T7: Design Profile for Full Simulation

Testing Business Continuity Exercises

This is a series of useful templates that you can use to develop the Testing and Exercising program.

Design Profile for Full Simulation

Explanation

Full Simulation activates the total business continuity plan. The purpose is to simultaneously test as many components as possible in the organization recovery structure. An example of a Full Simulation is the Full Re-Location Test of the entire business. This template is a checklist for designing the test profile.

Definition
Objective	Confirm ALL aspects of the invocation of the alternate (recovery) site for KEY business units from a particular location
Scope and Scale (Active/ Passive; degree of involvement)	Active. All support group teams and one or more key business unit teams
Components to be tested
Plans	Yes
People	Yes
Place	Yes
Resources	Yes
Success Criteria	All aspects of support and business, planned for testing, were tested
Essential Pre-Conditions	The plans for all units (both business and support) must have previously been tested at every subordinate level
Participants
Internal	Yes
External	Yes
Scheduling
Time of Test/Schedule	Always out of business hours, on a weekend/public holiday (to avoid disruption of normal business activities)
Duration	Maximum 2 Days (to allow support group call out and set-up prior to business unit involvement plus re-instatement)
Frequency (mandatory/desirable)	For critical business units maximum 1 year from the date of the last partial re-location test (mandatory). After the first full re-location, tests should be carried out annually alternating between partial and full re-location tests. To be scheduled with the full agreement of officer with governance responsibility for the territory
Notice Requirement/Warning	Yes
Briefing of Participants	A full briefing document should be prepared
Scenario	No
Test of plan	Yes
Budget for test	Yes (overtime, transport, subsistence and recovery resource/invocation costs, outsourcing contract additional costs)
Execution/ Monitoring
Controllers	BCC
Document
Documentation (capable of audit) -Track events and degree of success	List of events with individual details and timings, controllers’/business unit document checklist. Business Unit log sheets, post test critique forms
Review/ Measure
Post-Mortem Meeting	Yes - immediate de-brief plus a more formal review meeting some days later
Report/ Output
Post-Test Actions (documented) –link to maintenance/reporting	Record the outcome on the standard assessment pro-forma and document remedial actions required (with responsibilities and target dates)
Maintenance/ Follow-Up
Make amendments to plan as required	If appropriate, amend the plan(s). Where their remedial action requirement negates earlier test result(s), arrange appropriate re-test(s)

Source

Goh, M. H. (2006). Testing and Exercising Your Business Continuity Plan. Business Continuity Management Series (2nd ed.). Singapore: GMH Pte Ltd.

Extracted from "Chapter 29: T7: Design Profile for Full Simulation"

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