Business Continuity

Frequently Asked Questions

Life can have many surprises, and not all of them are welcome. Serious incidents are rare, but they do happen. The types of disruptions experienced by UK universities include fires, floods, IT failure, severe weather, volcanic ash, and of course, the COVID-19 pandemic. This is where business continuity planning comes in.

The purpose of business continuity planning is to ensure the University has robust measures in place to cope with a major disruption. A coordinated, planned approach helps the University sustain time critical activities at an acceptable level, and get back to normal as quickly as possible. This benefits students, staff, our partners and other stakeholders. It also helps to protect our reputation.

The University's Incident Response Team and Business Continuity Plan (Gold), provides strategic level guidance for senior managers. This plan is supported by Professional Service Business Continuity Plans which improve resilience by:

Identifying time critical activities.
Putting resources and strategies in place to sustain these activities at an acceptable level.
Ensuring staff understand and are prepared for their business continuity role.
Identifying how key stakeholders will be kept informed.

We have a straightforward approach to helping managers write, review and exercise their continuity plans. Please contact us for further advice and assistance.

We have produced a webinar 'Business Continuity at the University', take a look to find out what Business Continuity means, where you fit in and how to get involved:

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

Why do I need a business continuity plan?

Any service or department could be affected by a disruption at some time, and very few organisations can say that they have never experienced some sort of unplanned event.

Disruption can come from a variety of sources, national or local (fuel shortages, bad weather, pandemics, fire, flood, IT interruptions, etc). So, we need to consider which activities are time critical and how we can sustain them at a minimum acceptable level.

By preparing in advance, we're more likely to deal effectively with the disruption, and get back to usual more quickly. We'll all know what is expected of us, and how we should prioritise tasks. Finally, we are sometimes asked by partners or funders to confirm our business continuity arrangements, so we need to make sure that our plans are properly documented, in line with best practice.

I have been asked to provide a copy of the University鈥檚 business continuity plan. Where can I find it?

I have been asked to provide a copy of the University’s business continuity plan. Where can I find it?

Please contact the Insurance, Audit & Risk Team.

Does the Penryn campus have a separate business continuity plan?

FX Plus has an Incident Response Plan for the Penryn campus. Contact Kerry Ray for details.

I need to write a business continuity plan. Can you help?

Yes, we have developed business continuity templates specifically for this purpose.

How can I meet other people involved in business continuity, to share problems and solutions?

The Business Continuity Support Group meets four times a year. Please contact us for further information and to join the Group.

I鈥檝e written my plan, but how do I know it will work?

I’ve written my plan, but how do I know it will work?

You need to carry out an exercise. Please contact the Insurance, Audit & Risk Team for help and advice.

I would like to raise a business continuity topic more widely within the University. How can I do this?

Please inform the Business Continuity Support Group by contacting the Insurance, Audit & Risk Team.

Abbreviations

We try to keep abbreviations to a minimum because they can cause confusion and make documents difficult to read. The few that we do use are:

BC	Business Continuity
BCM	Business Continuity Management
BCP	Business Continuity Plan
IRT	Incident Response Team
RTO	Recovery Time Objective (how quickly an activity should be restored).
RPO	Recovery Point Objective (the point to which data should be restored so that an activity can be recovered).

Related Links

External link	Description
	The Business Continuity Institute provides training and professional accreditation.
	The Cabinet Office Emergency Planning College offers seminars and workshops on crisis management and emergency planning.
	Continuity Central is a website which provides a wide range of business continuity resources and information.
	The Emergency Planning Society promotes the interests of emergency planners and organises training events and seminars.
	The Higher Education Business Continuity Network promotes best practice in Higher Education, arranges annual conferences and publishes resources on its website.
	The Devon, Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Resilience Forum is a strategic forum for 'blue light' emergency responders and local authorities, the NHS, the Environment Agency and other partners. It publishes a Community Risk Register, develops emergency plans, carries out training and exercising, and undertakes debriefs for major incidents.It also provides information for local residents and businesses on preparations for, and responses to, emergencies and major incidents within these counties.
	Information designed to help the public prepare for emergencies.
	The threat level pages from MI5 give information on the level of threat to the UK from terrorism.

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