BCarm Incident Mode

In the heat of a business continuity incident, it can be challenging to maintain a controlled cohesive approach that creates “certainty” when the natural human reaction is Fight, Flight or Freeze. 

The new Incident Mode in the BCarm's Business Continuity Management System (BCMS) helps you manage, coordinate, update and track your Incident Response.  

• Incident Mode allows you to flip your IRP (Incident Response Plan) from “plan building mode” to “action” mode; the IRP is no longer editable, and the steps in your Activation Process, managing Your People, Continuity phase and Recovery Management are all now an Action list. 
• Turning on Incident Mode, the system will automatically notify the members of the BCP (Business Continuity Planning) that you are now dealing with a Business Continuity Incident. 
• At the same time, it will also open an Incident Log, a key step in recording and communicating where you are up to. 

• As members work through their actions, they can confirm in the system that they have completed their actions, and this will automatically update the Incident Log.
• They can also confirm if an Action was not necessary in the context of the Incident, which again updates the Log.
• They can also update the Incident Log with other actions they may complete. 

• Whenever a Log entry is made, each member of the Business Continuity Team will receive an email notifying them of what has been done. 
• The Incident Log then asks the central record of how the Incident Response is progressing. 
• When the Incident is over, as a last step in the Incident Log, you can complete an Incident Review to identify what went well, any lessons learnt or areas for improvement. All Team members will receive notification that the event is over.

It's also a great tool to help you exercise your BCP, where members of the Team can use the Incident Log to comment on the effectiveness of the IRP during the test. 

More information on Business Continuity Planning

If you’d like more advice on Business Continuity Planning, download our 9 Steps to Business Continuity Guide, which can help fast-track and focus your BC Planning with the minimum of jargon and practical tips on how to keep the process effective and productive.   Or get in touch for a chat about how we may be able to help you move your business continuity planning forward. 

If you found this article useful, you may also be interested in our related insights such as

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• What is a Business Continuity Management System