Business Continuity Planning Tool for Critical Function Recovery
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Solution Overview
Problem
Business continuity planning systems lack an efficient method for businesses to identify and manage critical functions and their associated recovery times, making it difficult for organizations to quickly recover from catastrophic events.
Innovation Solution
A business continuity planning system that allows businesses to define critical functions, select necessary applications, and set recovery times, with a user interface that enables the submission of business continuity plans for approval, facilitating efficient recovery planning.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If businesses manually track and manage critical functions and recovery times, then comprehensive recovery plans can be created, but the process becomes time-consuming and inefficient
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables automated self-service functionality where the business continuity planning system automatically retrieves application information, recovery time data, and critical function details from connected systems without requiring manual data entry. This automation resolves the contradiction by maintaining comprehensive plan accuracy while eliminating the time-consuming manual tracking process.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-configuring application profiles, recovery time objectives, and critical function mappings before a catastrophe occurs. This advance preparation allows the system to automatically generate and update recovery plans without time-consuming manual intervention during actual recovery scenarios, thus resolving the contradiction between comprehensiveness and efficiency.
2Measurement precision
If detailed information about each critical function and application is tracked, then accurate recovery plans are achieved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the business continuity planning process into distinct modular components: application profile management, critical function identification, recovery time tracking, and plan generation. Each module handles specific aspects of the data, reducing overall system complexity while maintaining accurate tracking of detailed information through specialized, focused components rather than a monolithic complex system.
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces intermediary components such as standardized data models, application program interfaces (APIs), and automated retrieval mechanisms that mediate between diverse data sources and the recovery plan generation process. These intermediaries simplify data integration and management, enabling accurate tracking of detailed critical function information without proportionally increasing system complexity.
3Productivity
If recovery time objectives are set for each application, then recovery prioritization is improved, but the planning process becomes more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The system automatically determines recovery time objectives by analyzing application criticality, business impact, and technical dependencies, transforming the subjective planning process into an objective parameter-driven approach. This automated parameter assignment improves recovery prioritization accuracy while simplifying the planning process by eliminating the need for manual judgment and negotiation regarding recovery time targets.
Solution Approach 2:
The system incorporates feedback mechanisms that automatically adjust recovery time objectives based on actual recovery performance data, business impact assessments, and changing organizational priorities. This continuous feedback loop improves recovery prioritization over time while simplifying the initial planning process by providing data-driven defaults that can be automatically refined without requiring extensive manual planning efforts.
Data Source
AI summary
A request is received for a page to add a computer program name for a critical function that a business unit performs. A list of computer program names is retrieved from memory and is provided through a user interface. A selection of a first computer program name as being a name of a first computer program required to perform the critical function is received. A first expected recovery time is retrieved from memory for the first computer program and is provided through a user interface with a request for an indication of whether the first expected recovery time is acceptable.