Business continuity plan (BCP)

A business continuity plan (BCP) defines how priority products and processes will continue or recover during disruption. It starts from business-impact analysis covering time, dependencies, minimum resources and alternatives; it is not only an IT document. The plan assigns owners, activation criteria, communications, locations, suppliers, manual work and return to normal. Backup, disaster recovery, redundancy and crisis management support different parts. Priorities should consider people, facilities, data, technology and third parties. A plan whose contacts or access depend on the affected system may fail. Tabletop exercises and operational tests validate assumptions, timing and decisions and generate corrective actions. Possessing a document does not demonstrate continuity capability unless it remains current, accessible and exercised.