Exploring the Good Practice Guidelines 2018 edition: Design (PP4)

  • 30 Oct 2017

A word about the redesign of the BCM Lifecycle.

The BCM Lifecycle has evolved visually from a separate stand-alone cycle of activities, to become a series of inter-connected cogs. The new design recognises business continuity management as a key discipline in the overall organizational resilience picture. The related management disciplines are shown as separate but closely linked cogs to represent the relationship between the disciplines. Throughout the guidelines, the importance of collaboration between these disciplines is emphasised.

Design (PP4)

Design is the stage of the BCM Lifecycle that identifies and selects solutions to determine how continuity can be achieved during disruption.

The move away from the strategic, tactical and operation-levels in the GPG 2018 edition has led to a more organization-wide approach to designing business continuity solutions. The Design stage provides examples of the types of resources required for a range of well-established business continuity solutions that can be used within an organization. These examples have been provided by experienced professionals and are aimed at providing the reader with ways to apply the good practice shared in this revision. This stage includes further considerations such as remote working and a sub-section on consolidation of the continuity solutions designed for improved efficiency.

Risk and Threat Mitigation measures are consistent with the Analysis stage and provide the information needed to identify options for mitigation measures focussed on reducing the impact of disruption on the prioritised activities.

The Incident Response Structure has moved from this stage of the BCM Lifecycle to the Policy and Programme Management stage when roles and responsibilities are assigned, whilst the detail of Response Structure development has been brought into the Implementation stage when the business continuity plans are developed.

More on