CONTINGENCY PLAN

A contingency plan is a document, often a form, that captures anticipated problems, determines their criticality, and presents any appropriate responses. In other words, it is a method for not getting caught with your pants down.

You can develop contingency plans for just about any subject, such as for problems or circumstances related to people, equipment, supplies, facilities, money, and time.

Before beginning any project, consider completing contingency plans for every possible scenario and storing them in a three-ring binder. If a scenario arises that you failed to account for, complete a plan to help you take the right response in the future.

for Developing a Contingency Plan

• Identify all the possible scenarios that can occur.
• Identify the most important scenarios according to predefined criteria.
• Determine the likelihood of occurrence (e.g., low, high) for each one.
• Determine the impact of each one.
• Determine the possible responses.