Business Continuity Plan Template

A powerful Business Continuity Plan template

Years of testing and actual disaster experience has gone into creating this business continuity plan template.  It has been designed to be a practical and usable document in a crisis,  and includes the elements you need to help you meet the most stringent regulator or customer needs.

  • Designed to meet ISO 22301 requirements
  • Logical and chronological flowing document
  • All sections pre-populated with information and processes you’ll need
  • All built with MS Office Word tools – no complicated new software to learn
  • Flexible to be used as a stand alone plan,  or use in a hierarchal plan structure
  • Clean and easy to read format

Built to meet ISO 22301

Built to pass the toughest review or audit

Simple, Fast, and Flexible

Fill in the blanks and you’re ready to print!

Easily upload to your BCMS

Simply import the plan into your current BCMS

Designed to meet ISO 22301:2019 Security and resilience - Business continuity management systems

A robust business continuity plan is an integral part of a ISO 22301 compliant business continuity management program,  however a solid business continuity plan needs to be supported by key parts of a ISO 22301 framework.  Some of these are:

  • Understanding the context and needs of the organization
  • Ensure leadership commitment
  • Detailed planning to address risks and opportunities
  • A support framework
  • Operational planing and controls
  • Performance evaluation
  • Continual improvement processes

Here’s an overview of the Business Continuity Plan Template:

Everyone must know who the Captain of the ship is during a severe storm!

That’s why this section is focused on clearly defining roles and so you know precisely who has the authority to activate the plan in a crisis. (And who is the second and third in command if that person is not available).

Time is vitally important and removing all of the little decisions ensures all the key people are clear on their roles and responsibilities when the next disaster strikes.

Overview and Scope

The scope section is important to establish a clear understanding of which areas of your business are included and excluded.  This will ensure that the priorities of the plan are correct and the plan makes the best use of available resources.

The scope can be update to include the key, or critical, areas of the business.  For example,  products or services which make a material contribution to your business income, reputation, or success.  Or perhaps a legal or regulatory requirement.

The overview also drives a common understanding of the threats the business continuity plan is designed for (Earthquake, Hurricane/Typhoon/Cyclone, Civil Unrest etc.)

Organization

Clearly illustrating and describing the response structure is essential to responding to an incident and enables you to establish command, control, and communication systems to manage a crisis and minimize impacts.

The organization structure identifies the relationships between individuals and response teams.  The template is very flexible and you can update the document to match the inherent structures and relationships to suit your business.

Roles and Responsibilities

Arguably one the most important sections of any contingency plan.  If your business continuity team understand their roles and responsibilities,  and have the right capabilities,  you are setup for success.

We have included the most commonly found examples of roles and responsibilities.  Some areas of this section of the template may need to be modified slightly to suit your business,  and most will likely be ready to go as is.

Processes

The template includes the most common and proven processes required during a crisis.

Successful business continuity programs need documented processes for operating, monitoring, reviewing and continually improving the business continuity management systems.

Procedures

This is the “How To” section of your plan.  Each team require procedures to ensure any response is consistent with the goals and desires of senior management.

We’ve included handy sample contingency procedures that are based on real and proven business continuity plans.  You don’t need to start from scratch – we’ve done the heavy lifting for you.

Appendices

Detailed data and information that may need to be referenced in the event of a disaster is best kept in Appendices.  By having this document structure stops the document from becoming war & peace and unmanageable.

This document structure type makes maintaining your business continuity plan more efficient.  For example,  spreadsheets that hold data that may change regularly can be maintained elsewhere and simply referenced or pasted in during the regular plan maintenance.

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