Student Name: Russell Glenn S.

Comia

Section: BS Info – 3SMP1

Performance Task 6

Directions: In your own understanding, answer the questions below in essay format:

1. What is continuity management?

Answer: There is more to continuity management than just how to deal with a natural
disaster or a cyber-assault. When an event occurs, it starts with the policies and procedures that
have been designed, tested, and implemented. The program's scope, main stakeholders, and
management structure are all defined by the policy. In this step, it must explain why business
continuity is vital and why governance is so important. One component is knowing who is in
charge of creating and updating a checklist for a business continuity plan. The other is
determining who will be in charge of the project's implementation. In what may be a tumultuous
time for everyone involved, governance brings clarity.

Furthermore, the scope is vital. It establishes the organization's definition of business

continuity. Is it about ensuring the availability of applications, products, and services, as well as
the accessibility of data and people in physical locations? Whether it's revenue-generating
portions of the company, external-facing aspects, or some other subset of the whole organization,
businesses must be clear about what is covered by a plan. During this phase, roles and
responsibilities must also be assigned. Given the sort of disruption that may occur, they could be
jobs that are evident based on job function, or specialized based on the type of disruption that
may occur. The policy, governance, scope, and roles must all be widely conveyed and supported
in all circumstances. The proactive planning and preparation of an organization to retain business
functions or promptly resume following a disaster is characterized as business continuity
management. It also include identifying possible threats like as fires, floods, and cyber-attacks.
Before a crisis occurs, business leaders intend to recognize and deal with it. Then, to guarantee
that the procedures operate, they must be tested, and the process must be reviewed on a regular
basis to ensure that it is up to date.

2. What are the seven (7) steps of continuity management?

Answer:

 Identify key business processes

• Strategic, operating, and support processes

 • Assessment of business impact in event of interruption

• Documentation of maximum allowable time for interruptions

• Assessment of business impact in event of interruption

 Prioritization/ranking of business processes

 Identify risks and business process impact

• Identification of risks, link with key business process affected,

prioritize by business impact

• Periodic certification that the list is updated

• Constant monitoring to assess likelihood of occurrence of risk

 Identify key business processes

• Documentation of maximum allowable time for interruptions

 Reduce probability of occurrence

• Formulate measures to reduce the probability that controllable

risks will occur

• Effective primarily on internal risks

• Improve policies, process changes, people measures

• Revise guidelines, provide greater supervision

 Mitigate impact

• Formulate measures to mitigate adverse effect, shorten interruption, if risk

occurs

• Planning for redundant resources, alternative process

 Develop Disaster recovery plan

• Response. Responsible personnel, decision structure,

facilities

• Interim process. Alternate processing and resources

• Restoration/Resumption. Transition from alternate

 process / work-around and resources to normal mode

after interruption is resolved

• Also called a “business continuity plan”

3. Explain what an interruption event is. Provide three examples of such an event.

Answer: Interruption Event means any cause which is beyond the reasonable control of a
Party and directly prevents that Party from performing this Agreement, including: war, civil
commotion, armed conflict, riot, act of terrorism, criminal damage, fire, flood, intervention by a
Regulator, or compliance with any Applicable Law. Each process has a period within which
interruptions will not affect achievement of key business goal. Beyond that period, business goal
will be impacted—and interruption becomes extraordinary. Business Interruption Event is
triggered when the interruption on a key business process exceeds the maximum allowable time.
Business interruption risk refers to the financial loss a company suffers when its operations are
disrupted. This loss includes both observable components, such as reduced sales and increased
cost of working, and hidden components, such as loss of future revenue streams due to potential
reputational damage.

Examples:

• Extraordinary event
• Beyond normal downtimes of equipment or input process errors
• High impact - Resulting in risk of significant loss

4. Explain what a critical situation is.

Answer: Critical situations are very serious business problems and issues that are urgent,
threatening, or vexing. They demand a lot of your time, are usually distracting, and if enacted,
are likely to impact the future. In short, Critical Situations can be game changers. For good or
bad, the deciding factor is often in the way they are planned and managed. In BPO, a critical
situation occurs when your ability to render is limited. The quality of services has been harmed
in the past. An organizational situation in which the quality of service is reflected in. The
deterioration of operations management is increasingly obvious in the services are delivered. The
term Critical Situation Management (CSM) stems from the underlying principle that critical
situations occur across the organization at multiple levels every day. Upsets in the value chain
that were previously considered "abnormal situations" quickly escalate to the critical level due to
the volatility of the current industrial environment. Suppliers now are under such a high level of
scrutiny that transgressions once considered minor can severely impact the corporate bottom
line. The Internet has forever changed the way business will be conducted. Customer loyalty is
only as secure as your last exchange. If a minor transgression poorly influences customers'
perception, he will switch with the click of a mouse. This coupled with an environment of make
to order demands is creating a powder keg on the process floor and beyond.

5. Enumerate and discuss the “tell tale” signs of critical situation.

Answer:

 Prolonged period of non-achievement of key SLA’s or Contractual Obligations. – SLAs

are an integral part of an IT vendor contract. An SLA pulls together information on all of
the contracted services and their agreed-upon expected reliability into a single document.
They clearly state metrics, responsibilities and expectations so that, in the event of issues
with the service, neither party can plead ignorance. It ensures both sides have the same
understanding of requirements. Any significant contract without an associated SLA
(reviewed by legal counsel) is open to deliberate or inadvertent misinterpretation. The
SLA protects both parties in the agreement. Ideally, SLAs should be aligned to the
technology or business objectives of the engagement. Misalignment can have a negative
impact on deal pricing, quality of service delivery, and customer experience.
 Business Controls and/or Financial posture of a contract/ account is assessed a high risk.
– Inherent risk is the risk posed by an error or omission in a financial statement due to a
factor other than a failure of internal control. In a financial audit, inherent risk is most
likely to occur when transactions are complex, or in situations that require a high degree
of judgment in regard to financial estimates. This type of risk represents a worst-case
scenario because all internal controls in place have nonetheless failed.
 Lingering IT infrastructure issues causing problems in operations. –
In an organization, any issues or downtime in the IT infrastructure can lead to a huge loss
in productivity and in turn affect the revenues. Global companies can lose precious time
and money due to inefficient management of the IT infrastructure. With growing
worldwide networks and complex environments there is an increased threat to security
breaches. IT infrastructure is a broad field which contains different components such as
network and security structure, storage and servers, business applications, operating
systems, as well as databases. Some of the core components need careful management,
which is often challenging for the organizations. It is the need of the hour to develop
responsive systems and bridge the gaps between business and operations.
 Data Privacy Incidents/Fraudulent activities involving clients’ information are recurring
in the workplace. – A privacy incident is the loss of control, compromise, unauthorized
disclosure, unauthorized acquisition, unauthorized access, or any similar term referring to
situations where persons other than authorized users and for an other than authorized
purpose have access or potential access to PII, PHI or SI, whether physical or electronic.
Tips have long been a vital tool for uncovering fraud, which raises the importance of
having a reporting system for employees and third-party stakeholders. In our Global
Corruption Law Compliance Survey, 70 percent of all respondents reported having a
whistleblower hotline for their workers. As a whole, professional services firms were the
 most likely to offer employee hotline resources, while just over four in 10 manufacturing
companies did so. However, since tips from customers, vendors and other parties can also
provide valuable information, business leaders should also consider email, online or
paper mail reporting avenues to help those external stakeholders report illicit acts.
 Customer satisfaction rating is on a downward trend, Customer escalation is spiraling
upwards. – defined as a measurement that determines how happy customers are with a
company’s products, services, and capabilities. Customer satisfaction information,
including surveys and ratings, can help a company determine how to best improve or
changes its products and services. An organization’s main focus must be to satisfy its
customers. This applies to industrial firms, retail and wholesale businesses, government
bodies, service companies, nonprofit organizations, and every subgroup within an
organization.
 Increase in costs. – Outsourcing is something many small businesses use to help them
compete while staying lean and agile. Large companies might also choose to outsource in
order to save money and gain focused expertise, especially when those experts are not
within range to work in-office.

6. Recreate and explain the critical situation management method.

Answer:

 Prepare

• Identify the Project Manager or Team Leader of the CritSit team. A good

option to lead this team is either a certified Project Manager or 6S Black

Belt.

• Identify the team members of the CritSit and assemble the team.

• Identify the stakeholders / governance board of the Critsit process

• Ensure all administrative requisites of the Critsit are ready, e.g. meeting

schedules

• Establish a dedicated “war room” that will be used by the Critsit team

 Assess

• Develop glide-paths for improvement on key metrics that will be monitored for the duration of
the Critsit.

• Define and communicate to Critsit team members the entry and exit criteria of the CritSit.
• Conduct an in-depth analysis of the problems by scrutinizing thoroughly historical data /
measures of the problem area (s).

• Use root cause analysis methods such as the Fishbone diagram, why-why analysis or 8D
problem solving techniques.

 Develop Recovery Plan

• Prioritize the problems and/or root causes as a result of the assessment.

• Brainstorm with the team and develop detailed action plans to address the problems and/or root
causes.

• Assign individuals/teams to implement solutions as defined in the over-all action plan. Make
sure that each action step has defined timelines in-synch with the target exit from Critsit.

• Ensure that there will be consistent executive status presentation and regular core team project
review schedule.

 Gain Commitment

• Get clients’ buy-in and/or vote of confidence on the recovery plan if they are aware of the
Critsit in their contract/account.

• Be sure that all stakeholders and team members involved in the process have signed-off on the
following:

• Over-all recovery plan

• Assignments and timelines

• Resource allocation / requirement

• Costs associated with the recovery plan

 Execute the Plan

• Execute a pilot or go for a full-implementation of the recovery plan.

• Conduct frequent checkpoints and tollgates per the established metrics glide path.

• Document the changes in the process as it gets implemented and standardize accordingly.

• Establish regular stakeholders and customer feedback sessions during the implementation of
the recovery plan.
  Close the Recovery

• Present to the stakeholders and client the improvement of the metrics per the glidepath.

• Get the sign-off of the stakeholders and client to approve the exit from Critsit and return to
business as usual mode.

• After implementation of the action plans and full recovery from CritSit, conduct an evaluation
of lessons learned and collate this for future reference.

• Ensure to develop next steps that will prevent the Critsit from happening again. This could be
done by conducting another round of brainstorming session.

• Celebrate with the team!

 7. What are the eight (8) disciplines of The 8D Approach?

Answer:

The 8D Approach:

 Discipline 0 – Become Aware of the Problem

• Understand the complaint of customer or the problem raised

• A problem is the gap between “what is” or current results and “what should be” or desired/
promised results
• Clarify if the concern is not clear

 Discipline 1 – Use Team Approach

• Establish a small group of people, with the process/ product knowledge, allocated time,
authority, and, skill in the required technical disciplines to solve the problem and implement
corrective actions. The group must have a designated champion – team leader, for command
responsibility purposes

Champion/ team leader

• Sets the stage and ensures that the team activities are in the right direction

• Assists the team and provides leadership when required

• Has ownership; supports the final decision, and has the authority to implement the Corrective
Action and system repair when necessary.

• Responsible for facilitating and directing the 8D team.

• Ensures the group performs its duties and responsibilities.

 Discipline 2 – Describe the Problem

• Specify the internal/ external customer problem by identifying in quantifiable terms the; who-
what-when-where-why-how-how many (5W2H) of the problem

• Use an “Operational Definition”. The definition should have a common meaning to everyone
who reads it.

• Gather relevant data/info/facts.

• 5W2H:

• Who: identify customer/s complaining

• What: describe the problem adequately

• Where: locate the problem

• When: identify the start of the problem

• Why: identify known explanations

• How: in what mode or situation did the problem occur

• How many: quantify the problem

  Discipline 3 – Implement and Verify an Interim Containment Action

• Define and verify Interim Containment Action (ICA) to isolate the effects of the problem from
any internal/ external customer until Permanent Corrective Action is implemented

• Temporary short-term (band aid) fix taken until a permanent corrective action is defined,
implemented, and verified. Verify the effectiveness of the interim containment action (ICA)

• Verify the effectiveness of the ICA:

• Perform tests to evaluate

• State the results

• State the procedures for on-going evaluation of effectiveness (control charts, check sheets,
etc.)

• Prioritize goods nearest customers' gate

• Define inspection/checking method that is certain to detect the defect.

 Discipline 4 – Define and Verify Root Causes

• Identify all possible causes, which could explain why the problem occurred

• Ask “why” as many times as necessary to drive the process to root cause

• Review FA report, dimensional measurement data, illustration, photo.

• Use Cause and Effect Diagram, FMEA to list previously defined causes.

• Isolate and verify the root cause/s by testing each possible cause against the problem
description and test data

• List all possible corrective actions to eliminate root cause/s

 Discipline 5 – Choose and Verify Corrective Actions

• Through pre-production test programs quantitatively confirm that the selected corrective
actions will resolve the problem for the customer and will not cause undesirable side effects.

• Define contingency actions, if necessary based on risk assessments.

• Verify corrective actions before the actions are implemented.

• Corrective action should be a poka-yoke solution and should address root cause

• Notify all affected personnel and formalize change action

• Run Pilot Tests

• Artificially simulate the solution to allow the actual process or field evaluation

• Monitor Results

 Discipline 6 – Implement Permanent Corrective Actions

• Implement the best permanent corrective action. Choose on going controls to ensure the root
cause are eliminated Once in production, monitor the long term effects and implement
contingency actions, if necessary.

• Establish an action plan on all permanent actions

• Establish on going controls on the process

• Correct defective parts already produced

• Identify contingency actions

 Discipline 7 – Prevent Recurrence

• Modify the necessary systems, practices, and procedures to prevent recurrence of this and all
similar problems.

• Identify opportunities for improvement and establish a process improvement initiative.

• Revise systems, procedures, and practices, if necessary

• Document new standard procedures, streamline to remove obsolete procedures and revise
previous standard

• Release specs to document plan

• Fan-out to other equipment or areas

• Process Control Plan, if necessary

 Discipline 8 – Congratulate Team

• Recognize the collective efforts of the team in solving the problem.

• Write case study reports.

• Acknowledge the significance and value of the problem/ solution