Clients often ask us which elements of the business continuity plan are the most important. The answer is the brief, action-oriented section of the plan which some people think of as the BC playbook.
Common Misconceptions About BC Plans
There are many misconceptions regarding business continuity (BC) recovery plans, and some of them can seriously impact an organization’s ability to continue operations and recover swiftly in the event of a disruption.
One is that the recovery plan literally consists of one document.
Another is that the longer and more densely packed with narrative a recovery plan is, the better it is.
In fact, a recovery plan has many components and is typically broken down into separate pieces by department or area.
And while the narrative portions of recovery plans are popular with auditors and can contain a great deal of important information (about the plan’s purpose and strategy, for example), they are not the most important element.
In fact, if your plan consists solely of paragraphs of text, as many do, then it’s highly unlikely it can really serve as an executable business continuity plan.
Narrative-heavy plans tend to go on and on about the “what” of recovery.
What really counts when you’re in the thick of an outage is the “how.”
It’s for this reason that the most important element of a recovery plan just might be the part that most organizations leave out: the recovery playbook.
The Recovery Playbook: The Key to Actionable BC Planning
The recovery playbook is the heart and soul of any executable BC plan. It’s the opposite of long: good ones are typically 3-5 pages in length. A recovery playbook is also the opposite of wordy, since it consists mostly of a few checklists.
The playbook lays out the tactical how of keeping your operations going when a disruption has made it impossible to do things the normal way.
The playbook is part of the plan, but the two have several essential differences: For the most part, the plan gives the big picture, the strategic overview. The playbook is purely tactical. A plan will contain paragraphs of text. A playbook should not contain any narrative material. A plan will talk about what to do. The playbook lays out how to do it.
Here’s one another important difference between plans and playbooks: During an incident, almost everyone involved will consult the playbook to guide their actions. Few people if any will look at the other parts of the plan, which tend to be hard to understand and of limited use when it comes to practically effecting a recovery.
Writing a recovery playbook is not complicated. However, it is challenging, because a lot of thought is recovered to identify and succinctly express the key things people need to do to recover.
Let’s take a closer look at the elements that belong in a BC recovery playbook.
What Goes into a Recovery Playbook?
There’s nothing complicated about a recovery playbook. It should be brief (around 3-5 pages) and include the following items.
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Workaround instructions
The action-oriented checklists giving the step-by-step details of the alternate means by which processes and operations will be carried out during the outage. Should be written at a level that can be understood by a competent professional in the field. This is the key component of a playbook.
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Roles and responsibilities
The positions and duties of the people who are to perform the various recovery actions.
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Dependencies
The dependencies that must be in place to build and perform the workarounds.
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Communication vehicles and requirements
Details of the communication to be carried out by the people who will implementing the playbook.
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Exceptions
Any kinds of policy or technical exceptions that will obtain or must be taken into account during the event. Policy exceptions (financial, regulatory, etc.) should be considered ahead of time in a stress-free atmosphere. These might need to be adjusted during the event, but it’s essential have a considered list as a starting point.
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Document storage
Information on where recovery-related documents can be accessed and stored.
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Other data
Essential customer contact information and operational data such as reports and prepared forms.
With this information included, your playbook will be a concise, actionable document that will enable your team to swiftly implement workarounds even in the stress and confusion of an outage.
Whether those workarounds will truly function depends on the quality of their execution and whether they were sound in the first place, something that can only be established through ongoing testing and validation. But that’s a subject for another blog.
Why Organizations Need Multiple Playbooks
By now it will be obvious that organizations need many playbooks. The idea is to provide people with the information they need to perform their duties without burdening them with material that has no relevance to them.
Playbooks are usually written at the departmental level. Depending on the organization’s size and complexity, they might also be drawn up by function or area. A hospital might have different playbooks for the imaging department, the laboratory, and so on. A corporation’s manufacturing area might have different playbooks for shipping and receiving, materials management, engineering, and the different manufacturing lines.
The Playbook Advantage: Prepared, Practical, and Ready
A well-crafted recovery playbook is the difference between a plan that sits on a shelf and one that actively supports an organization’s ability to recover during a crisis. By focusing on the “how” rather than just the “what,” playbooks provide the tactical steps teams need to take in real time.
Organizations that invest in developing clear, concise, and regularly tested playbooks will be far better positioned to navigate disruptions smoothly. The ultimate goal is not just to have a plan, but to have a playbook that works when it matters most.
