Business Continuity & Resilience Flashcards

A full-scale disaster recovery exercise results in missing the RTO by 6 hours. What is the MOST appropriate immediate next step?

Answer: Conduct an after-action review to identify and remediate gaps causing the delay

An after-action review identifies the specific process, technology, or staffing gaps that caused the RTO miss, enabling targeted improvements.

Which type of business impact analysis (BIA) output directly informs the selection of recovery strategies?

Answer: Criticality rankings and recovery time/point objectives for each function

Criticality rankings combined with RTO and RPO values tell planners which functions must be recovered first and how quickly, driving strategy selection.

Which scenario represents a violation of the principle of 'geographic separation' in resilience planning?

Answer: Hot site and primary office share the same power grid substation

Sharing a power grid substation means both facilities are vulnerable to the same single point of failure, violating true geographic separation.

An organization's continuity plan assigns 'Mission Essential Functions' (MEFs). Which criterion BEST qualifies a function as mission essential?

Answer: Its disruption would immediately prevent the organization from fulfilling its core legal or operational mandate

MEFs are functions whose interruption would critically impair the organization's ability to meet its core mission or legal obligations.

What is the purpose of a Continuity of Government (COG) plan at the federal level?

Answer: To maintain the constitutional authority and essential functions of government during a catastrophic emergency

COG plans ensure that the executive, legislative, and judicial branches can continue to operate and exercise constitutional authority during a national emergency.

A company stores its only BCP document copy in the primary headquarters building. Why is this problematic?

Answer: The plan may be inaccessible precisely when it is needed most — during a disaster affecting that building

If the primary facility is the disaster site, storing the only copy there ensures the plan is unavailable when it is most critical.

Which recovery strategy involves contracting with an external organization to perform specific business functions if an internal disruption occurs?

Answer: Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) contingency arrangement

A BPO contingency arrangement pre-arranges for a third party to assume specific operational functions during a disruption, maintaining service continuity.