Table Top Exercise

Table Top Exercises are key step in the Business Continuity Planning Process. Once you have some decent drafts of your recovery plans, it is key to get the team together and walk through a facilitated recovery scenario.   This process will greatly remove missed items, introduce an element of reality, and create organizational buy-in.  Ongoing Operations recommends conducting a table top exercise at least annually. 

Information you'll want
Why Do I Need It?	The table top exercise helps uncover gaps in the Credit Unions BCP plan and helps train the management team on how to run an event efficiently and effectively.
What Are The Likely Outcomes?	The team will feel frustrated, identify gaps and create action items and improvements for the BCP plan.
Why OGO?	OGO has facilitated hundreds of table tops and creates unique scenarios designed specifically for Credit Unions

Sample Table Top Event

Scenario and escalation:

• Hurricane Kirk is expected to skim up the East Coast offshore today
• Off Chesapeake Bay, a secondary front takes an unanticipated turn increasing hurricane to cat5
• Storm proceeds up Chesapeake in conjunction with high tide, resulting in massive evacuations
• Inland roads N, S, and E are  blocked with traffic as millions try to run ahead of the peak impact
• Massive flooding, damage, and power outage occurs as the storms move slowly and directly West
• All phones are down or overloaded
• Internet remains up if you have power and can find an access point
• All NE staff will have significant family issues
• Hagerstown facility is threatened for access (travel issues) and loss of datacom (massive outages are occurring)

We divided into 3 response teams:

Hagerstown staff:            What preparations will you make?
                                                Communication tools
                                                Continue to escalate family issues
                                                Client communication?
                                                Proactive or reactive in regards to the threat to Hagerstown. Do they even know what can/should be activated at an alternate facility first? Can is be done?

Thousand Oaks:                Monitoring the news
                                                Communication tools
                                                Support discussion and planning
                                                Client communication?
                                                Proactive or reactive?
                                                
Virtual staff:                       Monitoring the news
                                                Communication tools
                                                What are you doing?
                                                Client communication?
                                                Proactive or reactive?