BUSINESS / OPERATIONAL CONTINUITY COURSE

USAID CYBERSECURITY FOR CRITICAL INFRASTRUCURE IN UKRAINE ACTIVITY

BUSINESS CONTINUITY: COURSE OVERVIEW

Dr. Dwayne Whitten Professor and researcher at Texas A&M University

COURSE DESCRIPTION

• This course is designed to provide an overview of the principles and practices of business continuity planning.

• Through lectures, exercises, and class discussions, students will develop an understanding of the processes and strategies required to create, maintain, and review a successful business continuity plan.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

• Understand the purpose of business continuity planning

• Identify key elements of a business continuity plan

• Develop an understanding of the components of a business continuity plan

• Utilize best practices in business continuity planning

• Develop an awareness of potential risks and threats to the business

• Understand the importance of testing and monitoring the business continuity plan

COURSE TOPICS

• Introduction to BCM • Risk assessment and analysis

• Business impact analysis

• Developing a BCM plan

• Testing and maintaining the BCM plan

• BCM and crisis management and response

TEACHING MODULES

USAID CYBERSECURITY FOR CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE IN UKRAINE ACTIVITY

Unit 1

• Introduction to BCM

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Definition of business continuity

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How is BCM different from disaster recovery, crisis management, and incident mgmt

– Skills needed –

Why we need business continuity

– Getting the attention of key stakeholders (funding)

– Lessons from COVID-19

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Examples of events

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Examples of organizational success versus failure

Unit 2

Risk assessment and analysis

– Introduction to risk assessment for business continuity management

– Identifying risks and threats

– Assessing risk likelihood and impact

– Mitigating risk

Unit 3

Business Impact Analysis

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The BIA process

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Prerequisites

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Defining impact criteria

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Supply chain considerations

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Identifying critical activities

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Delivery methods

–

Risk assessment

–

Recovery strategies and solutions

Unit 4

Developing a BCM plan

Plan types –

–

–

What should plans contain?

Backups

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Format and contents

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Plan maintenance

Review –

–

Communicating the plan

Unit 5

• Testing and maintaining the BCM plan

– Who needs to be trained

Training frequency –

–

–

Training follow-up

Exercises

Unit 6

BCM and crisis management and response

– Managing stakeholder expectations during a crisis

– Lessons learned (post-mortem)

– Communication Management