How do you prioritize the recovery of critical functions and processes after an incident?

Identification of Critical Functions and Processes: Determine which functions and processes are essential for achieving your core objectives and delivering value to your customers. This includes identifying dependencies between different processes and functions. Establishing Minimum Acceptable Performance Levels: Define the minimum levels of performance required for each critical function and process. This helps ensure that even during a disruption, essential services and operations can continue at a basic level.

Be reasonable and practicable while conducting BIA, my five principles: 1) BCM is not BAU 2) Shorter the RTO, higher is the cost of the solution 3) Shoter the RPO, higher is the cost of the solution 4) Higher the MBCO, higher is the cost of the solution 5) Ask the CEO - heavens will not fall apart if we are down for a day (or even for a few days) But all this is done before the incident. So priorities of recovery are known in advance.

Start with a Business Impact Analysis (BIA) to pinpoint which functions and processes are vital for your operations. This modern approach assesses the ripple effects of incidents on your finances, reputation, and stakeholders, defining the minimum acceptable performance levels and recovery time objectives (RTOs). By understanding potential costs and losses, you can prioritize recovery efforts and strategically invest in mitigation solutions to minimize disruption.

Urgency or prioritisation is based on a single parameter - the RTO, shorter the RTO higher the urgency to recover. There will always be some exceptions and some conflicts - those need to be managed separately.

To prioritize recovery after an incident, rank functions and processes by urgency—how quickly they need to be back online. This is guided by your Recovery Time Objectives (RTOs), along with legal, regulatory, and operational needs. Categorize urgency into four levels: vital, essential, important, and minor. This approach ensures efficient resource allocation and effective recovery prioritization.

From my experience, prioritizing the recovery of critical functions starts with thorough dependency mapping. I identify and map out key processes, systems, and their interdependencies to understand which functions are most crucial to the business's operations. For example, in a recent project with an MSME client, I mapped their financial reporting system’s reliance on real-time data from external vendors. This helped prioritize the recovery of their data management system first, ensuring minimal disruption to critical operations. By understanding these interdependencies, I ensure that the recovery process addresses the most impactful areas first, minimizing downtime and ensuring business continuity.

Dependency mapping is a critical step in business continuity and emergency management planning. Critical business functions should be prioritized based on their impact to the organization and the dependencies that exist between functions. How will the recovery of one function rely on or impact the recover of other functions? By understanding dependencies, you can design systems and processes with built-in redundancies to help mitigate the impact of disruptions on critical business functions.

Identify and map critical function dependencies to understand how disruptions in one area affect others. This proactive approach ensures seamless coordination in recovery efforts, minimizing risks and avoiding service delivery gaps.

Prioritize resources by assessing the impact, urgency, and dependencies of critical functions. Allocate people, equipment, and tech based on their availability and suitability, while setting clear roles and backup plans. Ensure smooth coordination and communication to streamline recovery efforts.

Maintaining vital business functions after an incident requires key human resources in order to successfully keep operations going. Ensure that personnel with the necessary skills and knowledge are allocated to the most critical business functions. Cross-train employees to enhance their flexibility and ensure that redundancies are in place within key roles.

Allocate resources judiciously based on the criticality and urgency identified through impact analysis, urgency ranking, and dependency mapping. This involves not only technical resources but also considering personnel, equipment, and any other essential components for recovery. Efficient resource allocation ensures a targeted and effective response to the incident.

When prioritizing the recovery of critical functions after an incident, I start by identifying the essential components and their dependencies. Then, I focus on addressing the most impactful issues first, considering both immediate needs and long-term implications. It's about methodically tackling each challenge to ensure a swift and effective restoration of operations.

Despite your best efforts, there will be some conflicts when a disaster strikes, and there will be deviations from set RTOs and priorities - these deviations should be a thought-through decision of a group, and once the event is over - the same must be reflected back in BIAs and plans.