By Sam | July 16, 2014

5 Key Changes That Will Impact Your Business Continuity Plan

It may not seem like there’s an end to Business Continuity Planning (Spoiler Alert!  There’s not.), but planning ahead goes a long way; especially during a crisis.  In addition to the 12 Super Easy Ways to Keep Your Credit Union BCP Alive, the process of reviewing and updating your DR plan should be done on an annual basis.  Many Credit Union’s make the mistake of a simple review and fail to capture important changes that could impact their recovery strategies.

The following “changes” should be signals that more than a cursory review of your BCP should take place:

1. Personnel changes – It’s important to update your plans when employees are no longer employed by the Credit Union.  It’s even more important that new key staff are well informed about the DR plans and added to the appropriate response teams, if necessary.  New hire training is an excellent time to raise BCP awareness by reviewing your Credit Union’s plan during the on-boarding process.
2. Hardware and/or software changes – If your Credit Union has recently “experienced” a core conversion, virtualized your servers, or finally upgraded from Windows XP, update your DR plan to reflect the new recovery procedures.
3. Hot site infrastructure – If you invest in a hot site location, such as Ongoing Operations, you should test your infrastructure and equipment to ensure it can failover properly and withstand any issues of its own, such as the intended data load.  Not only does it verify everything works properly, it can assist you with budget prioritization when it comes time for upgrades or equipment replacement.  Be sure to document all testing, note any exceptions for resolution, then re-test.
4. Backup procedure changes – If you’ve recently made changes to your backup methods (i.e., from tape to disk-to-disk), be sure to document the changes, as well as test the restore capabilities to ensure you can meet your stated RTO/RPO’s.  Regular testing can help identify gaps to avoid recovery problems during a crisis.
5. Changes in RTO or RPO – If, after an event or the testing of your plan, you’ve realized the amount of downtime is unacceptable (Recovery Time Objective) or the amount of data lost is too great (Recovery Point Objective), your DR plan needs to be updated to reflect the change.

Preparation is the key to a successful business continuity plan.  Schedule a 30 minute meeting out of your busy schedule for yourself to review and update your BCP.  By keeping your plan up-to-date, you and your Credit Union are that much closer to being able to handle a crisis when an event occurs.

For more information on how you can improve your business continuity program and crisis communications , contact us today.