[4] [BCS] WSQ Funded BCM Project: Evaluating the Business Continuity Strategy

Overview

At this stage, you would have completed your RAR and BIA workshops and are about to start the second day of WSQ BCM workshop organised in-house. This first 1/2 day session or Module 2 Session 1 Blended Learning conducted will focus on the Business Continuity Strategy phase. 

It is useful to note that in the revised ISO22301:2019 standard, this BC Strategies phase is also known as "BC Strategies and Solutions."  There is no major changes our approach as it emphasized that it should not be a grand strategy but rather on finding solutions to manage the specific risks and impacts.  .

Once the requirements gathering phases of risk analysis and review, and business impact analysis, are completed, we would have sufficient information to start formulating business continuity strategies (BCS), the precursors of the business continuity plan.

This id the 4th part of the "WSQ Funded BCM Project" series.  This is the reading for participants embarking on a BCM implementation using a combination of training with SkillsFuture (SSG) funding from the Singapore government and consulting to develop, implement and finalize its BCM program for an organisation.

The process of conducting the BCS phase in a WSQ-based BCM Project is as follows:

1. Supplementary Readings

1. Before the start of the workshop, participants will receive emails containing bite-size information (in the form of blogs) on business continuity strategies.

2. The purpose of doing so is to introduce participants to the key concepts ahead of the coming workshop.

3. Participants are strongly encourage to read the short articles and this will help you as a participant to optimize your time at the  BCS workshop by having a basic understanding of "what is BCS?" before you start the workshop.

What participants should do:

1. Participants are encouraged to read through the supplementary material and try to write down any questions they may have on BCS.

2.  Workshop [Onsite or Online]

1. Mitigation strategies
2. Response strategies
3. Recovery strategies

The latest BCS templates with guidance notes (this link is to an earlier version) are used to facilitate the strategy formulation process. 

What participants should do for the Onsite Workshop:

1. Participants are encouraged to read the email supplementary materials before the workshop and review the RAR and BIA findings for their business unit.
2. The soft copy BCS templates will be sent to participants before the workshop
3. Participants should load the templates into their laptops and have them available during the workshop.
4. Remember to bring to the workshop the templates from the previous RAR and BIA phases.

What participants should do for the Online Workshop:

1. Participants are encouraged to read the email supplementary materials before the workshop and review the RAR and BIA findings for their business unit.
2. The softcopy   templates can be downloaded from the same E-Learning portal used during the Risk Analysis Review phase and Business Impact Analysis phase.
3. Participants should complete the E-Learning Module and begin filling in their templates
4. Participants should then submit their completed templates

Participants should be advised that because the workshop is a 1-time group event, it is important that participants lock this event in their calendars. No repeat workshop will be conducted for absent participants and there is a possibility that that SkillsFuture Singapore or SSG will not approve the course subsidy if the participant is absent for more than 75% of the module.

3.  Consultation & Assessment [Onsite or Online]

A consultation and assessment session (approx. 30 mins) has been arranged for individual departments to go through the templates with the consultants and sit for a simple open-book assessment comprising a few easy-to-answer questions. This assessment is a requirement from SkillsFuture Singapore or SSG to qualify for government funding.

Assessment sessions can be conducted either face-to-face or online. In the event of the latter, Zoom will be used to facilitate the assessment between consultants and participants.

Refer to answer [3] to [6] provided in "FAQ on WSQ Courses Offered by BCM Institute" to have an better understanding on the expectation of a WSQ assessment.

What should participants do for Onsite classes:

1. Submit the Business Continuity Strategy templates to your Organisational BCM Coordinator on time
2. Before the consultation & assessment session, review your templates, and quickly read through the course materials
3. Attend the consultation & assessment session at the appointed time
4. If there are any changes required, submit a revised completed template to your Organisational BCM Coordinator.

What should participants do for Online classes:

1. Submit the Business Continuity Strategy template to the E-Learning portal prior to the instructor's session
2. Prior to the Consultation/assessment session, comments will be sent over via the E-Learning Portal. Participants are expected to make edits to their BIA template prior to the session
3. Before the consultation & assessment session, review your templates, and quickly read through the course materials
4. Attend the consultation & assessment session at the appointed time (on Zoom)
5. Re-submit the final, revised template to the E-learning Portal

4. Public WSQ Course

Again, the strength of this program is that, should there be any turnover of your business unit BCM coordinator, you can send the incoming designated staff member to the next course. The key is to get the staff member to bring along your current BCM submission and to inform the facilitator in advance that you are using your current template updated by you previous BU BCM coordinator.

If you are attending a public WSQ course, this course is similar to the morning session for the WSQ-BCM-320 (Course code) and it is titled as "Developing Business Continuity Strategies and Plans"

Once this session is completed, you are now ready to attend the "Plan Development" workshop to be held in the afternoon session.