A Business Continuity Plan (BCP) is a collection of policies, procedures, protocols and information that is developed, compiled and maintained in readiness for use in the event of a business interruption. The BCP outlines the steps your organization needs to take in order to quickly resume service delivery. Having the BCP in place before the business interruption occurs is critical; otherwise, your organization may not be able to respond quickly enough to prevent service interruption.

A BCP manual for a small organization may be simply a printed manual stored safely away from the primary work location, containing the names, addresses, and phone numbers for crisis management staff, general staff members, clients and vendors along with the location of the offsite data backup storage media, copies of insurance contracts, and other critical materials necessary for organizational survival.

At its most complex, a BCP manual may outline a secondary work site, technical requirements and readiness, regulatory reporting requirements, work recovery measures, the means to reestablish physical records, the means to establish a new supply chain, or the means to establish new production centers. Overall the BCP manual should be realistic and easy to use during a crisis.

Next:> Planning Lifecycle

Contact:
Steve Moore, 952.890.7041 for planning assistance for businesses
Bridget Dalrymple, 952-895-4473 for questions about the Business Continuity Planning program

DISCLAIMER: This information is provided as a public service for the business leaders, local government, educational institutions and other organizations in Burnsville. Although all reasonable efforts have been made to present accurate information, no guarantees, including express or implied warranties, are made with respect to this information by the City of Burnsville, its participating jurisdictions, their departments or agencies, directors, employees or agents, who also assume no legal responsibility for the accuracy of presentations, comments or other information in this publication. In addition, no liability is assumed and all liability is expressly declined. This guide is based on information, templates and worksheets gathered from the Non-Profit Risk Management Center, the Institute for Business and Home Safety, U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Wikopedia.com.