7.4 BC Plan Testing

MSTA rule 3

"The objective of testing is to ensure that business contingency plans are viable and adequate, not to award 'marks out of ten' to the recovery staff"

Passive / Walk-through Test

Passive testing of a business contingency plan can be carried out without affecting normal production, other than the need for staff to take part in the test. The passive test is conducted exactly like a normal 'meeting'. Staff who are members of a particular recovery team, or group of recovery teams, are asked to describe how they would execute one or more business processes, using only the resources that would be available to them at the recovery location. This type of test is often referred to as a walk through test. The test schedule is prepared in advance by the co-ordinator and the test itself may be audited. Sometimes, the recovery team members are provided with the test schedule prior to the test. This helps to ensure that the test has every chance of success.

Table-Top Test

A "Table-Top" test is a more stringent passive test, which involves the development of a scenario. The table top test is conducted exactly like a normal 'meeting', but with external 'interference'. Staff who are members of a particular recovery team, or group of recovery teams, are assembled in the meeting room, without any prior briefing. At the commencement of the test, the recovery teams are provided with the contents of their team contingency boxes. The BC co-ordinator follows a pre-planned test script, with the participation of people outside of the meeting room, including I.T. and business services staff. (The most realistic tests sometimes include the co-operation of local emergency services. Emergency services can provide realistic scenarios, based on actual incidents. Their staff can 'replay' the incident and provide regular updates, by telephone, to the recovery team staff).

The recovery team staff may telephone whomever they judge it necessary to involve in dealing with the emergency. Some of these outgoing calls will be to participants in the BC co-ordinator's test script and these people will provide realistic responses.

MSTA rule 4

Under no circumstances should a bc plan test call for test procedures that jeopardise the normal production environment or active business processes.

Active test

An active test requires the use of the recovery site and is often carried out on a non-working day, usually Saturday morning. All, or most of the provisions of the bc plan are carried out, using the pre-planned recovery infrastructure and resources.

The active test should be witnessed by impartial observers and audited. Teams will use a pre-compiled Test Schedule script, each copy being serial numbered and used for assessment of the test by the BC co-ordinator, together with the observers and auditors.

The results of the test will be used to prepare an open issues report and to update the bc plan, where necessary.

Partial active test

The recovery site may be used to test recovery procedures for specific sections of the bc plan or for just one team. Partial tests must be pre-planned to ensure that they are realistic.