Business Continuity Project – Action PlanAppendix B

Date / Action / Owner / Action / Outcome
2007

September

/
  1. Draft action plan to be presented to Senior Management Team (SMT) by Head of Financial Services (RLJ). (This follows earlier endorsement to the wider project by the Emergency Committee).
  1. Fix a date, for October/November, for the Mission Critical Services Workshop. Extended Management Team event
/ RLJ/BCPA
RLJ / SMT
SMT /
  • Management Team to understand the role of the Business Continuity Project Administrator (BCPA) within that plan. Scene set for the BCPA to meet up with Heads of Service.
  • Management team agree draft action plan.
  • Extended Management Team (EMT) to be briefed regarding the project, timetable, and the role of the Business Continuity Project Administrator. Peter Pawlowski to deal.
  • Date (14th November) and venue established for the Mission Critical Services Workshop, and agreed with the consultants (ZM).

September/

October

/
  1. BCPA to hold 1:1 meetings with Heads of Service, to discuss the project, timetable and role. “Briefing notes” for the 14th November workshop to be distributed (Consultants to supply in advance).
  2. Secure agreement regarding responsibilities and terms of reference, between the Incident Response Plan (Civil Emergencies) and the Business Continuity Plan.
/ BCPA
BCPA / Heads of Service
SH/GC /
  • Project, timetable and role discussed with Heads of Service.
  • Purpose of the briefing notes explained, i.e. process for agreeing Mission Critical Services (MCSs).
  • MCSs identified on a Service specific basis.
  • BCPA to meet with Head of Housing & Community Services (Simon Hendey), and Emergency Planning Officer (Graham Chaplin). and agree responsibilities and terms of reference.

October

/
  1. Prepare report, complete with action plan and template business continuity plan, ready for next month’s Emergency Committee meeting.
  2. Completed “briefing notes” to be returned to the consultants ahead of the 14th November workshop.
/ BCPA
BCPA / BCPA
BCPA /
  • Report and supporting documentation agreed, ready for briefing.
  • Consultants to incorporate the content of the briefing notes (Service specific MCSs) into their workshop.

5th November

/
  1. Emergency Committee (EC) to consider the submitted report, action plan and template business continuity plan.
/ EC / EC /
  • Action plan and template business continuity plan agreed and approved.

14th November

/ ½ day Mission Critical Services workshop for the Extended Management Team, to be provided by the consultants (ZM), to cover:
  • Overview of business continuity and the project
  • Business impact analysis
  • Identification of mission critical services
  • Recovery time objectives
  • Identification of threats and consequences
  • Discussion of strategic options
/ ZM/BCPA / EMT /
  • Mission critical services and threats identified.
  • Scene set for next stage of plan development (risk mitigation and incident response planning)
  • Synopsis report to be provided by the consultants.

4th December

/
  1. Management Team to sense check the outcome from the 14th November workshop, based upon the Consultants’ report. Consultants to attend.
/ BCPA / SMT /
  • A prioritised set of corporate mission critical services, and identified threats, endorsed by Management Team.

Date

/ Action / Owner / Action / Outcome

2008

January

/ Workshop for the Emergency Committee. Consultants to deliver.
To cover:
  • Overview of business continuity and the project
  • Outcomes from the 14th November workshop
  • Context setting for next stage
/ ZM/BCPA / EC /
  • Member Training

February

/ Training workshop for those representing Mission Critical Services. Consultants to deliver.
To cover:
  • Overview of outcomes from the 14th November workshop.
  • Introduction and discussion of the template plan.
  • Risk mitigation
  • Incident response planning
  • Discussion of strategic options.
/ ZM/BCPA / EMT
(selective) /
  • Mission critical representatives to proceed with completing their draft plans.
  • Scene set for next stage of the plan development (incident management and review of resources required to support Mission Critical Services).

April/June

/
  1. Mission critical representatives to complete their draft plans, supported by the BCPA.
  2. A selection of draft plans to be desk top reviewed by the consultants, for quality control.
  3. The BCPA to feed back any quality control issues to the mission critical representatives, and plans fine tuned as appropriate.
  4. Plans to be collated by the BCPA.
/ BCPA / EMT
(selective) /
  • Sample of draft Business Continuity Plans ready for submission to Management Team.

June

/
  1. Submit sample of draft Business Continuity Plans to Management Team.
/ BCPA / SMT /
  • Draft Business Continuity Plans endorsed by Management Team

22nd October

(Rescheduled from June, in order to achieve closer proximity to the desktop plan test of early 2009). /
  1. Incident Management training workshop (half day) to be provided by the consultants for Incident Management Team members - to include:
  • Communication and use of crisis centres in the first few hours after an incident
  • Invocation/escalation framework
  • Internal and external communication including media management
  • Discussion of Management Plan
/ ZM/BCPA / SMT/EMT /
  • Complete Management Plan.
  • Set scene for desktop plan test in early 2009.

July/December

/ 1. Review recovery strategies/resources in support of Mission Critical Services, with linkage into the Corporate Asset Management Group if appropriate. / Heads of Service/BCPA / EMT /
  • Shortfalls, procurement, prioritisation issues etc identified. Report back to Management Team/Emergency Committee as appropriate.
  • Complete recovery strategy reviews.

November/December

/
  1. Progress report to Management Team/Emergency Committee.
/ BCPA / SMT/EC /
  • Endorsement of progress.

December

/
  1. Sign off the Management and business continuity plans
/ BCPA / EMT /
  • Plans complete, ready for publishing

Date

/ Action / Owner / Action / Outcome

2009

January/February

/
  1. Training sessions for staff (as appropriate) to be provided by the consultants, as an overview of business continuity and progress made to date.
/ ZM/BCPA / EMT /
  • Further embedding of business continuity.

January

/
  1. Publish plans
/ BCPA / EMT /
  • Plans published for appropriate access.

March/April

/
  1. Consultants to provide a scenario planning test exercise for Management Team members – theoretical, in a workshop environment. Set for 21st April.
  2. “Mop up” training sessions for staff that missed the January/February courses. Set for 24th April.
/ ZM/BCPA / SMT/EMT /
  • Consultants to produce a gap analysis report.
  • Further embedding of business continuity.

May

/ 1. Consultants to provide a post-test, gap analysis, of results against plans. / ZM / BCPA /
  • Review results.

June/July

/
  1. Fine tune plans, reflecting the results of the gap analysis report.
  1. Consider programme for:
future periodic testing.
ownership/procedure for maintaining the plans.
Audit trail of current and future recovery strategy reviews. / BCPA
BCPA / EMT
SMT /
  • Review of plans
  • Ensure that plans remain updated and fit for purpose.
  • Maintain audit trail.