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ContinuityInfo - Business Continuity Information Resource
At ContinuityInfo.com, you will find all the information you need to learn about Business Continuity. This site includes information regarding various business continuity areas:
- Business Continuity Planning
- Emergency Response
- Crisis Management
- Crisis Communication
- Business Continuity Plan
- Risk Management
- Business Impact Analysis
- History
- Standards
- Certification
- Business Continuity Resources (Tools and Resources)
- Business Continuity Related Books
- Business Continuity Related Associations
- Business Continuity Glossary
Business Continuity Planning
Business continuity, a process of planning to recover business from disaster, is an organization’s ability to continue its normal operations.
Business continuity is a field of business planning and management aimed at recovering a business after a disaster. A disaster is any event that interrupts business operations. Some examples of disasters are fires, earthquakes, chemical spills, or even bombs or terrorist attacks, as in the World Trade Centre attacks in New York on September 11th, 2001.
Note the usage of the word ‘recover’. The main premise behind business continuity is that mission critical processes are recovered first compared to non-critical processes. The recovery window for critical processes is relatively short and typically ranging from 0 hours to 2 to 3 days, with non-critical processes typically being recovered in 2 – 6 weeks. If critical processes are not recovered, however, the business may fail and need to close.
What are critical business processes? To understand critical business processes, you need to know what business functions are. Sales, shipping, payroll, and customer service are examples of business functions. Selling widgets, loading shipping trucks, and preparing pay totals, and handling customer returns are examples of business processes. The ‘critical’ processes, hence, are those that need to be recovered first.
Why should we recover critical processes first? Critical business processes are critical because of the impact they have on business if they were not operating. For example, if the ‘loading shipping trucks’ process is not being performed, then the company is loses money. The more money a company looses the more ‘critical’ a process becomes. Therefore, a process with a higher impact is typically recovered first.
Business Continuity Planning is a growing field. Here are a number of useful links to learn more about business continuity and disaster recovery in general:
- www.fema.org
FEMA is part of the Department of Homeland Security's Emergency Preparedness and Response Directorate. FEMA has more than 2,600 full time employees. FEMA's mission is to lead the effort to prepare the nation for all hazards and effectively manage federal response and recovery efforts following any national incident.
- www.disasterhelp.gov
DisasterHelp.Gov website is an initial deployment of the Disaster
Management e-Government Initiative, part of an integrated team of partner agencies and organizations that perform Disaster Management activities. The Disaster Management e-Government Initiative initially will focus on providing information and services relating to the four pillars of all-hazards disaster management: preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation.
- www.drj.com
The Disaster Recovery Journal has been around since 1987. The first issue of the magazine was 22 pages in size and was distributed to 3,000 people. Today, there are well over 60,000 subscribers and it is over 100 pages in size. At this site you will find plenty of useful information, including a glossary, tools, events, discussion forum, survey, etc.
- www.sia.com
Established in 1972, the Securities Industry Association brings together the shared interests of nearly 600 securities firms to accomplish common goals such as building and maintaining public trust and confidence in the securities markets.
- www.thebci.org
Established in 1994, The Business Continuity Institute (BCI) was enables members to obtain guidance and support from fellow business continuity practitioners. The Business Continuity Institute (BCI) was established in 1994 to enable members to obtain guidance and support from fellow business continuity practitioners. BCI offers certification which demonstrates member’s competence to carry out business continuity management (BCM) to a consistent high standard.
Additional Business Continuity Planning Resources
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