BCP plans continue to draw criticism

In a recent FDIC IT Examination, the examiner made the following criticism of the institutions’ DR/BCP:

“Business continuity planing should focus on all critical business functions that need to be recovered to resume operations. Continuity planing for technology alone should no longer be the primary focus of a BCP, but rather viewed as one critical aspect of the enterprise-wide process. The review of each critical business function should include the technology that supports it.” (bold is mine)

This is not the first time we’ve seen this finding, nor is it a new direction for regulators, but rather follows directly from the 2008 FFIEC Handbook on Business Continuity Planning when they state:

“The business continuity planning process involves the recovery, resumption, and maintenance of the entire business, not just the technology component. While the restoration of IT systems and electronic data is important, recovery of these systems and data will not always be enough to restore business operations.”

I still see way too many DR plans that focus on the recovery of technology, instead of recovery of the critical process supported by the technology.  Sure, technology is an interdependency of nearly every function you provide, but it must not be the primary focus of your recovery effort.  Focus instead on recovery of the entire process (teller, CSR, lending, funds management, etc.), by recognizing that each process is nothing more than the sum of its interdependencies.   For example, what does it take to deliver typical teller functionality?

  • A physical facility for customers to visit
  • A trained teller
  • A functional application, consisting of:
    • A workstation
    • A printer
    • A database, requiring:
      • LAN connectivity
      • WAN (core) connectivity, requiring:
        • Core functionality
      • A server, requiring:
        • Access rights
      • etc.
    • etc.
  • etc.

As you can see, technology certainly plays a very important role, but it is not the only critical aspect of the process.  All sub-components must work, and work together, for the overall  process to work.  Mapping out the processes through a work-flow analysis is an excellent way to get your arms around all of the interdependencies.

So next time you perform the annual review of your BCP (and you do review your plan annually, right?), make sure your IT department isn’t the only one in the room!

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Join Our Community

Related Posts