Disaster recovery restores the systems. Business continuity answers what people do in the meantime, and that gap is where most organisations have nothing written down, because it belongs to departments rather than to IT.
What you get
Per-process continuity strategies, including the manual workaround and how long it holds
Alternative site and remote-working arrangements
A staffing plan covering key-person dependencies
Supplier and customer continuity considerations
How to use this template
1
Start from the BIA ranking. Continuity planning for every process is wasted effort. Plan properly for the handful with short tolerance windows and no workaround; for the rest, record that the strategy is to wait for recovery.
2
Document the workaround in enough detail to use. 'Process invoices manually' is not a plan. Where are the templates, who has authority to approve without the system, what is the reconciliation process afterwards? The post-recovery reconciliation is the part always omitted and always needed.
3
Name key-person dependencies honestly. Every organisation has processes that only one person can run. Record them here, because the mitigation (documentation, cross-training) can be done now, cheaply, and is worthless if started during the disruption.
4
Rehearse the workaround; a read-through of the plan is not rehearsal. A manual process nobody has executed takes several times longer than estimated on first use. Run it once in a quiet period, and record the actual time it took.
What's inside
Here's a preview. Unlock the free download to get all 5 sections (4 more below).
Continuity strategy per process
Only the processes with short tolerance need a real strategy. Say so explicitly for the rest.
Process
Max tolerable outage
Continuity strategy
Workaround detail / location
Holds for
Reconciliation after recovery
Owner
Supplier invoicing
5 days
Manual workaround
Invoice template on the DR laptop; approval by Finance Manager email
5 days
Re-key into ERP; reconcile against bank statement before month-end
Finance Manager
Customer support
4 hours
Alternative channel
Divert to shared mailbox and personal mobiles; log in spreadsheet
3 days
Import ticket log into service desk; renumber and link
A BIA exists to decide the order you recover things in when you cannot recover everything at once. That makes the useful output a ranked list, not a document, and ranking requires scoring impact at several time horizons, because impact is rarely linear.
Most DR plans are written to satisfy an auditor and are unusable in an actual disaster: too long, structured by system rather than by sequence, and assuming the authors are available. This one is ordered the way the event unfolds.
RTO and RPO are usually set by asking the business what it wants, which reliably returns 'zero'. This worksheet sets them the other way round: measure what you can currently deliver, price the gap, and let the business choose knowingly.
What is the difference between business continuity and disaster recovery?
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Disaster recovery restores technology: systems, data, infrastructure. Business continuity keeps the business operating while that happens, through manual workarounds, alternative sites, and staffing arrangements. DR is usually owned by IT; continuity belongs to the business.
What should a business continuity plan include?
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Per-process continuity strategies with documented workarounds and how long they hold, the reconciliation needed after recovery, key-person dependencies and mitigations, workplace and staffing arrangements, out-of-band communications, and spend authority.
How do you test a business continuity plan?
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Execute the manual workarounds once during a quiet period and record how long they actually take: first-use timings are usually several times the estimate. Pair that with an annual tabletop covering decision-making, communications, and staffing.
Business Continuity Plan Template (Free Template) |
