A disaster is a catastrophic event occurring over a short period of time that results in widespread damage to your organization's ability to maintain operations, resulting in significant financial loss and potential business closure.

What is a Business Continuity Plan (BCP)
A BCP is a set of predetermined and documented steps to enable an organization to recover from a disaster, minimizing the impact of the disaster and enabling continuity of operations.

Creating a Business Continuity Plan
Consider the following when creating a Business Continuity Plan:

• Identify critical functions for delivering services and products that generate sales and services.
• Define essential services required for legal or regulatory compliance.
• Determine business functions that can be delayed in the recovery process.
• Document requirements for emergency operations of critical functions, including suppliers, equipment, and temporary personnel.

Location of Business Continuity Plan Process Document
Physical copies of the BCP document should be stored offsite in two separate locations. In case of a disaster, retrieve the BCP document to recover critical functions to an operational state.

IT Disaster Recovery Plan
The IT Disaster Recovery Plan must complement the BCP. Develop an IT DRP document that details:

• Location of Password List (not in DRP Document)
• Details of all Subscription Software (Microsoft 365, etc.)
• List of Hardware Configurations
• List of Network Configurations
• IP Address Schema
• VPN’s and VLANS
• Firewall Configurations
• Location of Configuration and Data Backups
• System Recovery Sequence

BCP and DRP Review and Updates
As your organization changes and grows, the BCP and DRP will become outdated. Major IT changes should trigger a review and update of the BCP and DRP. Conduct a yearly review to ensure they are up-to-date and effective during a disaster.