[BCM] [SY] [E2] [C6] BCM Plan Development

Chapter 6 As part of the BCM Planning Methodology for Synapxe

What Does Plan Development Entail?

Developing a Business Continuity (BC) Plan is a critical phase in Synapxe’s Business Continuity Management (BCM) planning methodology.

This phase transforms the outputs of earlier planning stages, such as Business Impact Analyses (BIA) and risk assessments, into a structured and actionable response plan.

For an organisation like Synapxe, which plays a central role in Singapore’s national HealthTech ecosystem, ensuring continuity of services is a business imperative and a national priority.

The Plan Development phase at Synapxe is structured into three key stages:

1. Structuring the BC Plan Document

To ensure consistency, usability, and comprehensiveness across all Business Units (BUs), the first step is to define the structure and format of the BC Plan. This involves:

Designing the BC Plan Template: Synapxe adopts a standardised BC Plan template tailored for its operational and regulatory environment. The template includes core sections such as key contact lists, risk scenarios, critical business functions, recovery strategies, communication protocols, and escalation procedures. It ensures that all unit plans align with Synapxe's enterprise-wide resilience objectives.
Defining the Recovery Organisation: Each BU is required to establish a recovery organisation structure, detailing roles and responsibilities during a disruption. For Synapxe, this includes cross-functional coordination between internal IT teams, system vendors, healthcare clusters, and government stakeholders. Clear identification of Command Centres, Crisis Management Teams (CMT), and Recovery Teams is a mandatory component.

2. BC Plan Writing and Coordination

Following the development of the template, Synapxe facilitates a structured workshop process to guide BC Plan development:

BC Plan Writing Workshops: Synapxe’s Enterprise Resilience Office (ERO) conducts workshops for BU BCM Coordinators. These sessions provide hands-on guidance on interpreting BIA results and translating them into concrete recovery strategies and step-by-step procedures in the plan.
Completion by BU BCM Coordinators: Each BU BCM Coordinator is responsible for drafting their unit’s plan using the standard template. Coordinators must ensure alignment with Synapxe’s critical systems (e.g., NEHR, HealthHub, and backend data infrastructure) and address interdependencies between BUs and external partners.

3. Finalisation and Validation

Once draft plans are completed, they undergo a review and validation process:

Validation by Coordinators and Business Heads: Draft BC Plans are reviewed by the respective BU BCM Coordinators and endorsed by BU Heads to ensure they are comprehensive, realistic, and operationally feasible. This includes validating that recovery time objectives (RTOs) and recovery point objectives (RPOs) align with the results of the BIA and the organisation’s overall risk appetite.
Production of Final BC Plan: After validation, the finalised plans are documented, version-controlled, and integrated into Synapxe’s central BCM repository. This repository is securely maintained and made accessible to authorised personnel during exercises and actual incidents.

Key Requirements Specific to Synapxe

To ensure effectiveness and regulatory compliance, the following additional requirements apply to Synapxe:

Alignment with MOH Guidelines: All BC Plans must align with the Ministry of Health (MOH) BCM framework for healthcare infrastructure and digital health services.
Cybersecurity Integration: Given Synapxe’s digital footprint, all BC Plans must incorporate responses to cyber disruptions, including ransomware scenarios affecting healthcare IT systems.
Data Sovereignty and Privacy: Recovery procedures must strictly adhere to PDPA and data residency requirements, especially for systems handling personal health data.
Testing Readiness: Plans must include a schedule for regular testing (tabletop, walkthrough, or simulation) to validate plan effectiveness and staff readiness.
Stakeholder Communication Protocols: Each plan must include clear guidelines for communicating with healthcare partners, government agencies, and the public.

Summing Up ...

The Plan Development phase at Synapxe is not a mere documentation exercise—it is a strategic process that operationalises resilience.

By ensuring that every Business Unit produces a robust, standardised, and validated BC Plan, Synapxe strengthens its ability to sustain critical health services during disruption.

This structured approach, tailored to the unique demands of the HealthTech environment, is essential to maintaining trust and continuity in Singapore’s healthcare ecosystem.

Ensuring Continuity in HealthTech: Implementing BCM for Synapxe
BCM Planning Methodology

More Information About Business Continuity Management Courses

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].