Exercising is perhaps the most important part of a Business
Continuity Program. Once all of the
plans have been developed, exercising helps validate that they are actionable
and helps identify gaps in recovery and/or sustainment of critical services. Traditional tabletop exercises have a script
that the facilitator follows and the Business Continuity Team determines that
best course of action.
But not all tabletop exercises have to be created
equal. The tabletop exercise can be used
as much as an information gathering tool as a scenario-based test.
Here are 4 additional uses to conduct Tabletop Exercises
often for reasons other than testing and drilling.
Strategy Development
At some point you are going to have to develop a recovery
and sustainment strategy. Tabletop
exercises are the best place to get this conversation started with each
division and department. Now that
Critical Services, Critical Staff and Critical Support Requirements have been
defined, it’s time to figure out the best way to reach the final goal of
sustainability. In this tabletop you
would meet with the Department Recovery Coordinators (DRC) individually to discuss how they go about sustaining or
recovering the services in their division or department, alternate relocation site
activation, vital records management and staff notification. Once the strategy is defined, another tabletop
exercise is scheduled with the DRC and Emergency Relocation Group to validate
the procedure through a scenario-based exercise.
Teambuilding
The only way for a Business Continuity Program to work is if
all the moving part work together to achieve the same objectives. Using the first tabletop exercise to build consensus
across the teams is a very useful way to get them to agree on what needs to
happen and when. Instead of trying to figure it out all on your
own, let the organization determine what is best for them and then get the
teams to agree on what needs to happen
Review and Audit
Using selected Business Continuity Team members (Program
Lead, DRCs, Recovery Teams, etc.) as the Program Review and Audit Team not only
meets the requirements of BS IOS 22301, it places accountability on the teams
that will be responsible for executing the plans in the event of a disaster or
crisis and requires that they update them accordingly. Furthermore, you also need someone outside of
the continuity teams to be on the review and audit team who can be an objective
voice.
Brainstorming
Despite what we think of ourselves, we don’t know it all. Business Continuity is a group effort and
good discussions bring to light things that were no considered. This doesn’t need to be a fluff exercise, but
it should be a way for everyone to express their ideas. There are never any bad ideas. Only better ones. It’s the better ones you want to use in your planning
development process.
The other way to achieve this result is to form a working
group for Business Continuity and charter it.
Having a forum to share ideas is really the only way to make Business
Continuity actionable.
What other uses for tabletop exercises other than
traditional scenario-based testing do you see or use?
Mike Minzes is the Founder and CEO of INEVOLVE SB, a Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Planning and Implementation company located in Kennesaw, Georgia. Mike has over 20 year of experience on the Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Industry. For more information on INEVOLVE SB, please visit them at GOBCP.NET . ______________________________________________________
