CRIS key terms

An unstable situation that threatens an organization's people, operations, reputation, or viability and requires urgent decisions under uncertainty, often with incomplete information and heightened stakeholder scrutiny.

A sudden, high-impact event-such as a fatality, violence, or major accident-that overwhelms normal routines, disrupts operations, and can cause lasting psychological harm to those involved.

The coordinated process of detecting, assessing, and responding to a crisis, including decision-making, resource allocation, communication, and stabilization, to limit harm and restore normal operations.

The sequence of phases a crisis typically passes through-pre-incident, acute response, recovery, and learning-used to organize planning, resource allocation, and communication activities across each stage.

A planning method that builds capabilities applicable to many types of emergencies-natural, technological, or human-caused-rather than preparing separately for each specific scenario.

A systematic process of identifying hazards, estimating likelihood and potential impact, and prioritizing risks so that preparedness resources target the most significant threats.

A weakness or exposure-physical, operational, human, or cyber-that increases the likelihood or severity of harm when a hazard occurs and that can be reduced through mitigation.

Secondary failures triggered by an initial incident, such as power loss disabling communications, which can spread disruption across systems and organizations and greatly expand the scale of a crisis.

An ongoing understanding of what is happening, why, and what is likely next, built from timely information about the incident, affected people, resources, and environment.

A designated facility or virtual workspace where leaders and support staff gather to coordinate response, share information, allocate resources, and maintain a common operating picture during an incident.

A standardized, scalable management structure that clarifies roles, reporting lines, and terminology so multiple agencies and teams can work together effectively during incidents.

A cross-functional group of senior leaders and specialists convened to assess a crisis, make strategic decisions, authorize actions, and oversee communication and recovery on behalf of the organization.

A predefined indicator or threshold-such as a confirmed fatality or system outage lasting a set time-that prompts activation of the crisis plan and escalation to senior decision-makers.

A documented framework describing how an organization will detect, escalate, respond to, and recover from crises, including roles, activation criteria, procedures, resources, and communication protocols.

A structured study identifying critical functions, their dependencies, and the operational and financial consequences of disruption over time, used to set recovery priorities and objectives.

A discussion-based exercise in which participants walk through a simulated scenario, applying plans and making decisions in a low-stress setting to reveal gaps and improve coordination.

A simulation that tests specific capabilities, such as notification or communications, by having players execute real procedures and systems while evaluators observe performance against objectives.

A prepared framework specifying who will communicate, with which stakeholders, through what channels, and with what approvals during a crisis, including templates and holding statements.

A formal arrangement among organizations or jurisdictions to share personnel, equipment, or facilities during emergencies, defining request procedures, costs, and liability in advance.

A documented assignment of decision-making power to designated individuals so that critical actions can proceed when usual leaders are unavailable or overwhelmed.

The timely, accurate, and coordinated sharing of information with employees, customers, media, regulators, and communities during a crisis to inform, protect, and maintain trust.

A brief, pre-approved message issued early in a crisis that acknowledges the situation, expresses concern, and commits to providing more information, buying time for verified facts.

A structured outline of an organization's key messages, supporting facts, and anticipated questions, used to keep spokespeople consistent and focused across audiences and channels.

A designated individual trained and authorized to speak on the organization's behalf, delivering approved messages consistently and maintaining credibility with media and stakeholders.

The role responsible for releasing accurate, timely information to the public and media, coordinating with other agencies, and managing rumor control during an incident.

Any person or group affected by or able to influence a crisis response, including employees, customers, suppliers, regulators, media, and communities, each with distinct information needs.

The practice of monitoring unverified information, correcting inaccuracies quickly with facts, and repeating accurate messages to prevent misinformation from undermining trust and response efforts.

The phase after immediate response in which an organization restores critical functions, repairs damage, supports affected people, and returns to a stable, possibly improved, operating state.

A structured debrief conducted after an incident or exercise to compare intended and actual outcomes, identify strengths and gaps, and recommend improvements.

A prioritized list of specific fixes-with owners, deadlines, and resources-created from after-action findings to close identified gaps and improve future preparedness.

A supportive, non-clinical approach that provides safety, comfort, information, and connection to services for people affected by a traumatic event.

A holistic management process that identifies potential threats and builds organizational resilience, ensuring critical functions can continue or be restored during and after disruption.

A documented set of procedures and resources enabling an organization to continue delivering critical products or services at acceptable levels during and after a disruption.

A plan focused on sustaining an organization's essential functions, often through alternate sites, remote work, or succession arrangements, when primary facilities or staff are unavailable.

The maximum acceptable time a critical function or system can be unavailable before the disruption's consequences become unacceptable, used to guide recovery priorities.

The maximum acceptable amount of data loss measured in time, indicating how frequently backups or replication must occur to meet continuity requirements.

The total time a business process can be unavailable before irreversible harm occurs, setting the outer limit within which recovery time and data objectives must fit.

The capacity to anticipate, absorb, adapt to, and rapidly recover from shocks and stresses while maintaining essential functions and protecting people and reputation.

The deliberate duplication of critical resources-systems, people, supplies, or facilities-so that a single failure does not halt essential operations.