How can you make disaster preparedness strike a chord for your credit union?
by: Michele Dowis
We all know that Disaster Recovery plans are required. The examiners make mention of them and audit them regularly. Are you planning just to get through the audit or are you focused on credit union business continuity as a whole? The more engaged staff is in planning, the better prepared they are to react and respond to a disaster.
Credit union BCP Staff engagement begins with participation and accountability! Participation isn’t only about documenting processes and writing procedures. It includes updating, testing and communicating the plan to others. There’s a lot involved in your credit union’s business continuity plan. Create a Business Continuity Plan Committee comprising of representatives from the functional areas. This team should regularly update the Board of Directors with status, challenges and progress. Keep in mind that the board has oversight and strategic responsibility over your credit union – this includes business continuity. 5 Important Things to Tell (Show) Your Board About Your Credit Union DR/BCP provides some additional detail of keeping the Board engaged as well.
At the beginning of the year (or another regularly scheduled timeframe), outline a testing and training schedule. There may be some changes in dates, but the more you plan these out and perform them on a regular basis, the more likely for follow through. Your schedule should include (but not be limited to the following):
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