CBCLA study guide
CBCLA · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The Certified Business Continuity Lead Auditor (CBCLA) is a professional certification DRI International awards to audit team leaders. Its requirements reflect significant audit experience plus a broad understanding of emergency management, enterprise risk management and business continuity, and DRI names as strong candidates those who have been responsible for planning, scheduling and implementing an audit program. The designation can be held jointly with other certifications DRI offers, and certification is a two-part process: verification of knowledge through the Audit Examination, and confirmation of experience through references and subject matter area essays. The Audit Examination is the prerequisite exam, and DRI lists Business Continuity Planning for Auditors as the prerequisite course for it. Topics on this exam: Business Impact Analysis, Business Continuity Strategies, Plan Development and Implementation, and Business Continuity Plan Exercise/Test, Assessment, and Maintenance. The CBCLA study guide has 3 sections and about 2,245 words.
01Business Impact Analysis: Turning Impact Curves into Recovery Objectives
The Business Impact Analysis domain tests whether you can convert an organisation chart into a time-based map of consequences. Items probe how impact differs from likelihood, how recovery objectives are derived rather than negotiated, and how dependency data feeds later strategy work. Expect scenario stems that give an activity, an impact curve over time, and four candidate RTOs. A BIA identifies prioritized activities - the processes whose loss harms the organisation, its customers or its obligations.
898 words, about 4 min02Business Continuity Strategies: Selecting Costed Options That Meet the RTO
Strategy questions test whether you can move from BIA output to a defensible, costed recovery option. The examiner looks for the chain: prioritized activity → RTO/RPO → resource requirement → candidate solutions → evaluation → approved strategy. A strategy that cannot be shown to meet the RTO is not a strategy. People - cross-training, succession for key roles, remote working, retained contractors, mutual aid.
898 words, about 4 min03Assessment, Audit and Maintenance: Keeping the Programme Honest
Assessment and maintenance tests whether you can keep the programme credible after the plan is signed. Questions cover performance measurement, internal audit, management review, maintenance triggers and corrective action. Decide what is measured, how, when and by whom, and report it. Useful measures: percentage of prioritized activities with a current BIA; percentage of plans reviewed within cycle; exercise objectives met; corrective actions closed on time; supplier continuity compliance; actual recovery times versus RTO in real incidents.
449 words, about 2 min