Intro to the Business Continuity Plan

Introduction to the Business Continuity Plan

The business continuity plan (BCP) is a documented set of process and/or procedures to enable a business to continue normal operations irrespective of adverse conditions or events, including procedures for business resumption, emergency response, continuity of operations, incident management, and disaster recovery.

When developing the business continuity plan (BCP) businesses need to look at all such potential threats and devise BCPs to ensure continued operations should the threat become a reality. When we looked at the technology area this could include natural disasters, information systems failure, cyber-attacks, ransomware, infections such as malware, viruses, etc.

The goal is to help expedite the recovery of an organization's critical functions and manpower following these types of disasters. This advanced planning can help an organization minimize the amount of loss and downtime it will sustain while simultaneously creating its best and fastest chance to recover after a disaster.

You will be selecting a scenario organization to build your business continuity plan. You will develop different pans (BIA, Risk Management, Incident Response Plan, Disaster Recovery Plan, etc.) throughout the course. These components will become part of your business continuity plan as the appendixes. The Internet is used as a marketing channel with a website.

Overview of your organization

Select one of the scenario organizations. You can make changes to fit your needs.

Scenario One: XYZ Medical Services Management

The XYZ Medical Group offers management services for coordinated services to physicians, patients, health insurance providers, governmental services and medical facilities in the healthcare environment. This includes a database of physicians and medical groups comprised of physicians. Services offered include accounting, billing, scheduling, claim filing, marketing, etc.  Online patient and doctor portals are available.

Scenario Two: ABC Electronics Device and Repair

ABC Electronics sells and repairs electronic devices. The corporate office is in Kansas City, Missouri with branch stores in Los Angeles, California and New York, New York.  The website includes a catalog of products with a shopping cart, service manuals and contact information. ABC specializes in IoT devices along with other digital devices.

Scenario Three: United States Department of Agriculture - Farm Service Agency

NOTE: This information is directly from the USDA website.

The USDA provides leadership on food, agriculture, natural resources, rural development, nutrition, and related issues based on public policy, the best available science, and effective management.

The USDA vision is to provide economic opportunity through innovation, helping rural America to thrive; to promote agriculture production that better nourishes Americans while also helping feed others throughout the world; and to preserve our Nation's natural resources through conservation, restored forests, improved watersheds, and healthy private working lands.

The Farm Service Agency implements agricultural policy, administers credit and loan programs, and manages conservation, commodity, disaster, and farm marketing programs through a national network of offices.

A listing of all Programs and Services offered by the Farm Service Agency is provided at https://www.fsa.usda.gov/programs-and-services/index  The agency offers an online portal for farmers to access services, complete contracts, view programs and policies, etc.

PART A:

For this assignment you will start the process of developing the BCP. To start the process, you will need to determine additional information about your organization.

Outline the organizational personnel including management, supervisors, personnel for the required departments. Don’t forget to include your technology and support personnel.

You need to look at the organization geographic layout including the associated technology needs. Are there branch offices? Separation by location? If so how are the systems connected?

You will be to create a service/product catalog for your organization. A simple one is needed to have the basic info about each service under the organization structure with an owner of each.

Next determine the internal functions necessary for the organization operations (accounting, inventory, payroll, etc.)

Now you need to determine what systems and functions would be necessary to fulfill these services or features such as web server, database server, file servers, software etc.

Create a summary report including the information above in a Word document (not pdf) entitled ScenarioDescriptionGID.docx and submit it along with the Part B deliverable in the dropbox.

PART B

With the scenario parameters determined, you may now start to create the BCP.  Using the template identified below, develop the sections entitled Introduction, Purpose & Scope, Statement of the Policy, and Policy Leadership.

BCP Template:

Sample business continuity plan templates can be found at the links below:

Business Continuity Plan Template

Sample Business Continuity Policy