A practical business continuity plan for a small team
A useful continuity plan answers a small number of difficult questions clearly. Start with one activity, write down the decisions, and test the assumptions with the people who would do the work.
1. Choose what must continue
List the activities that matter most during a disruption. Choose the first three, then define the minimum useful level of each service. “Keep customer support running” is vague; “respond to urgent existing-customer issues by phone during business hours” gives the team a decision it can use. Have the accountable manager approve the choice.
2. Name a lead and a deputy
Record who can activate continuity arrangements, who substitutes for that person, and where each person’s authority ends. Include decisions about pausing work, moving staff, approving costs and communicating externally. Do not assume a title automatically gives someone every necessary authority.
3. Map the dependencies
For each priority activity, identify the people, workspace, information, equipment and suppliers it needs. Ask what happens if a shared dependency disappears. Two services may look independent while relying on the same administrator, building, account or vendor.
4. Verify one workable alternative
Write down the fallback and the evidence that it works. A spare workspace is useful only if it is available, suitable and approved. An alternate supplier must have the capacity and terms your organization needs. Record who checked each assumption and when. If no safe alternative exists, document what will pause.
5. Plan the next update
Give staff and customers a known channel and a next update time. Separate confirmed facts from unknowns. Keep an accessible, controlled contact list that does not rely entirely on the system most likely to be unavailable. Protect personal contact details using your organization’s approved tools.
6. Turn discussion into an assigned improvement
Run a short fictional scenario. Record the decision your team would make, the evidence it would need, and any gap the discussion exposes. Give the most important gap an owner and a due date. Revisit the plan after staff, systems, suppliers or priorities change.
Continue with the complete kit.
The First 72, Edition 01, includes an interactive offline planner, printable guide, seven editable worksheets, three tabletop scenarios and four message templates. One organization can make unlimited internal copies. $249 USD once, plus applicable tax. No subscription or consulting engagement.
See what is inside the kit →Free public resources
These ODSS notes are an original starting format. You can also use Ready.gov’s free business continuity plan and impact-analysis worksheet and Free Ready.gov business impact analysis worksheet. The agencies do not endorse ODSS or this product.
General management planning and fictional discussion only. Use approved emergency procedures and local authorities during an actual emergency. Your organization must verify its own information, approve its procedures and obtain specialist advice where needed.