ABC CP flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Business continuity management

A holistic management process that identifies potential threats and their impacts and builds organizational resilience to protect stakeholders, reputation, brand, and value-creating activities.

Business impact analysis

A process that identifies time-critical activities and quantifies the operational and financial impact of their disruption over time, producing recovery objectives and priorities.

Recovery time objective

The target duration within which an activity, system, or resource must be restored after a disruption to avoid unacceptable consequences.

Recovery point objective

The maximum acceptable amount of data, measured in time, that may be lost due to a disruption before the recovery point.

Maximum tolerable period of disruption

The duration after which the impacts of a disruption become unacceptable to the organization, setting the outer limit for recovery time objectives.

Minimum business continuity objective

The minimum level of service or product delivery that an organization must maintain during a disruption to remain viable and meet obligations.

Risk assessment in BCM

A process evaluating likelihood and impact of disruptive events against prioritized activities, informing selection of continuity strategies and controls.

Continuity strategy selection

Choosing cost-effective arrangements such as alternate sites, redundancy, manual workarounds, or outsourcing that meet required recovery objectives.

Tabletop exercise

A discussion-based exercise where participants walk through a scenario and their plan responses to test decision-making, roles, and plan usability.

Plan activation criteria

Pre-agreed, objective thresholds that trigger invocation of continuity plans, removing subjective judgment during an unfolding disruption.

Crisis management versus continuity

Crisis management addresses strategic, reputational, and stakeholder communication, while business continuity restores prioritized operational activities.

Single point of failure

A person, system, supplier, or facility whose failure alone can halt a critical activity, requiring mitigation or a documented risk acceptance.

Dependency mapping

Identifying internal and external resources and relationships on which prioritized activities rely, so strategies address upstream and downstream vulnerabilities.

Corrective action plan

A tracked record of exercise or incident findings with assigned owners and due dates, ensuring identified weaknesses are remediated and verified.

Hot, warm, cold sites

Alternate facilities classified by readiness: hot is fully equipped and ready, warm is partially equipped, and cold provides basic space and infrastructure.

Continuity coordinator role

The individual responsible for managing the BCM program, maintaining plans, coordinating exercises, and reporting program status to management.

Awareness versus training

Awareness builds general understanding of continuity across staff; training develops specific skills for plan holders, responders, and crisis team members.

Plan maintenance triggers

Events such as organizational change, new systems or suppliers, exercise findings, audits, or incidents that require review and update of continuity plans.

BCM maturity model

A staged framework benchmarking program capability from ad hoc through optimized, used to prioritize improvement investments and measure progress.

Lessons learned process

A structured review after incidents or exercises that converts experience into corrective actions and program improvements, closing the planning loop.

Crisis communication plan

Pre-defined escalation paths, approved templates, and designated spokespeople for notifying employees, customers, regulators, and media during disruption.

Supply chain continuity

Assessing critical suppliers' continuity capabilities and embedding continuity requirements in contracts to protect the organization's own recovery objectives.

Program governance

Clear assignment of accountability, including an executive sponsor, program coordinator, and business owners accountable for their activity-level plans.

Certification experience requirement

A minimum duration of verified BCM-related work, sometimes including management-level responsibility, evidenced by employer or supervisor attestation.

Continuing professional development

Ongoing learning hours required to maintain certification, typically logged with activity details, provider, date, and relevance to continuity practice.

Code of ethics obligation

Professional conduct standards requiring integrity, competence, confidentiality, objectivity, and disclosure of conflicts of interest in continuity practice.

Experience verification audit

A certifying body's review of submitted experience claims against supporting evidence, with sanctions for misrepresentation or inflated roles.

Recertification cycle

A multi-year renewal process requiring accumulated CPD hours, payment of fees, and attestation of continued practice and ethical compliance.

Scope of practice

The boundary of activities a certified professional may claim competence in, requiring disclosure or referral when work exceeds that boundary.

Competency framework mapping

Aligning an applicant's experience narrative to the certification's defined competencies so reviewers can match evidence to required capabilities.

Ethical confidentiality in BCM

Protecting sensitive organizational data gathered during impact analyses and exercises, disclosing findings only to authorized parties and reporting accurately.

Verifiable experience statement

A specific description of continuity work performed, including activity, program scale, duration, and outcome, confirmable by a supervisor or employer.