 2009

Introduction

Our organization has begun an intensive effort to document Business Continuity Plans for all departments and units. The Department of Strategic Security and Safety has developed this guideline to assist you in your part of developing your plan and collecting appropriate data.

The following template was designed for information gathering as well as to assist Dept. and Unit leaders in the creation of a formal Business Continuity Plan for your unit. It will help you become better prepared to continue essential processes should an incident occur. It will also help your unit become less

vulnerable to incidents.

As you address the activities that follow you should ask yourself “What do I do when we can not use our facility?” or “What can I do now to better prepare my unit to respond when our facility is unavailable?” Why it is unavailable isn’t the issue. It could be as a result of a fire, tornado, massive power outage or the lack of manpower due to a Pandemic Flu breakout. Consider that your offices and all of the resources you have available for day-to-day operations are no longer available or reduced to 50% or less available personnel to perform the job.

To be better prepared to respond to a workplace disruption, all KSU departments, units and schools are asked to use this document to describe how your department or unit will operate during a business disruption such as a Pandemic Flu outbreak, and recover afterwards to be fully

operational. This is a template to facilitate the gathering of pertinent information which will be used as your planning and operative guideline. The process of planning for an emergency is very valuable. Be collaborative when drafting this, and seek comments from your staff and leadership. For detailed instructions and more information, call the Department of Strategic Security and Safety at 770-423-6985.

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List the people who can make operational decisions if the head of your department or unit is absent.

Name Phone Number Alt Phone Number

Department

Head

First

Successor

Second

Successor

Third

Successor

B: Your Department’s Essential Functions

List below your department’s functions that are essential to operational continuity and/or recovery, and who is responsible for them. Make sure that alternates are sufficiently cross-trained to assume responsibilities.

Essential Function:

Function’s Effect on Operations (mark “X” for any that apply) Primary Alternate Second

Alternate

Affects the entire

university

People Responsible

Affects either academic

or business operations

Phone Numbers

C: Emergency Communication Systems

All KSU employees are responsible for keeping informed of emergencies by monitoring news media reports and KSU’s home page. To rapidly communicate with employees in an emergency, we encourage all departments to prepare and maintain a call tree.

Note below the system(s) you would use to contact your employees in an emergency. Departments should identify multiple communication systems that can be used for backup, after hours, when not on campus, or for other contingencies.

• Phone

•

Email

•

Text Messaging • Call Tree

•

Department Website

• Instant Messaging

•

Direct Connect

•

Other (describe):

Describe Process:

D: Emergency Access to Information and Systems

If access to your department’s information and systems is essential in an emergency, describe your emergency access plan below. This may include remote access (or authorization to allow remote access), contacting IT support, Blackboard, off-site data backup, backup files on flash drives, hard copies,

Blackberry/Treo or use of alternate email systems (e.g., Yahoo).

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E: Mitigation Strategies

Considering your objectives, dependencies and essential functions, describe below the steps you can take now to minimize any adverse impact on your operations. For example, you may wish to stock up on your critical supplies or develop contingency work-at-home procedures. This may be the most important step of your emergency planning process. Formulation of your mitigation strategies may require

reevaluation of your objectives and functions.

F: Recovery after an adverse affect to your dept. or unit.

Describe your Plan to fully resume operations as soon as possible after the wave has passed. Identify and address resumption/scheduling of normal activities and services, work backlog, resupply of inventories, continued absenteeism, the use of earned time off, and emotional needs.

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G: Special Considerations for Your Department

Describe here any additional or unique considerations that your department may face in an adverse situation:

H: Key Internal (Within KSU) Dependencies

List below the products and services upon which your department depends and the internal (KSU) departments that provide them.

Dependency (product or service) : Provider (KSU department):

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Dependency (product or service) : Provider (KSU department):

I: Key External Dependencies

List below the products, services, suppliers and providers upon which your department depends. We recommend that you encourage them to prepare a continuity of operations plan.

Dependency (product or service) :

Primary Alternate

Supplier/Provider

Phone Numbers

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Phone Numbers

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Phone Numbers

J: Key Internal Documents (Hard Copy Storage and Server/Hard Drive Location

List below the documents, both Hard Copy and Digital, upon which your department depends and the internal (KSU) departments that provide them, if applicable.

Document: Location: Document: Location: Document: Location: Document: Location: Document: Location: Document: Location:

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Document: Location: Document: Location: Document: Location: Document: Location:

Submitting Dept or Entity Name and Phone Numbers