T2: Design Profile for Telephone Notification Test

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 Telephone Notification Test

Explanation

This design profile for Telephone Notification (Call Tree) Test serves as a checklist to ensure that all aspects of the planning have been considered in designing the Call Tree Test. In this test, the recovery team members notify designated staff members according to the completed business continuity plan.

Test Design Profile for Staff Telephone Notification (Call Tree) Test
Definition
Objective	To test staff telephone notification procedures according to BC plan(s)
Type of Test	Telephone Contact
Scope and Scale (Active/Passive; degree of involvement)	Business Unit level Active All on list
Elements to be tested Plans People Place Resources	Yes Yes No Telephone at home
Success Criteria	100% successful contacts made to Business Unit Coordinators, [an agreed percentage] % of attempted contacts succeed within [an agreed time], 95% of relayed messages return correct
Essential Pre-Conditions	All staff members have copy of latest Telephone Call Tree
Participants Internal External	Yes No
Scheduling
Time of test/Schedule	Pre-determined timing, outside business hours but commencing at a time which allows for the test to complete without disturbing staff members’ sleep
Duration	Maximum 3 hours
Frequency (mandatory/desirable)	Quarterly
Notice Requirement/Warning	None except for the first test
Briefing of Participants	None
Scenario	Not Required
Write Test Plan	No. Only obtain Telephone Call Tree
Budget for Test	None
Execution/ Monitoring
Controllers	None. Business Unit Coordinator to initiate the test according to predetermined timing
Document
Documentation (capable of audit) to track events and degree of success	Telephone Call Tree Log used to record the timings of calls, successful contacts and correct message
Review/ Measure
Post-Mortem Meeting	Meeting not required
Report/ Output
Post-Test Actions (documented) linking 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
Amend plan as required	If appropriate, amend the plan(s). Arrange re-tests where necessary

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 24: T2: Design Profile for Telephone Notification Test"

More Information About Blended Learning BCM-5000 [BL-B-5]

To know more about our blended learning program and when the next course is scheduled, feel free to contact our friendly course consultant colleagues via sales.ap@bcm-institute.org. They are the BL-B-3 Blended Learning BCM-300 ISO22301 BCMS Implementer and the BL-B-5 Blended Learning BCM-5000 ISO22301 BCMS Expert Implementer.