Business Continuity Planners
Business Management & Administration > Operations ManagementProjected Growth: Average
Projected Job Openings
Considerable Preparation Needed
Job Description
Your job is to Develop, maintain, or implement business continuity and disaster recovery strategies and solutions, including risk assessments, business impact analyses, strategy selection, and documentation of business continuity and disaster recovery procedures. Plan, conduct, and debrief regular mock-disaster exercises to test the adequacy of existing plans and strategies, updating procedures and plans regularly. Act as a coordinator for continuity efforts after a disruption event.
Common job titles of Business Continuity Planners include:
.
Experience and Education
A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for this occupation. For example, a person in this occupation must complete four years of college and work for several years in industry to be considered qualified.
68.18% said they needed a Bachelor's Degree.
9.09% said they needed a Associate's Degree.
Tasks
Conduct or oversee collection of corporate intelligence to avoid fraud, financial crime, cyber-attack, terrorism, and infrastructure failure.
Develop emergency management plans for recovery decision making and communications, continuity of critical departmental processes, or temporary shut-down of non-critical departments to ensure continuity of operation and governance.
Conduct or oversee contingency plan integration and operation.
Create scenarios to reestablish operations from various types of business disruptions.
Develop disaster recovery plans for physical locations with critical assets, such as data centers.
Identify opportunities for strategic improvement or mitigation of business interruption and other risks caused by business, regulatory, or industry-specific change initiatives.
Analyze impact on, and risk to, essential business functions or information systems to identify acceptable recovery time periods and resource requirements.
Prepare reports summarizing operational results, financial performance, or accomplishments of specified objectives, goals, or plans.
Recommend or implement methods to monitor, evaluate, or enable resolution of safety, operations, or compliance interruptions.
Review existing disaster recovery, crisis management, or business continuity plans.
Test documented disaster recovery strategies and plans.
Attend professional meetings, read literature, and participate in training or other educational offerings to keep abreast of new developments and technologies related to disaster recovery and business continuity.
Create or administer training and awareness presentations or materials.
Design or implement products and services to mitigate risk or facilitate use of technology-based tools and methods.
Establish, maintain, or test call trees to ensure appropriate communication during disaster.
Identify individual or transaction targets to direct intelligence collection.
Interpret government regulations and applicable codes to ensure compliance.
Maintain and update organization information technology applications and network systems blueprints.
Write reports to summarize testing activities, including descriptions of goals, planning, scheduling, execution, results, analysis, conclusions, and recommendations.
Analyze corporate intelligence data to identify trends, patterns, or warnings indicating threats to security of people, assets, information, or infrastructure.
Create business continuity and disaster recovery budgets.
Tools
Teleconferencing systems
Tablet computers
Storage area network equipment
Personal computers
Multiline telephone systems
Mainframe computers
Desktop computers
All ToolsComputer server equipment
Computer laser printers
Technologies
Atlassian JIRA
Business continuity software
CA Clarity PPM
COOP Systems myCOOP
EMC RSA Archer Business Continuity Management
RecoveryPlanner RPX
Strategic BCP ResilienceONE
All TechnologiesSunGard Assurance
Virtual Corporation Sustainable Planner
Actuate BIRT
Computer operating systems
Emergency notification system software
Enterprise backup systems
Jaspersoft Business Intelligence Suite
Local area network LAN software
Microsoft Office SharePoint Server MOSS
MIR3 Intelligent Notification
SunGard NotiFind
Skills
Speaking
Talking to others to convey information effectively.
Complex Problem Solving
Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
Judgment and Decision Making
Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
Reading Comprehension
Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
Writing
Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
Critical Thinking
Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
Systems Analysis
Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
Active Listening
Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
Active Learning
Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
Coordination
Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
Systems Evaluation
Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.
Monitoring
Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
Social Perceptiveness
Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
Service Orientation
Actively looking for ways to help people.
Time Management
Managing one's own time and the time of others.
Learning Strategies
Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.
Persuasion
Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
Negotiation
Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
Instructing
Teaching others how to do something.
Management of Personnel Resources
Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job.
Abilities
Tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
Cognitive Abilities › Idea Generation and Reasoning Abilities › Problem Sensitivity
Listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
Cognitive Abilities › Verbal Abilities › Oral Comprehension
Communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
Cognitive Abilities › Verbal Abilities › Oral Expression
Communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
Cognitive Abilities › Verbal Abilities › Written Expression
Combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
Cognitive Abilities › Idea Generation and Reasoning Abilities › Inductive Reasoning
Read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
Cognitive Abilities › Verbal Abilities › Written Comprehension
Come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
Cognitive Abilities › Idea Generation and Reasoning Abilities › Fluency of Ideas
Apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
Cognitive Abilities › Idea Generation and Reasoning Abilities › Deductive Reasoning