[OR] [AGB] [E3] [C1] Starting Your OR Implementation

eBook 3: Chapter 1

Starting Your Operational Resilience Implementation

Introduction

Operational resilience is no longer a theoretical concept—it is an imperative for financial institutions like Agrobank.

Following the foundational insights from eBook 1, Understanding Your Organisation, and the practical guidance in eBook 2, Implementing Operational Resilience for Agrobank, this eBook 3, drills down into the pivotal phase of putting operational resilience into practice.

Designed specifically for organisations ready to move beyond assessment and planning, it focuses on the structured execution of the Operational Resilience Planning Methodology (ORPM) and guides teams through the critical Phase 2 (P2) requirements, ensuring that strategic intentions are translated into actionable results.

Phase 2 represents the core of the operational resilience journey, encompassing six essential requirements: outlining detailed processes [DP], mapping dependencies [MD], mapping processes and resources [MPR], establishing impact tolerances [iTo], identifying severe but plausible scenarios [SuPS], and performing scenario testing [ST].

Each of these stages is essential to understanding how Agrobank’s Critical Business Services—financing disbursement, loan repayment and servicing, deposit and account access services, payment and fund transfer services, and government-linked financing and subsidy distribution—operate under stress and maintain continuity.

By focusing on these elements, this eBook equips practitioners with the tools to capture, analyse, and validate organisational data during operational resilience exercises, providing a real-world snapshot of implementation in action.

The rationale for this eBook extends beyond theory. It is part of the BCM Institute’s value-adding and complementary services for organisations aiming to initiate or enhance their Business Continuity Management (BCM) programs.

Whether attending certification-led training or competency-based workshops, organisations can leverage this eBook as a practical reference to bridge learning with implementation, ensuring that insights gained during training translate into tangible improvements in operational resilience.

This third eBook in the series, “Starting Your OR Implementation,” represents the transition from understanding and design to execution and evidence. While:

• eBook 1 – Understanding Your Organisation established organisational context, regulatory drivers, stakeholder expectations, and critical business services; and
• eBook 2 – Implementing Operational Resilience for Agrobank translated OR principles into governance structures, policy direction, and high-level framework design;

eBook 3 drills down into the practical, documentable, and auditable requirements of Phase 2 of the Operational Resilience Planning Methodology.

The five core stages of the “Implement” phase in the Operational Resilience Planning Methodology are central to this ebook.

These stages form the backbone of OR implementation:

• Identify Critical Business Services [DP]
  Determining the business services that, if disrupted, could pose a significant risk to Metrobank’s customers, market integrity, or financial stability.
  
  
• Map Dependency and Connectivity [MD]
  Uncovering and documenting the relationships and interdependencies—both internal and external—that support the delivery of critical business services.
  
  
• Map Processes and Resources [MPR]
  Cataloguing the key operational elements—people, systems, data, and facilities—that underpin each critical business service's performance and continuity.
  
  
• Establish Impact Tolerances [ITo]
  Setting defined thresholds for disruption to determine how much stress a service can endure before unacceptable harm occurs.
  
  
• Identify Severe but Plausible Scenarios [SuPS]
  Identifying Severe but Plausible Scenarios that could critically impact each detailed process within the Critical Business Service
  
  
• Perform Scenario Testing [ST]
  Validating assumptions and capabilities by simulating disruptive scenarios to evaluate how well the bank can maintain or recover its critical business services.
  

As part of the Identification of Critical Business Services  and Phase 2 planning activities, the following Critical Business Services (CBS) for Agrobank are used as the primary scope foranalysis and illustration throughout this eBook:

1. Financing Disbursement

2. Loan Repayment & Servicing

3. Deposit & Account Access Services

4. Payment & Fund Transfer Services

5. 5 Government-Linked Financing & Subsidy Distribution

This list marks the formal start of the Identification of Critical Business Services.

It is intended to be inserted directly into the operational resilience report as part of the organisation’s documented methodology and scope definition.

This eBook is delivered as part of the value-adding and complementary services offered to organisations that intend to:

• Implement an actual operational resilience or BCM project, or
• Upgrade an existing BCM programme to meet evolving regulatory and supervisory expectations.

It supports organisations participating in the BCM Institute’s training-led implementation approach, particularly thoseattending:

• Certification programmes, and
• Competency-based professional training courses.

Rather than treating training and implementation as separate activities, this approach integrates learning, application, and evidence creation, allowing organisations to build real operational resilience artefacts while developing internal capability and practitioner competence.

By the end of this eBook, readers should be able to:

• Translate high-level Critical Business Services into detailed, defensible process maps
• Identify and document material dependencies and resource concentrations
• Set impact tolerances that are realistic, measurable, and regulator-ready
• Design and execute scenario testing that focuses on service continuity rather than system recovery
• Produce structured outputs suitable for internal governance, regulatory review, and audit scrutiny

This eBook is notintended to be read passively. It is designed to be used as a working reference during an operational resilience exercise, supporting teams as they move from planning to execution in a controlled, methodical, and regulator-aligned manner.

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For organisations looking to accelerate their journey, BCM Institute’s training and certification programs, including the OR-5000 Operational Resilience Expert Implementer course, provide in-depth insights and practical toolkits for effectively embedding this model.