Planning & Management Nuggets

From Cope Reports

• Principles for Conducting an Exercise
• Choosing the Correct Type of Exercise and Setting Objectives
• When Management is Not Enough: Leading Through the Crisis
• The Seven Biggest Mistakes You Could Make When Building Your Crisis Management Program - And How To Avoid Them!

The Infrastructure Security Partnership (TISP)

Following the tragic events of September 11, 2001, a dedicated group of public and private sector organizations established an "association of associations and agencies," a partnership, to collaborate on issues related to the security of the nation's built environment. www.tisp.org/related

• American Lifelines Alliance [Info]
• Blast Mitigation Action Group [Info]
• Critical Infrastructure Assurance Office [Info]
• Department of Homeland Security [Info]
• DisasterHelp [Info]
• EPA Water Infrastructure Security [Info]
• EWRI - Water Infrastructure Security Enhancements Standards Committee (WISE SC) [Info]
• Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Safety and Security [Info]
• Homeland Security Information Center [Info]
• Homeland Security State Contact List [Info]
• House Committee On Science [Info]
• National Emergency Management Association [Info]
• National Governor's Association [Info]
• National Infrastructure Protection Center [Info]
• National Infrastructure Simulation and Analysis Center [Info]
• National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism [Info]
• Partnership for Critical Infrastructure Security [Info]
• Texas A&M Disaster and Emergency Management Information Network (DEMIN) [Info]
• The Association of State Drinking Water Administrators [Info]
• The Center for Infrastructure Expertise Library [Info]
• The National Conference on Homeland Security [Info]
• Water Environment Federation: Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Security [Info]
• Whole Building Design Guide [Info]
• Wind Hazard Reduction [Info]

From Deloitte & Touche

Are We Prepared for the Unpredictable? How Financial Institutions Have Responded Since September 11th
Two years after September 11, the resiliency of financial services institutions varies widely. This report analyzes the progress that financial institutions have made since September 11. www.deloitte.com/dtt/cda/doc/content/dtt_financialservices_unpredictable_191203.pdf

The 2003 Global Security Survey
The global security survey includes the results from interviews with 80 senior IT executives. www.deloitte.com/dtt/cda/doc/content/Global%20Security%20Survey%202003.pdf

From KPMG & EIU

KPMG and EIU Release Second Corporate Governance White Paper
For the second consecutive year, KPMG International has collaborated on research with the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) on what business leaders and senior executives think of corporate governance, transparency and regulations. This white paper argues not. Corporate governance is still a front-burner issue for senior executives. Companies remain focused on corporate governance reform - in a survey of more than 300 senior managers around the world, executives reported that top management is spending more time on corporate governance now and will be devoting even more attention to the issue in future. www.kpmg.com/Rut2000_prod/Documents/9/KPMG_governance2_final.pdf

From ContinuityCentral.com

Business Impact Analysis
This excellent article by W J Meredith FBCI of Meredith Solutions provides a comprehensive look at the various components of a business impact analysis. Those components include the financial and operational impacts, the impact profile, recovery, losses, alternative procedures, computer access, continuity and recovery requirements, inter-dependencies, the BIA Report and Risk Analysis. www.continuitycentral.com/bcibia.htm

BCM Self-Assessment Tool
ContinuityCentral has posted a valuable 20 question self-assessment tool. The tool is aimed at enabling CFOs, financial controllers and auditors to assess the state of business continuity management in their organisations. It has been written by Michael Gallagher and was first published in a recent issue of Accountancy Ireland, the Journal of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland. Click Here to download the self-assessment tool (PDF).
www.continuitycentral.com/feature062.htm

Outsourcing - The Business Continuity Implications
ContinutyCentral has posted an article in which Russell Flower considers how business continuity managers keep control of the risks in an outsourcing environment. www.continuitycentral.com/feature046.htm

From Chief Executive Magazine

Succession Planning: Still Broken
Why Many Companies Aren't Getting It Right.
Despite the enormous amount of attention devoted to succession planning, it is increasingly obvious that there is a dearth of corporate "bench strength." To link to the article by Roger M. Kenny, visit www.chiefexecutive.net/depts/thoughtleader/195.htm

From Contingency Planning & Management

Business + IT = Resilience
Proactive Strategies to Position and Protect Your Organization As practitioners in the industry, we all understand the importance of a disaster recovery plan and why we need to maintain continuity of operations, but what does it mean to be resilient?

Mission-Critical Strategies for Business and Government
An ongoing report by CPM focuses on the intersection of business continuity, physical and information security, and emergency management. www.contingencyplanning.com/PastIssues/julaug2003/2.asp

Business Continuity - Is This a Profession?
Part three of a three-part series on the state of the business continuity practice. How does BC stack-up against other established professions? www.contingencyplanning.com/PastIssues/julaug2003/6.asp

Negligent Failure to Plan
With a ton of regulatory action around the concept of emergency planning, businesses are being held to a higher standard in regard to their planning procedures. www.contingencyplanning.com/PastIssues/julaug2003/7.asp

Checklist: BCP for Human Resources Management
Strategic human resources management (HRM) plays a key role in business continuity planning. Not only is it responsible for staffing, training, and employee relations but, depending on organizational design, it may also be responsible for occupational safety and health programs. www.contingencyplanning.com/PastIssues/Janfeb2003/3.asp

Employee Morale
Profiles of assorted business disruption threats, with an overview of practical preparedness and mitigation strategies, along with expert advice and a real-life lesson. www.contingencyplanning.com/Tools/BCPHandbook/Disruption/EmployeeMorale.asp

Measuring Your Program: 3 Methods for Evaluating Business Continuity
Find out if your business continuity program measures up against industry standards and benchmarks.

Get On the Fast Track
A Process for Quick and Cost-Effective BC & DR Planning

A Give and Take Relationship
Public-Private Clearance to Classified Threat Information

Business Continuity Plan Exercising
You can't be sure a continuity plan will work unless you take it for a spin every once in a while. Yet still, many business and government organizations fail to conduct business continuity exercises on a regular basis?

You've Got a Reputation to Protect
Building a Rock-Solid Corporate Image

Q&A for Blackout Preparedness
Addressing a Magnitude of Risks

From Disaster Recovery Journal

The Business Continuity Planning Cube
The cube not only depicts the services (products) we are trying to protect and recover, but also the departments and resources that produce those services (products).

Business Continuity and your Service Level Agreements
This article addresses the importance of the service level agreement in the business continuity process.

Business Continuity in a Sarbanes-Oxley World
In the wake of spectacular corporate governance failures at companies, Congress enacted the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 to address the shortcomings of corporate governance and improve the overall controls associated with the management and reporting of corporate financial information.

Business Continuity: Eight Tips to Ensuring Sales Remain a Priority
Too often, when crisis strikes, sales are all but forgotten.

The 20 Truths of Business Continuity
After 20 years of helping organizations with their business continuity and disaster recovery plans I've noticed some of these inescapable truths that never fail to surface.

Making Plan Distribution, Usage Easier for Everyone
The old binder in the trunk of a car was always problematic.

Four Steps to Selling Print-to-Mail Recovery
It's hard to believe in today's business environment that any business would operate without a plan to protect the printing and mailing of critical documents.

Business Continuity as a Business Issue
With business continuity becoming an enterprise issue instead of just IT's problem, business is finally beginning to view IT as an integrated part of the whole.

Executive Support: Solving Communication Problems to Gain Support
When the CEO stops you in the hall and asks, "What's new?" the first four words out of your mouth have to be, "I'm glad you asked!"

From Risk and Insurance Management

Protecting Your Reputation
One of the most valuable assets that any company has is its reputation. In many competitive industries, the differences between the products or services that companies provide can be difficult to distinguish for the average consumer. With all things seemingly equal to a consumer that is unaware of the subtleties of a given operation, choices are often made based on arbitrary criteria that may have less to do with performance or quality and more to do with general perceptions. This is where reputation can be the all-important deciding factor as to whether or not a company gets and retains business. www.rmmag.com

The Technology of Business Continuity
The ability to maintain production and general system availability under any stoppage circumstances, ranging from routine maintenance to a power outage or a natural disaster, is a key component of business continuity. One needs only to recall the Blackout of 2003 and its associated costs to begin to grasp the importance of this issue. Most businesses can afford little, if any, downtime, so when the plug was pulled last year on thousands of businesses across the Northeast and Midwest, why were so many of them unable to maintain normal operations? The answer lies in the complexities surrounding the nature of true business continuity, which requires appropriate solutions to the various business continuity threats facing organizations. www.rmmag.com

From DHS Organization

DHS has Five Major Divisions, or "Directorates":

I. Border and Transportation Security (BTS): BTS is led by Under Secretary Asa Hutchinson, and is responsible for maintaining the security of our nation's borders and transportation systems. The largest of the Directorates, it is home to agencies such as the Transportation Security Administration, the former U.S. Customs Service, the border security functions of the former Immigration and Naturalization Service, Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service, and the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center.

II. Emergency Preparedness and Response (EPR): This Directorate, which is headed up by Under Secretary Mike Brown, ensures that our nation is prepared for, and able to recover from, terrorist attacks and natural disasters.

III. Science and Technology (S & T): Under the direction of Under Secretary Dr. Charles McQueary, this Directorate coordinates the Department's efforts in research and development, including preparing for and responding to the full range of terrorist threats involving weapons of mass destruction.

IV. Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection (IAIP): IAIP merges the capability to identify and assess a broad range of intelligence information concerning threats to the homeland under one roof, issue timely warnings, and take appropriate preventive and protective action.

V. Management: The Under Secretary of Management, Janet Hale, is responsible for budget, management and personnel issues in DHS.

Besides the five Directorates of DHS, several other critical agencies are folding into the new department or being newly created:

• United States Coast Guard: The Commandant of the Coast Guard reports directly to the Secretary of Homeland Security. However, the USCG also works closely with the Under Secretary of Border and Transportation Security as well as maintain its existing independent identity as a military service. Upon declaration of war or when the President so directs, the Coast Guard would operate as an element of the Department of Defense, consistent with existing law.
• United States Secret Service: The primary mission of the Secret Service is the protection of the President and other government leaders, as well as security for designated national events. The Secret Service is also the primary agency responsible for protecting U.S. currency from counterfeiters and safeguarding Americans from credit card fraud.
• Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services: While BTS is responsible for enforcement of our nation's immigration laws, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) dedicates its full energies to providing efficient immigration services and easing the transition to American citizenship. The Director of Citizenship and Immigration Services reports directly to the Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security.
• Office of State and Local Government Coordination: A truly secure homeland requires close coordination between local, state and federal governments. This office ensures that close coordination takes place with state and local first responders, emergency services and governments.
• Office of Private Sector Liaison: The Office of Private Sector Liaison provides America's business community a direct line of communication to the Department of Homeland Security. The office works directly with individual businesses and through trade associations and other non-governmental organizations to foster dialogue between the Private Sector and the Department of Homeland Security on the full range of issues and challenges faced by America's business sector in the post 9-11 world.
• Office of Inspector General: The Office of Inspector General serves as an independent and objective inspection, audit, and investigative body to promote effectiveness, efficiency, and economy in the Department of Homeland Security's programs and operations, and to prevent and detect fraud, abuse, mismanagement, and waste in such programs and operations. To contact Inspector General Clark Kent Ervin, or his staff, call (202) 254-4100. To report waste, fraud or abuse, call the Hotline at 1-800-323-8603.

www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/interapp/editorial/editorial_0086.xml

From Economist Intelligence Unit

CEO Briefing: Corporate Priorities for 2004
A New Report from the Economist Intelligence Unit

One key finding: Governance is not a fad. Corporate governance remains a major challenge for executives, and concern is rising fast about new regulations and a higher compliance burden. The report may be downloaded for free. http://store.eiu.com/index.asp?layout=pr_story&press_id=1190000719

From PricewaterhouseCoopers

7th Annual Global CEO Survey Focuses on Risk
PriceWaterhouseCoopers has released their 7th Annual Global CEO Survey, which focuses on the critical issue of risk, with particular emphasis on enterprise risk management (ERM). Nearly 1,400 CEOs in 40 countries share their views with us on how they are managing enterprise. To link to this survey come to www.pwc.com/Extweb/insights.nsf/docid/D4700640C39F9D6780256E1A00417F29

From BoozAllenHamilton

What is the DNA or Your Company?
Is There a BCP Link?
Have you ever wondered what makes your organization tick, how or why it works (or doesn't)? Find out by completing BoozAllenHamilton's five-minute Org DNA Profiler(SM).

By answering a few short questions on your organization's structure, decision making, motivators, and information processes, you can learn whether your organization is resilient or passive-aggressive, overmanaged or just-in-time, military or outgrown. Does this factor affect business continuity? Perhaps, take the survey and decide for yourself.

www.orgdna.com
www.strategy-business.com/resilience/rr00004