Plan Template form

Release version: Australia

Updated March 12, 2026

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Summary of Plan Template form

The Plan Template form in the BCM UIB Workspace enables ServiceNow customers to define and manage templates for business continuity plans (BCPs). This form captures essential details that shape the structure and content of continuity plans, facilitating consistent and efficient planning for business recovery scenarios.

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Key Features

Name and Description: Define the template’s name (e.g., Workplace Recovery Plan) and provide a brief description to clarify its purpose.
Primary Element Recovered: Specify the main object or element the plan focuses on recovering, such as Locations.
Plan Authoring Type: Choose which stages or sections appear as tabs in the BCP workspace when using this template. Options include:
- All (Default): Shows all options like Documentation, Loss Scenarios, Recovery Tasks, and Recovery Teams.
- Documentation: Displays documentation and related dependencies.
- Loss Scenarios: Includes loss scenarios with recovery tasks and teams.
- Recovery Tasks: Focuses on recovery tasks and teams.
Document Sections: Select sections to include in the plan such as BCP-Assumptions, BCP-Objectives, BCP-Scope, BIA-Overview, SN-BCP Checklist, and SN-Overview.
Loss Scenarios: Include predefined loss scenarios like Loss of Facilities, Loss of Servers, Loss of Business Applications, Vendor Disruption, and more. Custom loss scenarios can also be created and added.
Recovery Strategy Templates: Link recovery strategy templates to matching loss scenarios for automatic application when a plan is created from the template.
Task Template Groups and Task Templates: Define groups and individual task templates that automatically create associated recovery tasks within the plan.
Group Recovery Tasks: Optionally organize recovery tasks into groups based on criteria such as Assignment Group, Automated Flow, Completion Deadline, Configuration Item, and others to improve task management and clarity.

Practical Use and Benefits

Using the Plan Template form allows ServiceNow customers to standardize BCP creation, ensuring that all relevant details, scenarios, and recovery tasks are systematically included. This reduces manual effort, enhances consistency across plans, and improves readiness for business continuity incidents. Templates also streamline updates and maintenance of plans by centralizing configuration of document sections, loss scenarios, and recovery strategies.

Use the Plan Template form in BCM UIB Workspace to input details regarding the business continuity plan.

Plan Template form

For the description of the field values, see the table.

Table 1. Plan Template form
Field	Description
Name	Name of the plan template. For example, Workplace Recovery Plan.
Description	Brief description about the plan template.
Primary Element Recovered	Primary object type or an element identified to be recovered in the plan. For example, Locations.
Plan authoring type	Various stages or sections of a plan that you can choose from when creating a continuity plan with this template. These choices appear as tabs in the BCP workspace as you advance through the process of filling in the plan details. All (Default): All choices such as Documentation, Loss Scenarios, Recovery Tasks, and Recovery Teams are presented in the plan that uses this template. These options are visible as tabs within the workspace. Documentation: Plan that uses this template shows the documentation option alongside chosen dependencies. The documentation tab, and tabs for recovery tasks and recovery teams, are accessible for viewing in the workspace. Loss Scenarios: Loss scenarios together with recovery tasks, recovery teams, and other chosen dependencies in the plan that uses this template. Recovery tasks: Recovery tasks and recovery teams associated with the plan type that uses this template.
Document sections	Documentation sections to be included in the plan. Available options are: BCP-Assumptions BCP-Objectives BCP-Scope BIA-Overview SN-BCP Checklist SN-Overview
Loss scenarios	Loss scenarios to be included in the plan. Available options are: Loss of facilities housing critical comp Loss of Linux Servers Loss of Datacenters Loss of Workplace Loss of Business Applications Loss of Personnel Vendor Disruption Loss of Windows Servers You can also create a loss scenario and add it to the template. For more information on creating a loss scenario, see Add loss scenarios.
Recovery strategy templates	Recovery strategy templates that should be applied to the matching loss scenarios when a plan is created from this template. See Recovery strategy template form. Note: Recovery strategies are displayed in the Loss scenarios as a related list, along with groups and templates.
Task template groups	Task template groups whose tasks should be created on the plan record when a plan is created from this template. See Task template group form.
Task templates	Individual task templates whose tasks should be created on the plan record when a plan is created from this template. See Task template form.
Group recovery tasks	Option to group recovery tasks. When selected, tasks are pre-organized into groups based on the chosen Group by criteria values. Available options are: Assignment group Automated flow Completion deadline Configuration item Created by Description Documentation Plan Owner Recovery strategy Recovery team Related plan Scope Short description Tag Tag assets Task classification Task group Updated by