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Business continuity
Disruptions occur. They can take many different forms and can have any number of impacts ranging from negligible to catastrophic. Over the last few years, there have been numerous examples of disruptions affecting the UK including the volcanic ash cloud, severe weather, IT issues (some malicious), pandemic illness, social unrest and the financial crisis. These disruptions, combined with localised incidents such as fires, floods and utility failures suggest that it is not a case of if an organisation will be affected by a disruption, but when.
Business Continuity Management (BCM) is a process that allows an organisation to put measures in place to reduce the likelihood of a disruption occurring in the first place, and/or the impact a disruption would have if it was to occur. This increases resilience within the organisation, placing it in a stronger position to continue its key activities in the event of a disruption, albeit perhaps at reduced levels.
Within the University, work is being carried out with each Directorate and Faculty, in order to identify activities for which continuity arrangements are required. These arrangements will document what needs to be done in order to reinstate each activity to an acceptable level within an acceptable timescale, should a disruption occur.
The Head of SEC is available to provide guidance and assistance; however, each Directorate and Faculty is responsible for its own continuity.
Business continuity documents
Related pages
Major Incidents
As well as the local level continuity arrangements which will be in place, an overarching Major Incident Response Plan has been written which will guide the University response to any major incident or wider scale disruption it faces. This plan addresses issues such as response teams, priority actions and internal and external communications.
During an incident, the University will communicate with staff and students primarily via the homepage, but may also use email and the University Facebook page and X feed.