A business continuity plan (BCP) template is a tool used by business continuity managers and IT teams to outline strategies for keeping businesses operational despite emergencies such as extreme weather events, building evacuations, power outages, etc. It identifies high business impact operational areas, assets and recovery strategies with assigned personnel.
A BCP template can help with ISO 22301 compliance and allow business continuity managers and consultants to:
Identify key business functions and components to be prioritized for restoration and recovery during an emergency
Add list of processes/equipment most at risk of disrupting business operations
Discuss roles and responsibilities of key personnel and gather confirmation (digital signatures)
General information: This section provides a brief summary of the plan and its purpose
Business impact analysis: This section identifies, quantifies and qualifies the impact of a loss, interruption or disruption
Risk mitigation: This section outlines the strategies against the risks that were discovered during the business impact analysis
Recovery strategies: This section describes the actions to be taken to restore normal operations after an incident
Plan development: This section details how the plan will be developed, tested, maintained and updated
Plan invocation: This section specifies when and how the plan will be activated in response to an emergency
Plan management: This section defines how the plan will be managed during an incident
There are different business continuity plan templates available online for different industries and scenarios. For example, one source2 provides a free Excel template that includes various tabs for different aspects of business continuity planning.
Another source4 provides a template as an optional tool to assist small introducing firms in fulfilling their obligations under FINRA Rule 4370. You can choose whichever template suits your needs best.