IA: Context of IA Services - Information Assurance Architecture - page 211

table 8.4 Business Continuity Best practices (Continued)

Best Practice Rationale

Keep it simple and
concise.

Disaster implies chaos. Complexity in chaos is
ineffective. Continuity and recovery plans should be
simple, straightforward direction with clear roles,
responsibilities, contacts, and alternative personnel
ready to step in.

Involve knowledgeable
and capable people.

Personnel require knowledge on how to deal with
disaster situations and the capability to apply that
knowledge under stress. This implies the need for
personnel that have rational knowledge of what to
do and the emotional capability to perform.

Identify alternates to key
personnel.

Disaster may affect technology, physical location, and
personnel. The loss of key personnel requires an
alternative to step in and take over.

business functions takes priority over support functions. Communication with and
among key personnel in support of key business functions takes precedent over
support communications; continuity of key infrastructure takes precedent over
support infrastructure. Creating such an alignment during planning assists with
providing ROI justification, e.g., an information assurance project that directly
supports a key business function that increases uptime of that function by X% is
sound justification.
An effective COOP process uses a BIA to identify and scope key operations;
these are the primary focus. The next focus is on the key people that support
key operations, and then on key infrastructure supporting key personnel and
key operations. Together, these are the scope of concern for a COOP-active
state of operations (Figure 8.14). Noncritical operations are still important, but
not critical to the imminent survival of the organization. In a global economy
where the Internet provides instant gratification, customer expectations are high
and tolerance levels are low. An alternative to your product or service is but a
mouse-click away. The proverbial New York minute is an eternity compared to
the Internet second.

8.14.6 IA 2 Perspective

BC is a security process under the IA 2 LoS. The BIA and BC policies drive the
services and mechanisms that support the BC process. The constructs herein pro-
vide guidance and decision tools for use during the IA 2 Process. Such constructs
promote consistent, comprehensive, and repeatable architectural efforts.