Plan Consulting Assistance

Contingency Planning Solutions, Inc. provides four standard levels of consulting assistance.

CPSI will furnish its Business Continuation Plan proprietary software under license agreement on diskette or CD-ROM:

1. The client performs the steps necessary to complete the plan and modify the Business Continuation Plan manual. CPSI can provide assistance at time and material cost if requested.
2. At the client's request, provide limited guidance to complete the plan and modify the Business Continuation Plan manual. The contract requires 35 hours of billable time.
3. Assist with total development of the Business Continuation Plan. CSPI consultants will meet with the client's teams and departments to complete the data entry to create the documented plan, validate schedules for implementation, provide guidance in determining a Hot-Site supplier, and train the client's personnel in the Business Continuation Plan elements. 
4. Complete total development of the Business Continuation Plan as a turnkey project. CPSI consultants will meet with the client's teams and business units, create a project plan, develop procedures, complete data entry, validate schedules, provide guidance in determining a Hot-Site supplier, and train the client's personnel in the Business Continuation Plan elements. This plan generally requires more than 125 hours of contract time.

Plan Auditing

A plan audit is an evaluation of a client's existing Business Continuation Plan. In addition to executing a run-through test of the plan, the audit collects, analyzes, and explains the test results.

Audits are performed to insure that a Business Continuation Plan continues to address a company's specific needs. As company's grow and change, Business Continuation Plans can easily become outdated. Team and department members can forget their roles within the plan or employees leave and new employees are hired as replacements without adequate training in the implementation of the Business Continuation Plan. Regularly scheduled audits evaluate and identify the need for modification of a plan, thereby insuring it remains current and accurate.

A preferred audit method is to stage a mock disaster that requires exercising all phases of a plan. Exercising all plan phases insures that all teams, departments, and equipment are utilized and evaluated. Audits should be performed annually, but a client may have to make interim updates as a result of acquiring new equipment, expanding or moving to new facilities, adding or deleting applications and, as mentioned above, changes in personnel.

back to:

Services

read on to:

Business Impact Analysis, Vital Record Recovery,
and Physical Security Planning