Vulnerabilities to natural, man-made, and technology-driven disasters require university business units to plan and prepare for system disruptions. Business continuity planning includes the identification of vulnerabilities, priorities, dependencies, and measures required to facilitate continuity and recovery before, during, and after a crisis.

The goal of Business Continuity Management (BCM) is to develop system specific documentation to establish a customized continuity plan to prepare for IT disruptions. Through these efforts, the planning will be in place to keep the university business processes and academic services functioning, with minimal interruption.

Business Continuity Plans

Continuity planning represents a broad scope of activities designed to sustain and recover the business processes and critical systems of an organization. The extent of business continuity procedures necessary for an IT system  depends on the criticality and risk assessment evaluation. The range of procedures for continuity planning includes the following, at a minimum, Business Impact Analysis (BIA) and Information System Contingency Plan (ISCP). 

• Business Impact Analysis characterizes the system components, supported mission/business processes, and inter-dependencies. The BIA purpose is to correlate the system with the critical mission/business processes and services provided, and based on that information, characterize the consequences of a disruption. 

• Information System Contingency Plan provides recovery and resumption procedures for a single information system resulting from disruptions that do not necessarily require relocation to an alternate site.