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

Chapter 1

Starting Your OR Implementation

This eBook, “Starting Your OR Implementation,” represents the final instalment in the series “A Practical Guide to Operational Resilience for Bank of Commerce.”

It marks the transition from planning and design into practical execution, where operational resilience is translated into tangible actions, deliverables, and measurable outcomes across the organisation.

For Bank of Commerce, this eBook serves as the kick-start of the operational resilience implementation project, bringing together structured submissions from business units and functional teams.

It builds on the foundational insights from the first two eBooks—“Understanding Your Organisation” and “Implementing OR Planning Methodology”—which provide the context, framework, and methodology required to execute this phase effectively.

Unlike the earlier eBooks, which focus on concepts and frameworks, this eBook is execution-driven. It captures how the Bank operationalises resilience by focusing on the detailed processes of its critical business services, ensuring that these services can continue within defined tolerances during disruptions.

Purpose of This eBook

The purpose of this eBook is to kick-start and guide the structured submission of implementation artefacts required for the  Bank of Commerce’s operational resilience programme.

It serves as a working document for business units, enabling them to systematically document, validate, and align their critical business services with the organisation’s resilience objectives and regulatory expectations, including compliance with BSP Circular No. 1203 on Operational Resilience.

This eBook is designed to:

• Translate the “Plan” phase outputs into actionable implementation steps
• Provide standardised templates and guidance for consistent submissions
• Ensure alignment between business, operations, technology, and third-party dependencies
• Enable management to assess resilience capabilities against impact tolerances and disruption scenarios

This eBook captures the execution of six key stages of operational resilience implementation:

Focus on Phase 2 [P2]: Operational Resilience in Action

Phase 2 of the Operational Resilience Planning Methodology is the point at which resilience concepts are embedded in day-to-day operations.

This eBook addresses the six key requirements of Phase 2 as requested by regulators globally,  namely:

1. Outline Detailed Processes (Phase 2 – Stage 1) [DP]
   Translating high-level business services into detailed, end-to-end operational processes that enable service delivery.
2. Map Dependency (Phase 2 – Stage 2) [MD]
   Identifying internal and external dependencies, including people, technology, data, facilities, third parties, and suppliers.
3. Map Processes and Resources (Phase 2 – Stage 2) [MPR]
   Establishing clear linkages between processes and the resources required to support them under normal and disrupted conditions.
4. Establish Impact Tolerances (Phase 2 – Stage 2) [iTo]
   Defining the maximum tolerable level of disruption for each critical business service, aligned with client harm, market integrity, financial stability, and regulatory expectations.
5. Identify Severe but Plausible Scenarios (Phase 2 – Stage 4) [SbPS]
   Developing stress scenarios that meaningfully challenge the organisation’s ability to remain within its defined impact tolerances.
6. Perform Scenario Testing (Phase 2 – Stage 4) [ST]
   Testing the organisation’s capability to withstand disruption and identifying vulnerabilities, control gaps, and areas for resilience enhancement.

Each of these requirements is explored in the context of the organisation’s operating model and service landscape.

The implementation effort is centred around the following Critical Business Services (CBS) identified for the Bank of Commerce:

• CBS-1 Deposit and Account Services

• CBS-2 Payments and Funds Transfer Services

• CBS-3 Digital Banking and Electronic Customer Access

• CBS-4 Cash Management and Transaction Banking Services

• CBS-5 Branch, ATM, and Cash Access Services

• CBS-6 Lending and Credit Servicing

• CBS-7 Trade Finance Services

• CBS-8 Trust, Treasury, and Investment Services

Each CBS is analysed through the lens of process mapping, dependency identification, and scenario testing, ensuring a comprehensive understanding of vulnerabilities and resilience capabilities.

Each CBS is examined through the lens of process resilience, resource dependencies, tolerance thresholds, and scenario-driven vulnerabilities, enabling readers to understand not only what needs to be done, but how to do it in a structured, regulator-ready manner.

This eBook is designed for practitioners—risk managers, BCM professionals, operations leaders, compliance teams, and senior management—who are responsible for building, enhancing, or validating operational resilience capabilities.

It serves as both a hands-on implementation guide and a reference artefact, supporting consistency, traceability, and continuous improvement across the OR lifecycle.

This is a complimentary service offered by BCM Institute to organisations intending to implement an Operational Resilience project or enhance an existing Operational Resilience programme.

It is specifically designed to support organisations adopting the BCM Institute’s training-led implementation approach, where learning is directly integrated with real organisational deliverables.

For participants attending BCM Institute’s certification or competency-based training courses, this eBook serves as:

• A practical reference for applying training concepts to live organisational exercises,
• A structured guide for developing implementation artefacts, and
• A bridge between professional development and real-world resilience outcomes.

“Starting Your OR Implementation” is where operational resilience becomes tangible.

It transforms strategic intent into measurable action, enabling the Philippine National Bank to operationalise resilience across its most critical services.

Through structured submissions, collaborative engagement, and rigorous testing, the organisation moves closer to achieving resilience that safeguards customers, protects financial stability, and ensures regulatory compliance.

This eBook is not merely a guide—it is a working blueprint for embedding resilience into the core of the bank’s operations.

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