Continuity of Operations Planning

Continuity of Operations Planning is the process whereby ABC University ensure the continued performance of critical operations when confronted with adverse events such as natural disasters, technology failures, human errors or terrorism. The objectives of the continuity of operations plan are to minimize loss to ABC University, continue to serve its students and maintain administrative operations. This is accomplished through the development of plans and procedures to provide secondary options including alternate sites, personnel, resources, interoperable communication and vital records.

FEMA (2013) offered the following statement in regards to continuity planning:

The lessons we have learned from such catastrophic events as Hurricane Sandy on October 29, 2012, and the Boston Marathon Bombing on April 15, 2013, demonstrate the need to reemphasize continuity as a “good business practice” to be incorporated into day-to-day planning, in order to reduce vulnerability and ensure continuity. (Cite CGC 1 P2)

ABC University has an obligation to protect and provide for students, faculty, staff, and all others on its campus in the event of a major interruption to the operations of the university. These obligations does not stop at the university level. Each Department on campus is further responsible to be able to meet its individual obligations. These responsibilities include the capacity to provide the services in order to ensure the essential functions critical to the operations of the university. Should an event or disaster occur that interrupts the normal operations each department shall be ready to respond and minimize the impact to the university. Failure to have a comprehensive continuity plan could possibly lead to interrupti...

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...ve the plan in order to mitigate down time for future events (Notes W3 P24, CGC1 P N-2).

COOP Planning Team

Creating a continuity of operations plan is too big a task for one person to accomplish, so it's important to build an effective team to shoulder the responsibility. Creating teams ensures that most areas are represented in the Continuity of Operations project. The project then draws from several levels of varied expertise, increases the level of participation, and gains more support. Teams also provide a redundancy ensuring that no one individual, when needed, becomes a single point of failure. A long term benefit of the team approach also ensures that knowledgeable personnel are available to do assigned critical tasks and train future team members. In the following sections the responsibilities of both the senior leadership and the team will be discussed.