Business Continuity Management

Business continuity management (BCM) is a process which identifies potential threats to an organisation and the impacts to normal operations those threats, if realised, might have. Effective business continuity management enables an organisation to develop the strategic and tactical capability to plan for and respond to interruptions to the normal running of the business.

Robust business continuity management processes give an organisation the ability:

To proactively identify risks to business operations, and develop the capability to mitigate and manage those risks
To manage uninsurable risks, such as risk to reputation
To develop an effective response to major disruptions.

The key steps of the industry standard business continuity process are as follows:

The identification and quantification of those risks likely to affect the University’s business
The identification of those services which are considered critical to the survival of the business during and after an interruption (Business Critical Services)
The quantification of the impact of the residual risks on the business critical services (the Business Impact Analysis)
The preparation of plans to mitigate the risks
The preparation of a plan to manage the response.

The University is currently engaged in developing business continuity management processes to ensure that the institution is able to respond in an effective and robust way to any interruptions or threats to the business. To date, planning has focused on developing a high-level response to a possible outbreak of pandemic influenza. Details of this pandemic influenza plan. Individual areas are now being encouraged to develop their own business continuity plans, specifically to enable each area to manage its response to pandemic flu. Guidance and templates for the business continuity mangaement process. In the longer term, these plans will be used as the basis for more general business continuity management processes.

Useful Links

UK Resilience Guidance on Business Continuity

Cabinet Office Guidance

Stirling Council Emergency Planning

BSi Guidance

Further information

If you have any questions about business continuity management, or would like advice about how to establish business continuity plans for your area, please contact us.

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	Strategic Planning & Governance University of Stirling Stirling FK9 4LA Scotland UK
	Tel: + 44 (0) 1786 466689
	Fax: + 44 (0) 1786 466688
	Email: planning@stir.ac.uk
	Web: www.stir.ac.uk