Understanding BCP Project Elements

Before a BCP project can begin, everyone on the project team has to make and understand some basic definitions and assumptions. These critical items include

Senior management support: The development of a Business Continuity Plan is time consuming, with no immediate or tangible return on investment (ROI). If you want a successful BCP project, you need the support of the organization’s senior management, including adequate budget, manpower, and visible statements backing the project. Senior management needs to make explicit statements identifying the responsible parties, as well as the importance of the BCP project, budget, priorities, urgency, and timing.

Senior management involvement: Senior management can’t just bless the BCP project. Because senior managers and directors may have implicit and explicit responsibility for the organization’s ability to recover from a disaster, senior management needs to have a degree of direct involvement in the BCP effort. The careers that these people save may be their own.

Project team membership: Which people do you want to put on the BCP project team? The team must represent all relevant functions and business units. Many of the team members probably have their usual jobs, too, so the team needs to develop a realistic timeline for how quickly the BCP project can make progress.

Who brings the donuts: Because it’s critical that BCP meetings are well attended, quality donuts are an essential success component.

A BCP project typically has four components: scope determination, the Business Impact Assessment, the Business Continuity Plan, and implementation. We discuss each of these components in the following sections.