MBCP study plan
MBCP · Give each week a clear focus.
8 weeks · About 7 hours per week
Business Impact Analysis & Business Continuity Strategies
Define business impact analysis terminology (RTO, RPO, MTD, WRT) in your own words without notes
Walk through a full BIA lifecycle from scoping through sign-off for a fictional company
Rank a set of business processes by financial and operational criticality using a scoring matrix
Draft three continuity strategy options for a critical process and justify the trade-offs
Your checkpoint
A one-page BIA summary for a fictional organization listing 5 processes, their MTDs/RTOs, and a chosen strategy for each
Business Impact Analysis & Business Continuity Strategies
Build a dependency map (people, technology, facilities, suppliers) for two critical processes
Compare hot, warm, and cold site strategies against cost and recovery objectives
Explain how BIA outputs feed strategy selection and plan scope
Identify recovery gaps between current capabilities and stated RTOs
Your checkpoint
A dependency map plus a gap analysis table showing current vs. required recovery capability for 2 processes
Plan Development and Implementation & Subject Area 2
Outline the standard sections of a business continuity plan and what belongs in each
Describe the plan development lifecycle from policy through approval and distribution
Draft a crisis management/emergency response structure with roles and escalation paths
Distinguish plan types (BCP, DRP, crisis management, emergency response) and their interfaces
Your checkpoint
A BCP table of contents with a 2-3 sentence purpose statement for each section
Plan Development and Implementation & Business Continuity Plan Exercise/Test, Assessment, and Maintenance
Write a recovery procedure for one critical process with step-by-step actions and owners
Design an exercise program spanning tabletop, simulation, and full-scale tests
Define exercise objectives, scope, and success criteria for a tabletop exercise
Map plan maintenance triggers (org change, system change, exercise findings)
Your checkpoint
A complete tabletop exercise package: objectives, scenario outline, participant roles, and evaluation criteria
Business Continuity Plan Exercise/Test, Assessment, and Maintenance & Subject Area 7
Create an after-action report template with findings, root causes, and corrective actions
Describe how to track corrective actions to closure and verify effectiveness
Explain the role of awareness and training programs in plan readiness
Differentiate exercising, testing, and assessment activities and when to use each
Your checkpoint
A populated after-action report from a simulated exercise with 5 findings and assigned corrective actions
Subject Area 1 & Subject Area 5
Summarize the BC profession's governance, standards landscape, and program lifecycle at a conceptual level
Explain how BC integrates with enterprise risk management and IT service continuity
Describe program maturity models and how to assess an organization's maturity level
Articulate the BC coordinator's responsibilities across the program lifecycle
Your checkpoint
A one-page program maturity self-assessment for a fictional organization with a score and 3 improvement priorities
Subject Area 9 & Subject Area 10
Explain how BC interfaces with supply chain, facilities, HR, and communications functions
Describe coordination with public authorities and external stakeholders during a disruption
Outline crisis communications planning including stakeholder mapping and message approval
Identify emerging risk considerations and how they affect continuity planning
Your checkpoint
A stakeholder communication matrix mapping 8 stakeholder groups to channels, owners, and message cadence during a disruption
Business Impact Analysis & Business Continuity Strategies & Plan Development and Implementation & Business Continuity Plan Exercise/Test, Assessment, and Maintenance
Re-derive BIA and strategy decisions from memory using fresh scenarios
Complete timed practice question sets across all domains and log error patterns
Review and close every flagged weak area from prior weeks
Rehearse explaining plan development and exercise design decisions aloud
Your checkpoint
A final review log showing domain-by-domain practice scores and a list of remaining weak areas with remediation notes
Milestones
Week 2: Can explain BIA-to-strategy flow and produce RTO/MTD figures for a new scenario without notes
Week 4: Drafted a usable BCP outline and a complete tabletop exercise package
Week 6: Scored 70%+ on a mixed practice set covering domains 1-8
Week 8: Scored 80%+ on a full-length timed practice exam and closed all logged weak areas