BCM – How to determine the criticality of a process in a BIA?

Authors: Joris Bouve and Manu Steens

In BCM there is a lot of talk about time-critical processes (TCP), essential processes (EP) and necessary processes (NP).

Typically one uses as definition:

  • TCP: those processes that have to be restarted within two working days;
  • EP: those processes that do not have to restart within two days, but within two weeks;
  • NP: those processes that do not have to restart within two weeks, but within two months.

How critical a process is, can also be approached in a different way: if the impact of a too long outage (eg > 2 days) of the process becomes too much to handle, then you have to quickly (eg in <2 days ) restart the process.

The question here is: how do you determine the criticality of a process?

Proceed as follows (see table below):

  • List the processes in the [process] column;
  • Determine the impact on your service if the process threatens to fall out in the following columns.
  1. If the impact is of such a nature that the service is seriously compromised in the event of an outage that would last for more than 2 days or if there is a legal provision that requires a restart within a period of 2 days, you describe that impact in the column. in. There is then a time-critical process. In the [process criticality] column, enter TCP.
  2. 2 dagen].”>when outage > 2 days]. You can also state here what measures you will take to minimize the effect or how you can still guarantee the intended service
  3. If the impact is of such a nature that the service is seriously compromised in the event of an outage that would last more than 2 weeks or if there is a legal provision that requires a restart within a period of 2 weeks, you describe that impact in the column 2 dagen].”>when outage > 2 weeks]. in. There is then an essential process. In the [process criticality] column, enter EP.
  4. If the impact is such that the service is seriously compromised in the event of an outage that would last for more than 2 months or if there is a legal provision that requires a restart within a period of 2 weeks, you describe that impact in the column 2 dagen].”>when outage > 2 months]. It is then a necessary process. In the [process criticality] column, enter NP.

In the column [dependencies] you enter which expertise, logistic means, IT resources, … you need.
As described under point 2), you enter in column [criticality process] to which category the process belongs: time-critical, essential, or necessary
.

Process Impact when outage  > 2 days Impact when outage > 2 weeks Impact when outage > 2 months Dependencies criticity process
[name process] [Description] [Description] [Description] TCP/EP/NP

 

Two examples:

  • The crisis management process. If this starts only after an hour, serious reputational damage can already be caused by, for example, incorrect communication in the media. It must therefore certainly be started within two days. The 2 columns next to it need not be filled in anymore. With the dependencies, you put eg the expertises, the meeting room, laptops, smartphones, communication tools etc. In the last column you place the decision of the chosen type of process, in this case TCP.
  • Process X must be able to start up within 5 days in August, because otherwise a rule from the legislation can be violated, with corresponding fines and reputational damage. 2 dagen].”>when outage > 2 weeks’ and you choose the type of process ‘EP’. In dependencies you can, for example, write communication with the bank, the name of an an administrative employee and the right software program.


This choice of type of process (TCP, EP or NP) can then be adopted one by one in the Business Impact Analysis. The dependencies can also be taken over.

 

Manu Steens

Manu works at the Flemish Government in risk management and Business Continuity Management. On this website, he shares his own opinions regarding these and related fields.

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