Welcome » IT Booklets » Business Continuity Planning » Other Policies, Standards and Processes » Crisis Management
Business continuity planning should include the development of a crisis management team and crisis management process. The crisis management team is typically responsible for the actual declaration of an event, and its duties internally are to implement the BCP and externally to deal with outside agencies, government offices, and emergency communications. The team should include a cross section of individuals from various departments throughout the financial institution, including senior management (decision making), facilities management (locations and safety), human resources (personnel issues and travel), marketing (media contact), finance/accounting (funds disbursement and financial decisions), and any other area appropriate for the institution. The key to a good crisis management team is in the planning. Individuals should be able to make instantaneous decisions, possibly based on limited information, often without the support of others. Each recovery scenario requires a specific media plan and notification plan as well. The BCP allows the institution to recover critical business operations, and the crisis management team deals with the crisis at hand. A crisis management test can be used to validate the overall process, including disaster declaration and escalation procedures.