Tahir Junaid

Assignment Reflection Paper [ CITATION Bus \l 1033 ] In times of disaster it is the Business Continuity Plan (BCP), if executed in its letter and spirit can ensure the smooth operations of the organization. The awareness, exercise and maintenance are the integral part of the effectual implementation of a BCP. The awareness program is essential to educate the employees and managerial staff about their role in times of catastrophe either a natural or manmade. It defines the nature of respond to the emergency in order to pursue Business Continuity at the premises. It is to train the staff about their role in the structure of communication during emergency. It is basically who will do what. Exercise is the later stage of the BCP in which a scenario based attempt is made to cope up with the situation. It is to observe and evaluate the shortcomings in the BCP and resources utilization against their availability. It needs a comprehensive strategy to finalize an awareness and training program as it’s vital for the operational and strategic evaluation of the organization. Management itself should be aware of the potential of the program firstly. The roles of staff are to be defined as per their capacity and existing knowledge of the operations. It is highly recommended to hire a professional BC manger to educate and train the staff about BCP’s execution. It would help to validate the purpose of the Business Continuity in the company. The communication complications can be eradicated through effectual awareness program. I think the BCP aligned with the existed set of operational and strategic methodology can be helpful to better understand. It paves the path for the later stages of BCP such as exercise and maintenance. [ CITATION Dav08 \l 1033 ] The commencement of the Exercises is the first practical attempt in evaluating BCP of an organization. It gives the practical information on what skills in which sectors do a company have if put into a disastrous situation. It is vital to plan and observe the scenario based exercises in order to retrieve the picture of response which is more close to reality. The exercise programs should also be aligned with potential nature of the emergency and mechanism of the firm’s operations. It should be conducted on periodic basis with the inclusion of operational changes occurred between the gaps of interval. Below is the depiction of evolution of Exercise program conducted; [ CITATION Alb16 \l 1033 ] The maintenance is the continuing process in the organization which monitors and implements the BCP on the premises at daily basis. It is to ensure that operations of the workstations are in smooth and tidy pose. Through proper maintenance program in place with periodic and précised reporting can help to overcome the glitches in BCM in long term sustainability of the BCP. It also makes certain that progressive BCP is being created with the passage of time to better counter the time of an emergency. It also helps to assess the impact of changes being made in the operation and their feedback. To look after the smooth transition of the new employees, so they can integrate into the BCP as soon as possible. Auditing and reporting are the key aspects of the maintenance of BC in a company. Here is the depiction of key processing in the maintenance; [ CITATION Alb161 \l 1033 ] To conclude, I would like to say that training on both educating and executing levels is the key to success of a Business Continuity Plan. The effectiveness of these integral phases of the BCP are illustrates the competence of the organization to respond in the situation of disaster. To guarantee uninterrupted operations of the organization it has to have a BCP which is fit for purpose and effectual in case of emergency. Works Cited Alexander, A. G. (2016). Planning and managing exercises for business continuity management arrangements. http://www.continuitycentral.com . Alexander, A. (2016). Maintenance of a business continuity management system: a managerial approach. http://www.continuitycentral.com/index.php/news/business-continuity-news . Business Continuity Checklist. (n.d.). http://www.disasterrecoveryplantemplate.org . David Everest, R. E. (2008). Business Continuity Management. https://www.iia.org.uk/media/54621/gtag10_business_continuity.pdf , 12-15.