Business Continuity Planning

Leadership Business Continuity Guide

Academic Continuity ensures that critical academic functions continue during and after a disruption such as power outages, cyber incidents, earthquakes, or facility failures.

Dean Responsibilities During an Emergency:

1.) Protect Yourself (personal preparedness)

Follow campus emergency instructions
Support faculty, staff, and students

2.) Activate Your Department Business Continuity Plan

Your BCP outlines how your department continues operations during a work disruption.

Focus on:

Instruction continuity
Faculty communication
Research protection
Student support

3.) Identify Essential Functions

Examples:

Course instruction
Final exams
Research activities
Advising
Accreditation obligations

4.) Establish Delegation of Authority

If department heads are unavailable, who makes decisions for your college?

Examples:

Associate Dean
Department Chair
Program Director

5.) Communicate with Faculty & Staff

Use:

Department contact lists
Call trees
Emergency communication platforms

6.) Implement Continuity Options per BCP

Examples can include:

Temporary remote instruction
Alternate classrooms
Modified academic deadlines
Research continuity procedures

Key Continuity Questions

What functions must continue within 24–72 hours?
What systems or facilities do faculty depend on?
Who makes decisions if leadership is unavailable?
How will students be informed about academic changes?

Business Continuity Glossary

Alert

A message that tells staff an emergency may happen or has happened.

Alternative Site

Another location where work can continue if your normal building cannot be used.

Backup Data

A copy of important files saved in case the original data is lost.

Business Continuity

Keeping important services running during and after a disruption.

Business Continuity Plan (BCP)

A plan that explains how a department keeps working during emergencies.

Business Impact Analysis (BIA)

A tool used to find the most important work that must continue.

Critical Functions

The most important tasks a department must keep running.

Examples:

teaching classes
supporting students
protecting research

Disaster

A major event that causes damage and stops normal operations.

Examples:

earthquake
power outage
cyber attack

Emergency

An unexpected event that may harm people, buildings, or services.

Emergency Operations Center (EOC)

The place where campus leaders coordinate response and make decisions during emergencies.

Recovery

Steps taken to restore services and return to normal operations.

Recovery Time Objective (RTO)

The target time it should take to restore a system or service after it stops working.

Emergency Management vs. Business Continuity

Table containing the difference between Emergency Management and Business Continuity
Emergency Management	Business Continuity
Focuses on protecting life, safety, and property during emergencies and disasters.	Focuses on maintaining and restoring critical services and operations during disruptions.
Activated before, during, and immediately after an incident.	Activated when normal business functions are disrupted or unavailable.
Coordinates incident response through ICS/EOC structures.	Coordinates continuity and recovery actions through departmental continuity plans.
Examples: earthquakes, active threats, hazardous materials, severe weather, wildfires.	Examples: IT outages, staffing shortages, facility loss, vendor disruptions, utility failures.
Primary Question: How do we respond?	Primary Question: How do we continue operating?

Emergency Management vs Business Continuity (PDF)

How They Work Together

Emergency Management manages the incident. Business Continuity manages the continuation and recovery of essential department functions. Both programs support campus resilience and work in parallel during significant disruptions.

Campus Resilience Cycle

Complete VEOCI Plan → 2. Review Annually → 3. Participate in Tabletop Exercise
→4. Update Corrective Actions → 5. Improve Resilience