Continuity planning guide - for academic units
The University’s ongoing functions depend on a complex combination of people, knowledge, information and infrastructure. Often, we are too busy doing our work to pause and analyse what dependencies are critical to that work – and how well we would be able to continue working if something unforeseen went wrong, such as if one of our key people was incapacitated,or one of our facilities was damaged.
This guide is designed to help an academic unit:
Analyse itslearning & teaching and research operations, including what and who is critical to its success;
Consider how well the unit’slearning & teaching and research operations could continue if something were to happen to compromise them;
Consider what steps the unitcan take to improve the likelihood that learning & teaching and research operations could continue normally in the face of compromises; and
Identify areas of the learning & teaching or research operations that could benefit from more detailed planning with the help of specialists or experts.
Continuity planning is best undertaken as a group exercise within the academic unit.
Part I of this guide contains preliminary questions for each individual staff member involved in the group exercise to considerin preparation for the group session. These preliminary questions can also serve as an ongoing reference for individuals thinking about back-up planning in their day-to-day work.
Part II of this guide consists of a questionnaire to guide the continuity planning exercise.
If you would like help arranging or facilitating a continuity planning session, contact Anne Hill, Associate Director Risk Services (, phone 8313 4603).
Continuity planning guide – Part I
Individual preparation – preliminary questions
Purpose of this checklist: to prepare individuals for a group continuity planning exercise, and to serve as a quick reference guide for thinking about continuity planning day-to-day.
Continuity planning guide – Part II
Continuity Planning Questionnaire
Purpose of this questionnaire: To guide a group discussion within an academic unit about learning & teaching and/or researchcontinuity.
Structure of this questionnaire: Part A has a set of overarching questions that can be used to guide a big picture discussion about learning & teaching and/or researchcontinuity. Part Bcontains more specific questions to help document a continuity guide, particularly for a unit with more complex learning & teaching and/or research needs or risks.
Advance preparation recommended:
- Individuals complete preparation checklist (Part I of this guide).
- Planning facilitator/leader for the group discussion should review individual checklists if completed in writing, and look for common themes.
- Consider inviting an external consultant or specialist to join in your group discussion: contact Legal & Risk for more guidance.
PART A. OVERARCHING QUESTIONS FOR CONTINUITY PLANNING
These questions are designed to guide a big picture discussion about learning & teaching and/or research continuity. For units with high-risk activities or complex continuity risks, the more detailed questionnaire in Part B may prove more useful.
a)What are the core things your team does?
b)Who and what do you need to perform them?
Think tangibles (facilities, equipment, materials), information and people.
c)Are any of these things unique, specialised or irreplaceable?
Think about whatthings and people would be hardest to replace and would cause the most damage to your unit’s operations if they were damaged or unavailable.
d)What kind of things could go wrong to take these things and people away from you?
Think computers being wiped, a flood in your building, a freezer unit failing, a person becoming ill.
e)What would the impacts be for your team’s operations – and for the University’s overall mission?
Consider different levels of seriousness of impacts, e.g. needing to substitute an alternate person to teach a class vs something preventing you from offering the class vs something that shuts down your unit altogether. For impacts that would cause University-wide problems, there may already be a University-wide continuity plan in place (e.g. for IT security compromises or for a pandemic flu epidemic).
f)What easy or quick steps can you take individually and collectively to implement backup plans?
Think about what steps you already have in place to minimise continuity risks, as well as new steps that are easily identifiable and quick to implement – like storing information on University servers and backing up data, saving course materials on MyUni rather than a personal hard drive, and having a list somewhere that shows who could substitute easily for teaching in different classes. Make sure people in your unit participate in such backup plans.
g)What additional continuity or succession gaps exist that will take more effort to remedy?
Think about additional action that is necessary but will take more effort to define and adopt, due to their magnitude or complexity. Seek help to devise a more detailed continuity plan to address those steps, from specialists in continuity planning such as IT, Risk Management, Security, Infrastructure, or Campus Services. Assign responsibility within your unit for driving the longer-term planning process.
PART B. CONTINUITY PLANNING – DETAILED QUESTIONNAIRE
These questions are designed to guide a more detailed planning session and develop a continuity plan.
(a) What are the core things your team does?List your main activities and operations
e.g. teaching, research and commercial activities, community service, University administration and governance activities
Is your work contained within your unit, or do you work closely with other units/teams inside or outside the University?
(b) Who and what do you need to perform the things your team does?
PEOPLE
How many people are in your team, and who does what?
Are there any people who your team relies on for particular work who are external to your unit?
e.g. key research collaborators, clinical supervisors for students
Is there anyone in your team who is the “only one” who knows how to do a particular thing?
In other words, are there any people who are indispensable to your unit’s operations?
Identify staff who need to be relocated on site and who can be sent home to work.
Identify staff that need to be on standby.
FACILITIES AND OTHER TANGIBLES
What are the core facilities and infrastructure your team needs?
Focus on special or unique infrastructure.
e.g. scientific or specialized lab equipment, custom-fit teaching or research spaces, special technology, unique storage facilities, freezer units
What are the main tangible materials and supplies your team needs?
Focus on things that are unique or require special storage, treatment or transportation.
e.g. research materials, chemicals, other supplies, things requiring refrigeration/freezing
Where do you get materials from and where do you store them?
Focus on things that are unusual, unique, require special treatment or will take longer to source or re-supply.
Are any of your facilities and things controlled outside your unit?
e.g. a classroom space you book in another department, or IT services provided centrally
INFORMATION
What kinds of information does your team need?
e.g. student records, teaching materials, research data, admin records
Where do you store this information?
Is it backed up?
How much is digital versus hard copy only?
How do you handle record keeping within the unit?
Do you use TRIM and/or centrally hosted University storage?
List Vital Records / Source / Physical Location (Building
Floor) / Electronic Location
(S drive; local drive etc.)
(c) Are any of these things unique, specialised or irreplaceable?
For each of these categories, what would be the hardest to replace and cause the biggest gap in operations if it were unavailable, damaged or lost:
People
Facilities
Equipment
Materials and supplies
Information, records or data
(d) What kinds of things could go wrong that would take key people and needs away from you, and what would be the impact on your unit’s operations?
Think about some of the events that could happen to compromise your people, facilities, information; and the kinds of impacts that your unit could face.
What kind of events would cause the most significant impacts for your operations?
e.g. computers being wiped, a flood in your building, a freezer unit failing, a person becoming ill, half your work team becoming ill.
What would be the impact of those events on your unit? And on the University’s mission as a whole?
e.g. minor impacts, like having an alternative person teach a class because someone is sick or moving a class to a different room because a classroom is suddenly unavailable
e.g. moderate impacts, like being prevented from offering a class altogether or being unable to finish a particular research project
e.g. major impacts, like having to shut down your unit
(e) What backup plans do you already have in place to manage continuity risks in each of these areas?
Facilities and infrastructure
e.g, you know of an alternative lab in another building where you could perform certain specialised work if your lab was unavailable
Materials and supplies
People
e.g. you know informally that Professor X could teach Professor Y’s classes if Y were unavailable
Information and data
e.g. routine data backups, storing data on drives that are automatically backed up like UA servers
(f) What additional backup plans are easily identifiable and capable of quick and easy implementation in each continuity risk area?
Facilities and infrastructure
e.g. finding out what other classrooms you could easily use if your main ones were unusable, securing sensitive equipment better, electrical surge protection
Materials and supplies
e.g. securing irreplaceable things better, keeping sensitive materials/supplies split between two locations in case one is damaged
People
e.g. making a list in your unit of who is the designated “backup” for teaching certain classes and managing certain research projects
Information and data
e.g. avoiding reliance on removable media like USB thumb drives, instituting a unit practice that things should be saved/stored on UA servers wherever possible and not on local hard disks
Put a plan in place to make sure everyone in your team implements your backup plans
(g) What continuity gaps or challenges will require more in-depth or long-term planning to remedy?
Identify more challenging continuity gaps
Depending what areas your gaps are in, seek support from continuity management experts
e.g. Infrastructure, ITS, Legal and Risk, Security
Assign responsibility for following them up
Legal and Risk Branch, The University of Adelaide – Sept 2014