In today’s dynamic and unpredictable business environment, organisations must be prepared to respond to disruptions effectively to ensure minimal impact on operations.
As a nonprofit operating three residential homes (Ahuva Good Shepherd), the Good Shepherd Centre, and Good Shepherd Student Care, Marymount’s mission to support individuals through trauma and life challenges demands a robust Business Continuity Management (BCM) framework.
Stakeholder Engagement: Identify and involve key stakeholders, including senior management, staff, and external partners.
Resource Allocation: Assign roles and responsibilities, ensuring adequate resources (time, budget, and personnel) are allocated.
Timeline Development: Create a detailed project timeline with milestones to track progress.
Communication Plan: Develop a communication strategy to keep all stakeholders informed and engaged throughout the process.
For Marymount Centre, this phase ensures alignment with organizational goals and sets the stage for a structured and collaborative approach to BCM.
The BCM journey begins with structured project management. Marymount’s Executive Director and senior leadership form a cross-functional BCM team, including representatives from residential care, student services, counselling, and IT.
A project charter defines the scope, timeline, and resources, ensuring alignment with the Centre’s mission. For example, the team may prioritise the continuity of 24/7 residential care and student programs, given their critical role in client safety and development.
Regular updates to the Board of Management ensure accountability and stakeholder buy-in.
Risk Identification: Identify internal and external threats, such as natural disasters, cyberattacks, or supply chain disruptions.
Risk Assessment: Evaluate the likelihood and impact of each risk.
Risk Mitigation: Develop strategies to reduce the likelihood or impact of identified risks.
Given the region's unique challenges, Marymount Centre, located in Singapore, should pay special attention to risks such as flooding, pandemics, and technological failures.
Marymount assesses risks unique to its facilities and services. Singapore’s tropical climate poses flood risks to its residential homes, while pandemics (e.g., COVID-19) could disrupt on-site counselling.
Cybersecurity threats to client databases are also evaluated. A risk matrix ranks threats by likelihood and impact.
For instance, a flood affecting Ahuva Good Shepherd’s ground-floor facilities might score “high impact,” prompting investments in drainage upgrades and emergency sandbags.
Identifying Critical Functions: Determine which activities are vital for the Centre’s survival and service delivery.
Assessing Impact: Evaluate disruptions' financial, operational, and reputational impact on these functions.
Establishing Recovery Objectives: Define Recovery Time Objectives (RTOs) and Recovery Point Objectives (RPOs) for each critical function.
The BIA ensures that resources are prioritized for the most critical areas, enabling Marymount Centre to maintain essential services during a disruption.
The BIA identifies essential services and their recovery requirements. Marymount's top priorities are 24/7 residential supervision, trauma counselling, and student care.
Downtime thresholds are established, such as restoring student care services within 24 hours of the disruption to avoid educational setbacks.
Dependency on external partners (e.g., food suppliers) is mapped, highlighting vulnerabilities in the supply chain.
Preventive Measures: Implement controls to reduce the likelihood of disruptions.
Response Strategies: Develop plans for immediate response to incidents, such as evacuation procedures or IT system failover.
Recovery Strategies: Establish plans for restoring operations, including alternate work sites or backup systems.
This could involve strategies such as cloud-based data backups, remote work capabilities, and partnerships with alternative service providers for Marymount Centre.
Strategies are designed to mitigate risks and maintain operations.
For residential homes, backup generators ensure power during outages, while telehealth platforms enable remote counselling if facilities are inaccessible.
Partnerships with nearby shelters provide temporary housing if Ahuva Good Shepherd must evacuate.
Student care staff are cross-trained to manage multiple roles, reducing reliance on individual availability.
Incident Response Plan: Detailed steps for responding to specific types of disruptions.
Crisis Management Plan: Guidelines for managing communication and decision-making during a crisis.
Recovery Plan: Procedures for restoring normal operations after a disruption.
These plans should be clear, concise, and easily accessible to all relevant personnel at Marymount Centre.
Detailed plans codify roles, responsibilities, and procedures. Marymount’s Emergency Response Plan includes evacuation routes for residents, while its IT Disaster Recovery Plan prioritizes restoring client records.
Communication protocols ensure families are promptly informed during crises. Staff training workshops, such as trauma-informed crisis management drills, reinforce preparedness.
Scenario-Based Testing: Simulate potential disruptions to evaluate the response and recovery plans.
Tabletop Exercises: Conduct discussions to walk through hypothetical scenarios and identify gaps.
Post-Exercise Review: Analyze the results of tests and exercises to improve the plans.
For Marymount Centre, this phase ensures that staff are well-prepared and that the plans are practical and effective.
Regular drills expose gaps and build confidence.
A fire evacuation exercise at Good Shepherd Student Care tests staff responsiveness, while a simulated cyberattack evaluates IT’s ability to recover data.
Post-exercise debriefs refine plans, such as adjusting evacuation routes after identifying bottlenecks in a residential home stairwell.
Monitoring and Review: Regularly update the BCM plans to reflect organisational or external environment changes.
Training and Awareness: Conduct regular training sessions to ensure staff know their roles and responsibilities.
Performance Metrics: Establish metrics to measure the effectiveness of the BCM program.
By embedding BCM into the organizational culture, Marymount Centre can ensure long-term resilience and adaptability.
BCM is embedded into Marymount’s culture through ongoing governance.
The BCM team conducts annual reviews and updates plans to reflect new risks, such as rising sea levels or emerging pandemics.
Contact lists for staff and partners are refreshed quarterly, and BCM metrics (e.g., drill participation rates) are reported to leadership.
New hires receive BCM onboarding, emphasizing individual roles in safeguarding the Centre’s mission.
Marymount Centre’s commitment to empowering vulnerable individuals hinges on its ability to withstand disruptions.
Adopting this seven-phase BCM methodology, the Centre strengthens its capacity to deliver trauma-informed care, education, and shelter—no matter the challenge.
Through proactive planning, testing, and adaptation, Marymount ensures that its legacy of compassion and resilience endures for generations.
The seven-phase BCM planning methodology provides a structured and comprehensive approach to ensuring Marymount Centre's business continuity.
By effectively managing risks, understanding critical business functions, and developing robust strategies and plans, Marymount Centre can safeguard its operations and continue to deliver value to its stakeholders, even in the face of disruptions.
Regular testing and continuous improvement will ensure the BCM program remains relevant and practical, enabling Marymount Centre to thrive in an uncertain world.
This methodology aligns with global best practices and addresses the unique challenges and opportunities faced by Marymount Centre in Singapore, ensuring a resilient and sustainable future.
This chapter is part 2 of the eBook "Blueprint for Resilience: A Step-by-Step BCM Framework for Marymount Centre." Part 2 of the eBook is titled "Mastering Implementation: BCM Methodology Tailored to Marymount Centre", which provides a comprehensive guide to implementing a BCM system in alignment with ISO 22301
| Blueprint for Resilience: A Step-by-Step BCM Framework for Marymount Centre | |||||
| Mastering Implementation: BCM Methodology Tailored to Marymount Centre | |||||
To learn more about the course and schedule, click the buttons below for the BCM-300 Business Continuity Management Implementer [BCM-3] and the BCM-5000 Business Continuity Management Expert Implementer [BCM-5].