Business Continuityand the Flu Pandemic

DISCLAIMER

“This template is provided as a guide only and intended to supply general information about carrying out a Business Continuity Plan Exercise. It is not intended to replace detailed guidance and planning specific to you and your

business/organisation. If have any questions regarding the use of this document you should obtain professional legal advice. To the extent permitted by law, Manchester City Council and Manchester Business Continuity Forum exclude

liability for any loss or damage arising directly or indirectly from the possession, publication, use of, or reliance on this document."

Business Continuity Exercise

Today’s agenda:

– Walk through the various Business Continuity Plans and procedures to help you deal with a loss of staff

– Prepare responses and take action against pandemic flu

– Identify any weaknesses and improvements for your Business Continuity Plan

– Agree future actions

What is Business Continuity?Business continuity processes are designed:

To minimise any risk of disruption to services, by building resilience into internal structures and processes

To ensure we can maintain our essential services during disruptions with different levels of severity

To assist staff in the event of an incident and to ensure staff are able to cope with the disruption

To ensure that if a disruption does occur, the main priority will be the recovery of key services within agreed timeframes

Business Continuity Processes

1. Conduct a ‘Business Impact Analysis’ (BIA)

2. Produce a Business Continuity Plan (BCP)

3. Test and validate the BCP

4. Evaluate the effectiveness of the BCP and amend as appropriate

5. Review and maintain the BCP on a regular basis

Definitions

1. Risk Reduction 2. Incident 3. Recovery

There are three stages to Business Continuity:

E.g. Producing a Business Continuity

Plan

E.g. Activating the Business Continuity

Plan

E.g. Using and closing down the Business

Continuity Plan

Why Bother with Business Continuity?

Incidents do happen!

Examples of some recent BusinessContinuity Incidents:

• BT Tunnel Fire• The terrorist incident at Glasgow

Airport etc [Include examples relevant to your

organisation]

Effective Business ContinuityEffective Business Continuity is built on seven P’s…

1. Programme – proactively managing the process2. People – roles & responsibilities, awareness & education3. Processes – all organisational processes, including ICT4. Premises – buildings & facilities5. Providers – supply chain, including outsourcing6. Profile – brand, image, reputation7. Performance – benchmarking, evaluation & audit

Source: Business Continuity Institute, 2003

Business Continuity Plan Test Scenario…

Flu Pandemic

Business Continuity Plan Testing Phase…

Effective Business Continuity Management should improve the overall general running of an organisation. Business Continuity processes require careful analysis and understanding of different services and encourages the identification of alternative working practices.

A Business Continuity Plan cannot be considered reliable until it has been exercised and has proved workable.

The exercise is not designed to catch you out, we are testing the plan procedures, not your individual performance. This exercise is designed to help you feel more prepared and comfortable in your Business Continuity role.

Ground Rules• The scenario has been designed as a learning exercise, all participants should

take it seriously and participate as if it were a real life incident.

• The exercise should be viewed as an opportunity to rehearse responses to problems- and potentially make mistakes- in a safe environment, without an actual business impact.

• All the information that you will receive will be either from the PowerPoint presentation or from… [PLEASE INSERT CONTACT NAME/TEAM]– you must not make assumptions and you will need to ask questions.

• Outside of the exercise, no communication should be required and must be avoided to prevent any false alarms.

• Any comments, problems, issues or other contributions made by any participant should be positive and may be made without criticism from any other participant.

• Constructive feedback is welcomed and needs to be captured.

‘Walkthrough’ Objectives: To prove your BC Plan To understand the impact pandemic flu or other cause of a

reduction in staff may have on your service/organisation [amend as appropriate]

Validate the actions list and all sections of your BC Plan To understand what you could do to help prepare in advance of

pandemic flu To confirm the actions detailed in the BCP are complete and

achievable, given the circumstances at the time To give you practice in carrying out your role on a Business

Continuity Plan To test procedures outlined in the Business Continuity Plan and

explore any potential areas for improvement

Assumptions

• All people are in contact as you are now, either physically or via telephone, etc.

• We are starting from a blank piece of paper

• You have just found out about the crisis and are the first to respond, no assumptions are to be made about any action (s) that may have taken place already in response to the scenario

The Flu Pandemic Scenario…

It has been reported on television that the pandemic flu has reached the UK.

The Manchester Evening News are reporting high levels of sickness throughout the city.

Week 1Today

You have just been informed by your admin person that staff absenteeism is noticeably higher than normal.

Week 1

Today

Several members of your team are coughing and wheezing and complaining of feeling ill…

Initial Reactions…

• What staff issues are there?• What are the implications?• Can any of the staff work from home?

What would need to change to make this happen?

• Who will you communicate with?• Any other issues?

Week 2

Staff absence is now approximately 20% higher than is normal for this time of the year.

A key supplier rings to tell you that they will not be operating for the foreseeable future because of the pandemic.

Actions of on-site team?

• Who do you communicate with?• Is your contact list up-to-date?• Do you have a communication cascade tree?• What are the priorities?• What will be the implication of losing a key

supplier for the service?• Do any members of the team have unique skills

or knowledge? What are the implications of this? How can we reduce this risk?

• Anything else?

Week 2

The Department of Education has decided to close all schools in the area due to staff shortages and also to limit spread of the pandemic.

50% of your staff who are carers have phoned in to say that they will not be attending work this week as they will be staying at home to look after their children or dependants.

Questions…

• What issues does this raise?• How will you deal with staff who don’t attend

work to look after their children/dependants? • How will you deal with the work load?• Who will you communicate with?

Week 3

Following further staff absences, the number of staff in work has dropped to 20%.

You have just been informed that a member of your team has died in hospital.

A Manchester Evening News reporter has asked for your response on this and the effects of the pandemic.

Actions of on-site team?

• Who do you communicate with?• How will you manage your resources, and your

workload, with only 20% of staff attending work?• What are the implications for the team of a death of

a colleague?• How will the media enquiry be dealt with? • Anything else?

Actions of on-site team?

• You have managed to locate additional staff through an agency/another team, which areas of work would be your priority for these extra staff?

• Do you work with any vulnerable groups? If yes, what are the implications of this group? How can you minimise the impact on this group? What plans, if any, are currently in place?

Week 8

• Now the pandemic has eased, are there any issues that you would need to address?

• Are there any questions this scenario has raised that you will now look into?

• Are there any plans you’d now put in place before the 2nd wave hits?

• What lessons have been learned? How can this knowledge be used to improve your Business Continuity Plans?

Remember…. “Always plan ahead. It wasn't raining

when Noah built the ark.” Richard C. Cushing

Review Procedures & Evaluation

• What went well?• What did not go so well?• Comments and issues on the process• What was the effectiveness of information

gathering and decision making?• Exercise Report

Business Continuity is concerned with:

People

Summary

Assets Process

Feedback Forms Please!

Next Steps in Business Continuity Management

[Insert detail, as appropriate to your organisation]

Thank you for your time!