Exercising and Testing Business Continuity Plans

Introduction

A continuity plan that has never been exercised is little more than an assumption. Exercises reveal gaps in plans, build the confidence and skills of response teams, test technology and recovery arrangements, and provide evidence to boards, auditors and regulators that the organisation can respond when needed.

This Exercising and Testing Business Continuity Plans training course teaches participants how to design, run and evaluate exercises that deliver genuine value. Participants learn about different exercise types, from discussion-based walkthroughs to full live tests, how to write scenarios and injects, how to facilitate and control exercises and how to capture and act on lessons learned.

Participants design and deliver their own exercise during the course, gaining practical experience they can apply immediately.

Course Objectives

By the end of this training course, participants will be able to:

• Explain the purpose and benefits of exercising and testing
• Select appropriate exercise types for different objectives
• Develop an exercise programme aligned with organisational risk
• Set clear exercise aims, objectives and scope
• Write realistic scenarios, injects and supporting materials
• Facilitate, control and observe exercises effectively
• Evaluate performance and capture lessons learned
• Track improvement actions through to completion

Target Audience

This training course is suitable for a wide range of professionals, including:

• Business continuity managers and coordinators
• Emergency and crisis management planners
• IT disaster recovery managers
• Risk and resilience professionals
• Training and exercise facilitators
• Internal auditors assessing continuity capability

Training Methodology

The course is hands-on. Participants take part in several exercise formats, then work in teams to design a complete exercise including scenario, injects, timeline and evaluation criteria. Each team runs its exercise for the rest of the group and leads the debrief.

Target Competencies

• Exercise programme planning
• Scenario and inject writing
• Exercise facilitation
• Exercise control and observation
• Performance evaluation
• Improvement tracking

Day One: Principles of Exercising

• Why exercises are essential for continuity capability
• The difference between exercises and tests
• Discussion-based, functional and full-scale exercises
• Building a multi-year exercise programme
• Standards and good practice for exercising
• Common reasons exercises fail to add value
• Experience: a short discussion-based exercise

Day Two: Planning an Exercise

• Defining aims, objectives and success criteria
• Choosing participants, format and venue
• Exercise planning team roles and timelines
• Managing risks and safety during live exercises
• Gaining management support and participation
• Briefing participants without revealing the scenario
• Workshop: planning an exercise for your organisation

Day Three: Scenario and Inject Design

• Building credible scenarios from real risks
• Writing a master events list and timeline
• Designing injects to test specific objectives
• Media, social media and stakeholder injects
• Creating supporting maps, documents and role cards
• Adjusting pace and difficulty during the exercise
• Workshop: writing scenario and injects

Day Four: Running the Exercise

• Roles of the exercise director, controllers and observers
• Facilitation techniques for discussion exercises
• Controlling the flow of live exercises
• Observation and recording of performance
• Handling unexpected events during exercises
• Technology recovery tests and their evidence
• Team delivery: running a designed exercise

Day Five: Evaluation and Improvement

• Hot debriefs and structured post-exercise reviews
• Evaluating performance against objectives
• Writing exercise reports with clear findings
• Turning lessons into actions with owners and dates
• Tracking actions and verifying closure
• Reporting exercise results to management and auditors
• Personal action plan for exercising and testing