Training and raising awareness
Training and awareness activities form important components of managing a business continuity program. Such activities assist in providing an understanding of, as well as developing skills and competencies in, business continuity management.
Training
Training is a key component to the management of a business continuity program.
Active participation in business continuity exercises is a key method of developing staff skills and competencies. It is often necessary to provide staff with theoretical training.
Effective training is tailored to the needs of the target audience. For example:
- the executive - require training in business continuity program management; business continuity standards, guidelines and applicable legislative requirements; and incident management training as appropriate;17
- business continuity custodians – require training in business continuity program management; business continuity standards, guidelines and applicable legislative requirements; conducting a business impact analysis; mitigating single point of failure risks; developing and maintaining a business continuity plan; and running tests and exercises; and
- staff with a business continuity role – require training in the skills necessary to undertake their business continuity role. For example, incident managers may require media communications training, while recovery coordinators may require training in managing teams, operating in stressful situations, or negotiation skills.
Examples of business continuity training provided by Australian Government entities are listed below.
Australian Government Business Continuity Training Providers
Attorney-General’s Department
Emergency Management Australia
The Attorney-General’s Department (currently through Emergency Management Australia) hosts an accredited five day course in Mt. Macedon on business continuity management. The course covers business continuity management concepts and principles, and the relationship between business continuity, emergency management and risk management. The program stresses a strategic perspective with high level communication and liaison requirements.
Comcover
Comcover provides a free one day course for staff from Australian public sector entities on business continuity management. The course is designed to provide an understanding of the key elements of a business continuity plan; explain business continuity management in the context of the Australian public sector; and describe the process of risk management and its relationship with effective business continuity planning. Comcover also hosts a series of benchmarking forums following the completion of the annual benchmarking program. These forums are aimed at providing the opportunity for public sector entities to share the experiences of others in implementing an enterprise-wide risk management framework.
When planning for a year, plant corn. When planning for a decade, plant trees. When planning for life, train and educate people.
- Chinese proverb.
Raising awareness
An ongoing education and information program for staff can raise and maintain awareness of business continuity management and why it is important to the entity. Staff particularly need to be aware of the crucial role they play in maintaining the delivery of products and services, and that business continuity management has the ongoing support of the executive. Better practice entities include business continuity issues in induction training for new staff.
Effective communication can instill confidence in stakeholders of the entity’s ability to cope with business disruption events. Better practice entities extend their business continuity awareness activities to interdependent organisations, such as suppliers and other portfolio entities.
The British Standard, Business Continuity Management – Part 1: Code of practice,
BS25999-1:2006
(p. 41) recommends the following activities for awareness raising:
- a consultation process with staff throughout the entity concerning the implementation of the business continuity management program;
- discussion of business continuity management in the entity’s newsletters, briefings, induction program or journals;
- inclusion of business continuity management on relevant web pages or intranets;
- learning from internal and external incidents;
- business continuity management as an item at team meetings;
- exercising continuity plans at an alternative location; and
- visits to any designated alternative location (for example a recovery site).
Case study – Awareness Raising
A medium size public sector entity uses passive and active methods to increase staff awareness of business continuity management. It has a business continuity ‘portal’ on its intranet (with plans, contacts, training, and links to external information), a risk management community of practice (with regular internal and external speakers on topics such as business continuity) and regularly includes communiqués in its internal newsletter. The entity’s business continuity management team have found the key to awareness raising is to make information relevant to staff. An example of a communiqué is:
Business Continuity: An Introduction
Have you ever wondered what would happen if you lost access to your personal drive? For a day? A week? Longer?
How would your business team operate if half your staff/colleagues could not make it to work (due to illness, severe transportation problems etc). For a day? A week? Longer?
Business Continuity is the planning process that aims to create a logical, documented, set of procedures and plans that aims at ensuring that critical business processes are maintained at all times, or at least recovered as quickly as possible in the event of a serious event.
The Entity’s Risk Management Team is charged with implementing this planning process.
The annual review of the plans is currently being coordinated by the Entity’s Business Continuity Manager. The review involves contacting each business team and identifying critical business functions, the resources required to support the functions and the development of mitigating procedures and recovery strategies.
Look out for more information on business continuity in future articles on Insight.
In the mean time if you require further information please feel free to contact The Entity’s Business Continuity Manager.
Source: ANAO analysis.
Implementing a business continuity management program - Checkpoint 2
Table 1 of this better practice guide provides details on the implementation characteristics.
The Workbook contains an example program for business continuity training and awareness. Click Here
17 Standards Australia has produced a Handbook: Executive guide to business continuity management HB 293-2006, to provide senior management with an overview of the key concepts and processes required to implement and maintain a robust business continuity management program.
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