Business impact analysis (BIA) templates

  • Release version: Washingtondc
  • Updated February 1, 2024
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Business Impact Analysis (BIA) Templates

    The Business Continuity Management (BCM) application offers pre-configured Business Impact Analysis (BIA) templates designed to facilitate the creation of comprehensive BIAs. These templates are accessible to BCM or BIA administrators through the BIA Templates module, allowing for the selection of template types, elements, and impact categories relevant to the organization.

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    Key Features

    • Simplification: BIA templates streamline the BIA creation process, making it easier and more efficient.
    • Time-saving: Templates come pre-populated with essential information, conserving time and resources.
    • Defined Object Types: Administrators can identify the primary object types to be analyzed, such as IT applications.
    • Automatic Dependency Population: Dependency groups are automatically included in the BIA, providing a comprehensive overview.
    • Impact Categories Selection: Templates help in identifying relevant impact categories for assessment.

    Key Outcomes

    With the appropriate admin role (snbcm.admin), users can view and configure BIA templates. Configuration involves specifying the name, description, primary elements assessed, impact categories, and dependency assessments. Additionally, CIA (Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability) details can be included for critical data. Dependency groups, categorized into Applications, Hardware, Software, Vendors, and Workplaces, are automatically populated, allowing users to manage dependencies effectively during assessment.

    The Business Continuity Management application provides pre-configured business impact analysis (BIA) templates for creating a business impact analysis. If you are the BCM or BIA administrator, you can use the BIA Templates module in the Business Continuity Management application. You can then select the type of the template, elements, impact categories, and so on, for the business impact analysis.

    Advantages of using a BIA template

    The BIA templates store information such as the impact categories and dependency groups that a business process depends on. Using a BIA template offers the following advantages:
    • Simplifies the process of creating a business impact analysis.
    • Saves time and resources by pre-populating the templates.
    • Helps you to define the primary object type that you can use the BIA template for. For example, you can use the Application technical impact analysis template to perform a technical impact analysis of an IT application.
    • Populates the dependency groups automatically in the BIA.
    • Helps you to select the impact categories that are relevant to your organization.

    BIA templates in BCM

    If you have the sn_bcm.admin role, you can view the BIA templates that are installed with demo data when you install the application or configure a BIA template in the BIA Templates module. The following example shows the BIA templates that are installed with demo data in the Business Continuity Management application.

    BIA templates that are installed with demo data.

    BIA template configuration

    With the sn_bcm.admin role, you can configure the following details in the BIA template:
    Name and Description
    Use the Name and Description fields to search for the name and select an appropriate template for your business impact analysis.
    Primary Element Assessed
    Select the type of the elements that you plan to assess such as Business processes or CI service.
    Impact Categories
    Assess specific impact categories during the business impact analysis. For example, you plan to assess the financial impact and legal impact of a downtime.
    Dependency Assessments
    Identify the dependencies for your business impact analysis.
    Include CIA
    Include CIA (Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability) information in your business impact analysis if the primary element being analyzed has critical data.

    The following example shows the sample configuration of a BIA template in an instance.

    Configuration of a BIA template.

    Configuring a BIA template

    For more information on how to configure a BIA template with the sn_bcm.admin role, see Configure a BIA template.

    Impact dependency groups

    The BIA template used for creating a business impact analysis has dependency groups associated to it. When conducting an assessment, the dependency groups are automatically populated in the BIA. You can view them as Applications, Hardware, Software, Vendors, Workplaces, and others, each in its own container depending on how many of these groups are associated to the template.

    Dependency groups.

    Each of them is a dependency group and you can add or remove items that belong to each group within its container.