Planning for Resilience – Business Continuity Plan Template

Being resilient means being able to withstand or quickly recover from adverse events when they occur, which can be bolstered by developing a continuity plan. The Northern Virginia Regional Intelligence Center, a WaterISAC partner, has shared a template for making such a plan that was developed by the Arlington County Department of Public Safety and Communications. The template provides a framework, guidance, and concept of operations to enable businesses to continue and/or rapidly restore their critical functions in the event of a disruption to normal operations. This template includes an overview of continuity operations, outlines the approach for supporting an organization’s critical functions, and defines the roles and responsibilities of staff. It also outlines the orders of succession, notification procedures and communication methods, plan activation and deactivation protocols, provisions for alternate work locations, and the plan for maintaining and restoring access to vital records. It is important that any business using the template and incorporating it into its business continuity planning customize the document to fit its needs.