Exercising

We will only know for sure that our business continuity arrangements work if we have to invoke in a live situation. However, exercising our plan is the next best way of finding out if it is fit for purpose.

Exercising will vary from a meeting of key players, to ensure they understand the plan and their role within the recovery planning structure (basic walkthrough exercise), to a full test of the plan. The maturity of each School/Department’s continuity arrangements will dictate the complexity of the exercise run.

An exercise involving the Major Incident team will take place annually. Each exercise will test different areas of the Major Incident Plan to ensure that any issues with the plan may be resolved. Individual Business Continuity Plans should also be exercised by Schools and Directorates.

Minor incidents can provide an excellent opportunity to test the plan, the reality of the situation can help to focus on issues that may not have been considered in a planned exercise and help to refine the plan to take these into account.