A Business Continuity Plan (BCP) is designed to ensure an organization can maintain or resume critical functions during and after a disruption. According to Business Continuity Professional standards, such as those from DRI International and ISO 22301, the BCP typically encompasses three core components that address different phases of response and recovery:
A. Emergency response: This component focuses on the immediate actions taken during a disruption (e.g., evacuation, safety measures, and initial coordination). It is a foundational part of the BCP, ensuring personnel and asset safety as a prerequisite to continuity and recovery efforts.
B. Incident management: While incident management (handling and resolving incidents) is critical in broader crisis management frameworks, it is often considered a distinct process under an Incident Response Plan (IRP) rather than a core BCP component. It overlaps with BCP but is not universally listed as one of the three primary elements.
C. Problem management: This is an IT service management process (e.g., under ITIL) focused on identifying and resolving the root causes of incidents. It is not a standard component of a BCP, which prioritizes continuity and recovery over long-term problem resolution.
D. Business recovery: This involves restoring critical business functions and processes after a disruption, ensuring the organization can resume normal operations. It is a central pillar of the BCP, addressing recovery time objectives (RTOs) and operational continuity.
E. Disaster recovery: This focuses on recovering IT systems, data, and infrastructure following a disaster. Often integrated into the BCP, it ensures technological continuity, making it a key component alongside business recovery and emergency response.
The verified answer isA. Emergency response, D. Business recovery, E. Disaster recovery, as these three components collectively cover the lifecycle of a BCP—immediate response, business function restoration, and IT recovery—per established standards. While incident management is related, it is typically supplementary rather than a core BCP element when narrowed to three components.
References:
DRI International Professional Practices for Business Continuity Management (2023), Section 6: Business Continuity Plan Development – Identifies emergency response, business recovery, and disaster recovery as key BCP components.
ISO 22301:2019, Clause 8.4 – Outlines planning for response (emergency), continuity (business recovery), and IT recovery (disaster recovery) as integral to BCP.
