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

 eBook 3: Chapter 1

Beginning the Journey of Operational Resilience Implementation

The journey toward operational resilience moves from understanding and planning to execution. This third instalment, “Starting Your OR Implementation,” marks the pivotal transition in which strategy is translated into actionable, organisation-wide practices.

Building on the foundations established in the earlier eBooks—“Understanding Your Organisation” and “Implementing OR Planning Methodology”—this volume serves as the practical launchpad for implementing a structured and sustainable Operational Resilience (OR) programme within BDO Unibank.

This eBook marks the transition from planning to execution in the operational resilience (OR) journey of China Banking Corporation (China Bank).

Following the foundational insights from “Understanding Your Organisation” and the structured methodology outlined in “Implementing Operational Resilience Planning Methodology”, this instalment serves as the practical launchpad for embedding operational resilience into day-to-day operations.

While earlier phases focused on strategy, governance, and capability development, this eBook shifts attention to implementation at the business unit level—where resilience is operationalised, tested, and sustained.

It is here that China Bank translates regulatory expectations, including those from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) under Circular No. 1203, into tangible actions that protect critical services and ensure continuity under stress.

This eBook is not theoretical. It is designed as a working document, compiling structured submissions from business units across China Bank. These submissions reflect real operational processes, dependencies, vulnerabilities, and resilience capabilities aligned to the bank’s most critical business services.

Purpose and Scope of This eBook

The primary objective of this eBook is to drill down into Phase 2 [P2] of the Operational Resilience Planning Methodology, focusing on the practical and evidence-based activities required to operationalise resilience within the organisation.

Unlike conceptual or policy-driven guidance, this volume is intentionally implementation-oriented. It translates methodology into structured deliverables, artefacts, and submissions that an organisation would realistically produce during an operational resilience exercise.

This eBook is therefore positioned as:

• A hands-on implementation guide for operational resilience practitioners, and
• A compilation of organisational submissions developed during an operational resilience exercise, reflecting how theory is applied in a real institutional context.

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) [SuPS]
   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.

 To ensure relevance and practicality, the implementation activities in this eBook are anchored to its Critical Business Services (CBS), including: 

• CBS-1 Deposit and Account Services

• CBS-2 Payments, Funds Transfer, and Cash Access Services

• CBS-3 Digital Banking and Online Channel Services

• CBS-4 Corporate Cash Management and Collections/Disbursements

• CBS-5 Trade Finance and Trade Settlement Services

• CBS-6 Lending and Credit Servicing

• CBS-7 Treasury, Foreign Exchange, and Financial Markets Services

• CBS-8 Remittance and Branch-Based Transaction Services

• CBS-9 Trust, Wealth, and Investment Management Services

• CBS-10 Customer Support, Incident Communication, and Complaint Handling

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.

Readers should approach this eBook not as a theoretical manual but as a companion to working implementations.

The content reflects the realities, challenges, and decision points encountered when starting operational resilience implementation within your financial institution.

By the end of this eBook, readers should have a clear understanding of what needs to be produced, why it matters, and how it supports the organisation’s resilience-by-design.

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