Business continuity

Life can have many surprises, and not all of them are welcome. Serious incidents are rare, but they do happen. The types of disruptions experienced by UK universities include fires, floods, IT failure, severe weather, volcanic ash, and of course, the COVID-19 pandemic. This is where business continuity planning comes in.

The purpose of business continuity planning is to ensure the University has robust measures in place to cope with a major disruption. A coordinated, planned approach helps the University sustain time critical activities at an acceptable level, and get back to normal as quickly as possible. This benefits students, staff, our partners and other stakeholders. It also helps to protect our reputation.

The University's  Incident Response Team and Business Continuity Plan (Gold), provides strategic level guidance for senior managers. This plan is supported by  Professional Service Business Continuity Plans which improve resilience by:

• Identifying time critical activities.
• Putting resources and strategies in place to sustain these activities at an acceptable level.
• Ensuring staff understand and are prepared for their business continuity role.
• Identifying how key stakeholders will be kept informed.

We have a straightforward approach to helping managers write, review and exercise their continuity plans. Please contact us for further advice and assistance.

We have produced a webinar 'Business Continuity at the University', take a look to find out what Business Continuity means, where you fit in and how to get involved: