The Office of Business Continuity was created to oversee, establish, and maintain the framework necessary for the development of university business continuity plans.  The Office of Business Continuity is responsible for establishing guidelines and enacting an annual monitoring mechanism for ensuring timely completion of updates to university business continuity plans. As part of this process, the Office of Business Continuity has created a system for departments to use in the formation of their business continuity plans.

Business Continuity Plan Development Tool – Sustainable Planner

Each unit (department, lab, clinic) will need to develop a business continuity plan to provide for recovery and continuity of operations once the initial emergency response to a disaster on campus is concluded.  

Each unit will be provided a log-in and password in order to access the program at

http://sw2k3splanner.swmed.org/signon.aspx

There are two areas to address in your plan.

1. CONTINUITY: This refers to the resumption of critical functions. To resume operations that must continue when your normal place of business is not available, you must make decisions before an emergency has occurred, such as the possible location of an alternate operation site or how a temporary location will be selected; how to provide computer, telephone, and other services; and what other resources are required in order to operate.
2. RECOVERY: This refers to your department’s activities to return to your pre-emergency condition both physically and financially. This includes identifying missing or injured persons; securing the site to prevent additional damage, loss of property, or injury; assessing and identifying damages; working with the <Who-Insert Office> on pre-authorization before incurring continuity and recovery expenses; recording and reporting damages, recovery, and continuity costs; repairing or replacing damaged items; and filing a claim through <Who-Insert Office>.

The templates included in Sustainable Planner will address both the recovery and continuity areas described above and will form your Business Continuity Plan.  

What will the plan consist of?

Your plan will consist of a set of completed templates.  By completing the survey, your information will auto populate generic templates that address key continuity concepts.  Other templates, customized by the Office of Business Continuity, have been developed and are available to merge with your plans so that certain actions are standardized across campus.  Finally, any particular documents, procedures, or manuals that are unique to your department, lab, or office can be uploaded and included in your final plan. 

When you are finished constructing your plan you will have identified:

1. Critical Functions
2. The resources necessary to perform those functions and methods to procure those resources
3. A team to provide support for long-term recovery as well as short-term continuity of your critical operations and the tasks each team member will be responsible for performing
4. The process by which UTSW will organize the business continuity / recovery operation for the affected departments, labs, clinics, etc.
5. The requirements for submitting a claim efficiently to support maximum reimbursement of your losses.

What will the plan do for my department?

Once you have finished completing the survey in the Sustainable Planner, you should have the tools necessary to recover and continue business operations after an emergency. Your plan should provide you with answers to the following questions:

1. How well am I prepared to recover from an emergency?
2. What will I do if I do not have access to my current facility?
3. Do I have the resources needed to continue business operations?
4. How will I secure these resources?
5. Who will be involved in the recovery process?
6. How will I deal with the losses?
7. What communication methods will I use to keep my employees, students and others informed of important information?
8. How will I establish efficient organization after an emergency?
9. How can I limit potential losses?

How will the plan be maintained?

1.      Annually: Department heads should review the Business Continuity Plan by annually completing the survey.

2.      Quarterly: Every three months, department heads should log in to their plan and update any new or changed information (new employees for notification purposes) and after any major changes to business operations to ensure all critical functions are thoroughly addressed.

Progress Reports

In order to strengthen UTSW’s response to a disaster that directly impacts the campus, the Office of Business Continuity was created to oversee, establish, and maintain the framework necessary for the development of university business continuity plans. 

The Office of Business Continuity will report on the university’s annual readiness by evaluating the business continuity plans developed by individual departments, labs, and clinics, and assisting the university by conducting exercises to test that readiness. 

An annual report on the level of readiness and on the capability of departments, labs, and clinics to resume operations in the aftermath of a disruptive disaster will be provided to the President of UTSW.

This section contains the various forms that may be required in an event of a disaster or crisis.  Management should become familiar with these forms and their distribution.