Under ISO 22301, organisations are required to identify the products and services that must continue to be delivered during an incident, emergency, or disaster.
These products and services represent the essential outputs that customers, stakeholders, and dependent organisations rely upon, regardless of the nature of the disruption.
Identifying these outputs is a critical step in the Business Impact Analysis (BIA) because it enables the organisation to determine the minimum level of service to be maintained, establish appropriate Business Unit Minimum Business Continuity Objectives (BU MBCOs), and develop recovery strategies to support operational continuity.
For ALPS Healthcare, the primary objective during a disruptive event is not to restore all procurement and supply chain activities immediately, but to sustain the critical products and services that enable Singapore's public healthcare institutions to continue delivering patient care.
These products and services span the entire healthcare supply chain, from strategic procurement and pharmaceutical sourcing to inventory management, logistics, supplier management, regulatory compliance, cybersecurity, and crisis management.
Collectively, they ensure that essential medicines, medical devices, consumables, and healthcare support services remain available to hospitals, national centres, and other public healthcare providers.
The following table identifies the key products and services associated with each Critical Business Function (CBF).
These outputs provide the foundation for subsequent Business Impact Analysis activities, including impact assessment, dependency mapping, recovery strategy development, and Business Continuity Plan (BCP) preparation.
|
CBF Code |
Critical Business Function |
Key Products and Services Delivered During a Disruption |
|
CBF-1 |
Strategic Procurement and Sourcing |
Strategic sourcing decisions, emergency procurement approvals, priority sourcing plans, procurement governance, supplier engagement. |
|
CBF-2 |
Pharmaceutical Procurement and Supply Management |
Procurement and supply of essential medicines, vaccines, controlled drugs, and critical pharmaceutical products. |
|
CBF-3 |
Medical Supplies and Equipment Procurement |
Procurement of medical consumables, diagnostic equipment, surgical instruments, and essential healthcare devices. |
|
CBF-4 |
Supplier and Vendor Management |
Supplier coordination, supplier performance management, supplier continuity monitoring, alternative supplier activation. |
|
CBF-5 |
Contract and Purchase Order Management |
Contract administration, purchase order processing, emergency purchasing, contract approvals, supplier agreements. |
|
CBF-6 |
Demand Planning and Supply Planning |
Demand forecasting, procurement planning, healthcare supply allocation, inventory planning, replenishment prioritisation. |
|
CBF-7 |
Inventory Management and Replenishment |
Inventory monitoring, stock replenishment, emergency inventory allocation, safety stock management. |
|
CBF-8 |
Warehouse and Storage Operations |
Secure warehousing, inventory storage, stock receiving, order picking, dispatch preparation, inventory control. |
|
CBF-9 |
Cold-Chain and Controlled-Environment Logistics |
Temperature-controlled storage, cold-chain transportation, environmental monitoring, cold-chain integrity management. |
|
CBF-10 |
Healthcare Distribution and Delivery Operations |
Distribution of medicines, medical supplies, equipment, and urgent deliveries to healthcare institutions. |
|
CBF-11 |
Supply Shortage and Supply Disruption Management |
Supply disruption response, emergency sourcing, alternative product identification, supply chain risk mitigation. |
|
CBF-12 |
Procurement and Supply Chain Information Systems |
Operation of procurement systems, supplier management platforms, inventory systems, logistics applications, workflow systems. |
|
CBF-13 |
Supply Chain Data, Analytics and Reporting |
Procurement analytics, inventory reporting, supplier performance reporting, operational dashboards, management information. |
|
CBF-14 |
Quality Assurance and Product Traceability |
Product quality verification, batch traceability, recall management, quality incident management, supplier quality monitoring. |
|
CBF-15 |
Financial Operations and Supplier Payments |
Supplier invoice processing, payment authorisation, procurement financial controls, expenditure reporting. |
|
CBF-16 |
Regulatory, Governance and Compliance Management |
Procurement compliance, regulatory reporting, audit support, governance oversight, policy compliance monitoring. |
|
CBF-17 |
Information Security and Cyber Resilience |
Cybersecurity monitoring, secure procurement systems, identity and access management, cyber incident response. |
|
CBF-18 |
Business Continuity and Crisis Management |
Business continuity coordination, crisis response, emergency procurement coordination, recovery management, continuity reporting. |
|
CBF-19 |
Public Healthcare Institution Coordination and Stakeholder Management |
Communication with healthcare institutions, stakeholder coordination, operational updates, supply chain coordination. |
|
CBF-20 |
Corporate Management and Decision Support |
Executive decision support, operational situation reporting, strategic resource prioritisation, governance decision-making. |
The identification of key products and services establishes the primary outputs that ALPS Healthcare must continue to deliver during incidents, emergencies, and disasters.
Rather than attempting to maintain all routine procurement and supply chain activities, Business Continuity Management focuses on sustaining the products and services essential to the continuity of Singapore's public healthcare system.
This ensures that patient care remains supported through the uninterrupted availability of medicines, medical supplies, logistics, supplier coordination, and governance functions.
These key products and services provide the foundation for the Business Impact Analysis by enabling the organisation to determine the minimum operational capability required during a disruption.
Each product or service can subsequently be assessed for its operational impact, recovery priority, resource requirements, technology dependencies, supplier dependencies, and recovery objectives.
This structured approach supports the development of Business Unit Minimum Business Continuity Objectives (BU MBCOs), Recovery Time Objectives (RTOs), recovery strategies, and Business Continuity Plans that are aligned with organisational priorities and stakeholder expectations.
From an operational resilience perspective, documenting key products and services also strengthens decision-making during crises by helping management prioritise limited resources toward activities that deliver the greatest value to healthcare institutions and patients.
When integrated with dependency mapping, risk assessments, supplier resilience, information security, and crisis management, these products and services form the operational foundation of ALPS Healthcare's Business Continuity Management System.
This enables the organisation to respond effectively to disruptive events while continuing to fulfil its strategic role in supporting the resilience and continuity of Singapore's public healthcare supply chain.
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