Testing, Training & Exercising Your Business Continuity Plan

If, as this week’s quote says, everyone’s IQ in an emergency goes to zero, how can you get around that problem? Well, the answer is the same as the one to the question, “How do you get to Carnegie Hall?” Practice, practice, practice. It’s why schools and other organizations have fire drills... if everyone knows what to do, they are more likely to be able to do it if they have practiced it several times. So don’t forget the critical step of testing your plan and providing some training for your employees. This week’s articles can help shed light on how to do this.

One of the most frequent questions asked when discussing business continuity is: how often should I test my plan? (Item #1) A plan is only as good as its implementation. (Item #2) How can you train your employees within your BC plan? (Item #3)

The objective of a post-development employee awareness training program is to raise the level of awareness of employees' role prior to, during, and after an emergency event. (Item #4) The purpose of DR/BC testing is to achieve organizational acceptance that the business continuity solution satisfies the organization's recovery requirements. (Item #5) While there are numerous disaster recovery plans on the Internet that can be used to structure a recovery effort, what is often overlooked is whether the plan will work when it really has to. (Item #6)