Appendix C

Scenario Exercise: Business Continuity Program Development Project

The change plan presented herein focuses on the implementation of a business continuity program in an organization. While the proposed change initiative plan is specific to a business continuity program project, the plan is a template for a generic organization. The use of any template within an organization must undergo a careful review and probable revision because of the idiosyncrasies of the organization.

Each organization is unique to include the leaders, the managers, and the culture. Please do not think the template is acceptable without some degree of modification to fit the intended organization. The change plan is a good start, but it is only a start for the change manager to adjust according to the organization.

Project Scenario

Tempo-Grande Corporation is a mid-sized professional services company providing consultants to financial, research, and defense contracts. The company is regulated through the federal government. There are approximately 1,479 employees in three main facilities in Maryland, Virginia, and Delaware. The company is about eight years old and shows a healthy profit every year. The employees are well paid, well educated, and most maintain a federal security clearance for the various government contracts.

Senior leadership at Tempo-Grande decided to seek specific federal contracts that require conformance with ISO 22301:2019 (i.e., business continuity management system) to gain certification indicating compliance with the standard. The senior leaders had discussed implementing a BC Program to enhance the continuity of the organization due to an increase in risk issues. The certification from a third-party auditor confirming conformance with the ISO 22301:2019 standard is necessary to bid on specific federal contracts; the contracts would bring in profitable business for the organization. The company sees the development of a BC Program as both a strategic competitive move and an ethical business compliance issue.

The talent management team posted for two initial business continuity (BC) positions. The BC positions consisted of a manager and a specialist with required certifications in business continuity. The positions were filled with experienced and well-trained professionals. The manager conveyed concern about the limited staff of the BC team and the planned conformance with ISO 22301:2019. While the standard consists of best practices developed through a broad-based industry neutral team of developers, conformance is challenging and resource-intensive.

Conforming to ISO 22301:2019 is time-consuming and work-intensive. The decision to proceed should be based on business needs. Does the cost in resources justify the benefit derived from conformance to the standard? That decision has already been made for the scenario. However, in reality, the project is lengthy, and a small team should expect to take several years to conform to the standard. The BC manager begins developing plans to establish the BC program and the ISO 22301:2019 conformance project.

Change Initiative Plan – Issues to Consider

Justification for the Change Initiative

• • The justification for the change initiative is more than just an order from leadership to get the project done. The project must have value to the organization so the employees will understand the reasoning behind the change. For instance, enhancing the continuity posture of the organization allows the business development team to bid on federal contracts requiring conformance to a particular standard.
• • The change mustbe acceptable to the organizational culture to reduce the opportunity for significant resistance. Modern organizations often have close alignments between leadership and organizational culture resulting in the consistency of perspective. Resistance is still possible, but it must be considered as a potential problem throughout the change. The planned project allows the organization to increase business opportunities and keep the employees working. Enhancing the business continuity measures of an organization allows for the protection of the people and the property assets of the organization.

• • Ensure there is a precise alignment between the change initiative and organizational goals. All project work must have an alignment to organizational goals to justify the project. However, there is value in promoting the alignment to lend credibility to the project - remember, marketing is critical.
• • The example under discussion is one of implementing the ISO 22301:2019 standard for business continuity. Avoid claiming the justification for the project is based on an organizational requirement. Align the project with a business requirement - there are no business continuity requirements; there are only business requirements. Business leaders will respond better to the business alignment with the explanation of why the project is necessary. Several suggestions might serve for a new project.
• • There are government regulations or contractual requirements to justify conforming to ISO 22301:2019.
• • Senior leadership's response to an incident (e.g., a hurricane or a power outage) to enhance the business continuity of a business unit or team.
• • A risk assessment finding identifies the value for enhancing business continuity conformance to best practices (i.e., ISO 22301:2019) to decrease risk issues through an organizational treatment of risk.
• • These examples support the project through the desire of the business leaders to conduct business - business continuity is not the business. It is a means to support the business.

Author's Note: It should be easy to establish a justification for conforming to ISO 22301:2019 as long as the logical basis is business-related. The above information should help establish proper project scope and purpose but remember to indicate linkages between conformance and the success of the organization.