Business Continuity Planning: A Step-By-Step Guide with Planning Forms, 3rd Edition / Edition 3

by Kenneth L Fulmer, Philip Jan Rothstein

Overview

Perfect Beginner's Guide in Workbook Format
with Worksheets, Forms, Checklists, Tables and Free Download of Sample Plans and Templates

This easy, how-to-do-it introduction to Business Continuity Planning (BCP) is designed in a workbook format with lots of reproducible worksheets, forms, tables, checklists and action items. It's particularly useful for managers in single-location companies with up to 250 employees and for an office environment where information technology is critical to operations.

Just follow the steps and use some of the templates and you'll have a realistic plan in only a few days. The process will neither overwhelm you nor break the bank, and it will get your business continuity program up and running surprisingly fast and with a lot less effort than you expect.

The accompanying free download provides numerous handy templates and sample forms, including a vulnerability worksheet; Business Impact Assessment (BIA) sample questionnaire for departments; cumulative outage costs worksheet; emergency response team assignments and call sheet; vendor call sheet; sample test plan and maintenance plan, etc. There are also checklists/ corrective action forms for various natural hazards, including, fires, floods, winter storms, hurricanes, earthquakes and tornadoes, along with an emergency response plan (ERP) checklist. Checklists for special hazards include those for power outages, boiler failures, bomb threats, hazardous material spills, and civil unrest, along with a checklist for vital records storage. The BCP resources include information about federal and state agencies, such as FEMA; bibliographies; articles and papers; and links to a variety of related Web sites.

Endorsed by both the Business Continuity Institute and Disaster Recovery Institute International, this workbook includes these helpful features:

Worksheets in both the book and free download in Microsoft Word that provide step-by step practice in developing your own business continuity plan

Chapter overviews and objectives

Appendices with sample risk assessment and risk analysis checklists

Glossary with 120 business continuity terms

Accompanying free download with numerous templates and forms; bibliographies; articles and papers; links to a variety of related Web sites

Author who is a veteran practitioner of business continuity and disaster recovery for 20+ years

Ideal for senior undergraduate, MBA, certificate, and corporate training programs

"In more than 30 years as a business continuity practitioner, I have seen many small and medium-size businesses pay the penalty for lack of preparedness. Often, overwhelmed by the jargon employed by many practitioners and the mistaken concepts that business continuity is too costly, that it is only for the 'big boys,' and that they do not have the resources or knowledge base, they choose to take the risk instead. For many, it is an unfortunate choice because much can be done with reasonable commitment to avoid business disruptions or mitigate the impact for those that are unavoidable.... In this excellent primer, Mr. Fulmer sets out a simple, concise, and, most of all, logical roadmap both for developing the justification for a business continuity/disaster recovery program as well as for developing and maintaining the resultant plan."
--Larry Kalmis, FBCI, Project Executive, Virtual Corporation
Chairman, Business Continuity Institute

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781931332217
Publisher:	Rothstein Publishing
Publication date:	10/30/2004
Series:	Business Continuity Management Ser.
Edition description:	3rd Enlarged ed.
Pages:	173
Product dimensions:	8.25(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.41(d)

About the Author

KENNETH L. FULMER, CBCP, has been involved in the Business Continuity Planning field for over 14 years. He has been a member of the Disaster Recovery Institute International (DRII, www.drii.org) since 1991 and a Certified Business Continuity Planner since 1992. Mr. Fulmer's career has spanned 27 years in the computer-related industry and has published, trained and spoken on business continuity issues.

Ken began his career as a public school teacher in Silver Spring, MD, and has since been a Bank Officer for Imperial Bancorp; now Comerica Bancorp, New York, and a National Account Executive with Digital Equipment Corporation; now Hewlett Packard.

Ken's Third Edition of Business Continuity Planning: A Step-by-Step Guide with Planning Forms on CD-ROM builds upon the foundation of the two previous, highly successful editions.

Table of Contents

PREFACE by Melvyn Musson, FBCI, CBCP, CISSP

PREFACE by Philip J. Rothstein, FBCI

PREFACE by Andrew Hiles, FBCI

INTRODUCTION

1 WHY SHOULD YOUR BUSINESS PREPARE FOR A DISASTER?

What Disaster Might Hit You?

It's Too Much Work! Why Shouldn't We Just Take the Risk?

Legal Reasons for Having a Plan

Statutory Example

Determining Liability

2 GETTING STARTED

Basic Considerations

An Alternate Business Location

Vital Records

Key People

A Plan

How Many Plans?

Types of Plans

The Planning Steps You Will Take with this Book

Step 1 - Writing the Purpose, Objectives, Scope and Assumptions

Purpose of the Plan - Sample Text

Plan Objectives - Guidelines

Scope of the Plan - Guidelines

Planning Assumptions- Guidelines

Step 2 - The Plan Coordinator and Development Team: Job Descriptions

The Plan Development Team

Step 3 - Assigning Action Items, Coordination of Responsibilities and Timeframes

3 ITS TIME TO ROLL UP YOUR SLEEVES AND TO ASSESS YOUR CURRENT RISK

Step 4 - Where Do You Stand Right Now?

Begin by Reviewing Internal Plans and Policies

Meet with Outside Groups

Identify Codes and Regulations

Identify Critical Products, Services and Operations

Identify Your Internal Resources and Capabilities

Identify External Resources

Conduct an Insurance Review

Assess Your Vulnerability

Begin by Listing Potential Threats

Estimate Probability

Assess the Potential Human Impact

Assess the PotentialProperty Impact

Assess the Potential Business Impact

Assess Internal and External Resources

Add the Columns

Hazard-Specific Information

Hazardous Materials Incidents

Floods and Flash Floods

Hurricanes

Tornadoes

Severe Winter Storms

Earthquakes

Technological Emergencies

Analyzing the Risk Assessment

Step 5 - Doing Your Business Impact Analysis

Identifying Critical Systems, Applications and Vital Records

Using Your Business Impact Analysis

What's Your Staying Power?

Timing Your Defense

What Immediate Resources Do You Need?

Develop Recovery Priorities

Identify Preventive Controls

Develop Technical Recovery Strategies

Step 6 - Selecting Your Recovery Teams

Roles and Responsibilities

Team Leaders

Team Members

Step 7 - Developing Your Recovery Strategies and Action Plans

Recovery Strategy Overview

Sample Action Plan Task List

4 PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

Step 8 - Documenting Your Business Continuity Plan

Background Information

Action Plan

Plan Appendices

Step 9 - Testing Your Plan

Preparation of Testing Procedures

Checklist Testing

Non-Business-Interruption Test

Parallel Testing

Business Interruption Testing

Frequency of Test

Evaluating Your Test Results

The Checklist Worksheet

The Test Evaluation Form

Step 10 - Distributing Your Plan

5 CONGRATULATIONS! - BUT DON'T LET IT COLLECT DUST

Step 11 - Maintaining Your Plan

APPENDIX A SAMPLE RISK ASSESSMENT

APPENDIX B RISK ANALYSIS CHECKLIST

APPENDIX C GUIDELINES FOR DEVELOPING YOUR DATA SHEETS

APPENDIX D BUSINESS CONTINUITY GLOSSARY

APPENDIX E SELECTED BUSINESS CONTINUITY ARTICLES

Pitching Preparedness

Why Assess? A Case Study

Slow-Motion Disaster

Managing Management: A Case Study

"Almost" Disasters

REFERENCES