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Management Support

It goes without saying that any BCP/DRP is worthless without the consent of the upper level management team. The “C”-level managers must agree to any plan set forth and also must agree to support the action items listed in the plan if an emergency event occurs. C-level management refers to people within an organization like the chief executive officer (CEO), the chief operating officer (COO), the chief information officer (CIO), and the chief financial officer (CFO). C-level managers are important, especially during a disruptive event, because they have enough power and authority to speak for the entire organization when dealing with outside media and are high enough within the organization to commit resources necessary to move from the disaster into recovery if outside resources are required. This also includes getting agreement for spending the necessary resources to reconstitute the organization’s necessary functionality.

Another reason that the C-level management may want to conduct a BCP/DRP project for the organization is to identify process improvements and increase efficiency within the organization. Once the BCP/DRP project development plan has been completed, the management will be able to determine which portions of the organization are highly productive and are aware of all of the impacts they have on the rest of the organization and how other entities within the organization affect them.

BCP/DRP Project Manager

The BCP/DRP project manager is the key Point of Contact (POC) for ensuring that a BCP/DRP is not only completed, but also routinely tested. This person needs to have business skills, be extremely competent and knowledgeable with regard to the organization and its mission, and must be a good manager and leader in case there is an event that causes the BCP or DRP to be implemented. In most cases, the project manager is the Point of Contact for every person within the organization during a crisis.

Organizational skills are necessary to manage such a daunting task, as these are very important, and the project manager must be very organized. The most important quality of the project manager is that he/she has credibility and enough authority within the organization to make important, critical decisions with regard to implementing the BCP/DRP. Surprisingly enough, this person does not need to have in-depth technical skills. Instead, some technical knowledge is required but, most importantly, the project manager needs to have the negotiation and people skills necessary to create and disseminate the BCP/DRP among all the stakeholders within the organization.