justin bieber news: Business Continuity Plan Template

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What are Business Continuity Plan Templates?

Every business, big or small have or should have a business continuity plan in place. This is something that no business should miss because of without it, the company is risking a lot of things, particularly the whole business. Being unable to keep the computers running because of natural disasters like earthquakes or typhoon is not a good excuse, especially if a client is paying you a lot of money to maintain their servers and database and if you are an Internet services company that requires a 24/7 visibility. But for some newly established firms, creating this plan is difficult, especially if no one in the company is already experienced to make one. This is where a business continuity plan template becomes useful.

A business continuity plan template is a model where you could make comparison or even something that you can edit to fit your company?s plan or goals. How would you keep running just in case something happens? What are you going to do so no information is compromised in case a disaster happens in the building? How long will you be able to put the systems back after an earthquake? These are some questions that needs to be answered in a business continuity plan. Basically this template details you back up and disaster recovery plan in any situation. It also summarizes who will be responsible or what team will take care of what area in case something unimaginable happen. For companies, having a proper plan in place spells the difference between success and failure thus you should not get or make just any other template, you should have a highly effective one.

Guide in Creating Business Continuity Planning Templates

A business continuity planning template, just like any module, has crucial parts. Although there are some parts that should be specifically for your company only, there are those that needs to be inherent in every plan. There are templates that can be found and downloaded from the Internet, you can even buy a software that has different templates. However, knowing what are the things you need to look for should help you choose if the one that you see on the net is what works. Here are some of the things that you need to find in a template, if one of them is missing, then you can just add it to your plan, again, depending on what your company needs.

Company logo or name, distribution list and references are the things that first things found in a plan. This will explain who will be accountable in executing the plan, who will be in charge of updating it as well as building policy and legislation guidelines such as an earthquake evacuation plan.

Inventory or initial information should be asked in the template. How many staff can work for this plan, the number of computers you have, the information you have on your database, all other devices and the number of sites should be accounted for to ensure that everything will have a back up and to make sure that everything and everybody will be mobilized in case any difficult situation happens.

Emergency response management should also be found in a business continuity template. This tells when the plan will be activated and what situations should you consider an emergency.

Another thing that a template should have are flow diagrams. It is easier to understand diagrams and graphs, than a document with pure texts. This will also help in mapping out the steps that every team should take. Relocating steps, recovering operations and other instructions should have corresponding diagrams to follow for easier recall.

A glossary or list of terms should also be there as everyone must be on the same page and must understand each other in order for the plan to be communicated well.

These parts should be found in business continuity plan templates, you may add some though if you wish and if your deem that you need it. However having this template is not an assurance that it will work. There are still more things to do to ensure that this plan or template is going help you in case a disaster strikes.

Ensuring the Effectiveness of Your Business Continuity Planning Template

But what consists a highly effective business continuity planning template you may ask. The first thing to check to ensure its effectiveness is its completeness. Make sure that all the fields are there, ask yourself whether all the questions or needs of your company are going to be met by the template. It is not necessary that you follow the template to the T, you can actually add something as it really depends on what you think is required and what will work best to your firm.

On the other hand, a template should assume leaning more on the danger side. Meaning that you should be assuming more and prepare for more. Example, since all telephone calls should be diverted to another site when something happens, you should already put in the plan that you need to make arrangements with the telephone company as soon as possible. Assuming that it can be done easily during the day the problem arises will cause a havoc in your company. You must already assume the disaster and put it in the ?today?s- do-list?.

Another thing that the template or plan should have is a detailed information of who will do what. Making an assumption that people already know the plan is a dangerous thing. Information should be disseminated in the whole company. Everyone should have an idea on what is their participation in making the plan happen. In line with this, to make sure that everybody understands how to execute the plan, testing must be done. According to an article by Acutest CEO Barry Varley, testing should be done in ?high likelihood? and ?high impact? environment. Again, test in the most difficult environment and do not take it lightly.

Lastly, make sure that your company revise and improve the plan regularly. Creating it with a template does not mean that it is a one off deal. You must adjust it according to your firm?s current situation. Example if you think that in a given time, higher security is needed, then make an adjustment according to that need. Not adapting the plan according to your company?s situation can break the purpose of the template.

In conclusion, a business continuity plan template can be used in your business for ease. However time should still be spent as the template should fit your company?s requirement. Reviewing, testing and assuming on high impact scenarios are essential to make the plan complete. A template is only a guide, a standard but it does not mean that it is the ? all and be all? of your business continuity plan.