business contingency plan template

Enterprises are often defined by how they deal with events that are out of their control. For example, how you react to a disruptive technology or cope with a sudden change in the markets can be the difference between success and failure.

Contingency planning is the art of preparing for the unexpected. But where do you start and how do you separate the threats that could do real harm to your business from the ones that aren’t as critical?

Here are some important definitions, best practices and strong examples to help you build contingency plans for whatever your business faces.

What is a contingency plan?

Business contingency plans, also known as “business continuity plans” or “emergency response plans” are action plans to help organizations resume normal business operations after an unintended interruption. Organizations build contingency plans to help them face a variety of threats, including natural disasters, unplanned downtime, data loss, network breaches and sudden shifts in customer demand.

A good place to start is with a series of “what if” questions that propose various worst-case scenarios you’ll need to have a plan for. For example:

• What if a critical asset breaks down, causing delays in production?
• What if your top three engineers all quit at the same time?
• What if the country where your microprocessors are built was suddenly invaded?

Good contingency plans prioritize the risks an organization faces, delegate responsibility to members of the response teams and increase the likelihood that the company will make a full recovery after a negative event.

Five steps to build a strong contingency plan

1. make a list of risks and prioritize them according to likelihood and severity..

In the first stage of the contingency planning process, stakeholders brainstorm a list of potential risks the company faces and conduct risk analysis on each one. Team members discuss possible risks, analyze the risk impact of each one and propose courses of action to increase their overall preparedness. You don’t need to create a risk management plan for every threat your company faces, just the ones your decision-makers assess as both highly likely and with a potential impact on normal business processes.

2. Create a business impact analysis (BIA) report

Business impact analysis (BIA) is a crucial step in understanding how the different business functions of an enterprise will respond to unexpected events. One way to do this is to look at how much company revenue is being generated by the business unit at risk. If the BIA indicates that it’s a high percentage, the company will most likely want to prioritize creating a contingency plan for this business risk.

3. Make a plan

For each potential threat your company faces that has both a high likelihood of occurring and a high potential impact on business operations, you can follow these three simple steps to create a plan:

• Identify triggers that will set a plan into action: For example, if a hurricane is approaching, when does the storm trigger your course of action? When it’s 50 miles away? 100 miles? Your teams will need clear guidance so they will know when to start executing the actions they’ve been assigned.
• Design an appropriate response: The threat your organization prepared for has arrived and teams are springing into action. Everyone involved will need clear, accessible instructions, protocols that are easy to follow and a way to communicate with other stakeholders.
• Delegate responsibility clearly and fairly: Like any other initiative, contingency planning requires effective project management to succeed. One proven way to address this is to create a RACI chart . RACI stands for responsible, accountable, consulted and informed, and it is widely used in crisis management to help teams and individuals delegate responsibility and react to crises in real time.

4. Get buy-in from the entire organization—and be realistic about cost

Sometimes it can be hard to justify the importance of putting resources into preparing for something that might never happen. But if the events of these past few years have taught us anything, it’s that having strong contingency plans is invaluable.

Think of the supply chain problems and critical shortages wreaked by the pandemic or the chaos to global supply chains brought about by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. When it comes to convincing business leaders of the value of having a strong Plan B in place, it’s important to look at the big picture—not just the cost of the plan but the potential costs incurred if no plan is put in place.

5. Test and reassess your plans regularly

Markets and industries are constantly shifting, so the reality that a contingency plan faces when it is triggered might be very different than the one it was created for. Plans should be tested at least once annually, and new risk assessments performed.

Contingency plan examples

Here are some model scenarios that demonstrate how different kinds of businesses would prepare to face risks. The three-step process outlined here can be used to create contingency plans templates for whatever threats your organization faces.

A network provider facing a massive outage

What if your core business was so critical to your customers that downtime of even just a few hours could result in millions of dollars in lost revenue? Many internet and cellular networks face this challenge every year. Here’s an example of a contingency plan that would help them prepare to face this problem:

• Assess the severity and likelihood of the risk: A recent study by Open Gear showed that only 9% of global organizations avoid network outages in an average quarter. Coupled with what is known about these attacks—that they can cause millions of dollars in damage and take an immeasurable toll on business reputation—this risk would have to be considered both highly likely and highly severe in terms of the potential damage it could do to the company.
• Identify the trigger that will set your plan in action: In this example, what signs should decision-makers have watched for to know when a likely outage was beginning? These might include security breaches, looming natural disasters or any other event that has preceded outages in the past.
• Create the right response: The organization’s leaders will want to determine a reasonable recovery time objective (RTO) and recovery point objective (RPO) for each service and data category their company faces. RTO is usually measured with a simple time metric, such as days, hours or minutes. RPO is a bit more complicated as it involves determining the minimum/maximum age of files that can be recovered quickly from backup systems in order to restore the network to normal operations.  

A food distribution company coping with an unexpected shortage

If your core business has complex supply chains that run through different regions and countries, monitoring geopolitical conditions in those places will be critical to maintaining the health of your business operations. In this example, we’ll look at a food distributor preparing to face a shortage of a much-needed ingredient due to volatility in a region that’s critical to its supply chain:

• Assess the severity and likelihood of the risk: The company’s leaders have been following the news in the region where they source the ingredient and are concerned about the possibility of political unrest. Since they need this ingredient to make one of their best-selling products, both the likelihood and potential severity of this risk are rated as high.
• Identify the trigger that will set your plan in action: War breaks out in the region, shutting down all ports of entry/exit and severely restricting transport within the country via air, roads and railroads. Transportation of their ingredient will be challenging until stability returns to the region.
• Create the right response: The company’s business leaders create a two-pronged contingency plan to help them face this problem. First, they proactively search for alternate suppliers of this ingredient in regions that aren’t so prone to volatility. These suppliers may cost more and take time to switch to, but when the overall cost of a general production disruption that would come about in the event of war is factored in, the cost is worth it. Second, they look for an alternative to this ingredient that they can use in their product.

A social network experiencing a customer data breach

The managers of a large social network know of a cybersecurity risk in their app that they are working to fix. In the event that they’re hacked before they fix it, they are likely to lose confidential customer data:

• Assess the severity and likelihood of risk: They rate the likelihood of this event as high , since, as a social network, they are a frequent target of attacks. They also rate the potential severity of damage to the company as high since any loss of confidential customer data will expose them to lawsuits.
• Identify the trigger that will set your plan in action: Engineers make the social network’s leadership aware that an attack has been detected and that their customer’s confidential information has been compromised.
• Create the right response: The network contracts with a special response team to come to their aid in the event of an attack and help them secure their information systems and restore app functionality. They also change their IT infrastructure to make customer data more secure. Lastly, they work with a reputable PR firm to prepare a plan for outreach and messaging to reassure customers in the event that their personal information is compromised.

The value of contingency planning 

When business operations are disrupted by a negative event, good contingency planning gives an organization’s response structure and discipline. During a crisis, decision-makers and employees often feel overwhelmed by the pile-up of events beyond their control, and having a thorough backup plan helps reestablish confidence and return operations to normal.  

Here are a few benefits organizations can expect from strong contingency plans:

• Improved recovery times: Businesses with good plans in place recover faster from a disruptive event than companies that haven’t prepared.  
• Reduced costs—financial and reputational: Good contingency plans minimize both financial and reputational damage to a company. For example, while a data breach at a social network that compromises customer information could result in lawsuits, it could also cause long-term damage if customers decide to leave the network because they no longer trust the company to keep their personal information safe.
• Greater confidence and morale: Many organizations use contingency plans to show employees, shareholders and customers that they’ve thought through every possible eventuality that might befall their company, giving them confidence that the company has their interests in mind.

Contingency plan solutions

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The Easy Guide to Creating a Business Contingency Plan

Updated on: 2 November 2022

How to avoid disasters? Be prepared for them. 

When things are going well, you often forget to plan for the bad times. But when disaster strikes, you could lose everything in a heartbeat.

An earthquake can bring your whole shop to the ground, your biggest client can choose your competitor over you, your system suddenly can crash making you lose important data etc. There are endless possibilities of disasters if you really think about it. 

That’s why lack of a plan can be a disaster of its own. 

Let’s see why you need a business contingency plan and how to create one in a few simple steps.  

What is a Business Contingency Plan? 

But first, let’s define what a contingency plan is. 

A contingency plan is a proactive strategy that describes the course of actions or steps the management and staff of an organization need to take in response to an event that could happen in the future. It plays a significant role in business continuity , risk management and disaster recovery. 

It helps you stay prepared for unforeseen events and minimize their impact. It also outlines a plan for carrying out the normal business operations after the event has occurred.  

It’s also known in names such as plan B, backup plan, and disaster recovery plan. In case your primary plan doesn’t work, it’s time to execute the plan B.

Benefits of a Contingency Plan 

Without a contingency plan you’re opening yourself to unnecessary risks. Here are some important benefits of a contingency plan that you cannot look away from. 

• Helps react quickly to negative events. As a contingency plan lists the actions that need to be taken, everyone can focus on what to do without wasting time panicking.
• Having a contingency plan in place allows you to minimize damage that could happen from a disaster and minimize the loss of production. For example if you have emergency generators set up, even during a blackout, your team can work seamlessly. 

How to Make a Contingency Plan 

An effective contingency plan is based on good research and brainstorming. Here are the steps you need to follow in a contingency planning process. 

Step 1: List down the key risks

Identify the major events that could have a negative impact on the course of your business and on the key resources, such as employees, machines, IT systems etc. 

Involve other team heads, subject experts, and even outsiders like business consultants to get a deeper understanding of things that may cause problems and jeopardize the direction.

Use a mind map to organize and categorize the information you gather from the brainstorming session with the staff. You can easily share this with everyone in the organization to get their input as well.

Step 2: Prioritize the Risks Based on Their Impact 

Once you have created a list of all the possible risks that could occur in different areas of your business, start prioritizing them based on the threat they pose. 

The risk impact probability chart is a handy tool you can use here. It helps you evaluate and prioritize risks based on the severity of their impact and the probability of them occurring.

Step 3: Create Contingency Plans for Each Event

In this step you’ll create separate plans that outline the actions you need to take in case the risks you identified earlier occur. 

Consider what needs to be done in order to resume normal operations after the impact of  the event. 

Here you’ll need to clarify employee responsibilities, timelines that highlight when things should be done and completed after the event, restoring and communications processes and the steps you need to have taken in advance to prevent losses when the event has taken place (i.e. insurance coverage). 

You can use a visual format here to highlight the course of actions. It would be easier for everyone to comprehend.

Step 4: Share and Maintain the Plan 

Once you have completed the contingency plans , make sure that they are quickly accessible to all employees and stakeholders. 

Review your contingency plans from time to time and update them as needed. And it’s a best practice to inform your employees of the changes as well, as it may include updates to their roles and responsibilities.  

What’s Your Take on Contingency Plans?

That is how you make a detailed contingency plan. List down the major incidents that could harm your business operations, prioritize them based on their impact and probability, create an action plan explaining what you should do in case they occur, and review and update them frequently. 

What is the contingency planning process at your organization? Let us know in the comments section below.

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Contingency Plan Examples

40 detailed contingency plan examples (& free templates).

Good strategies always involve a contingency plan in case the original plan backfires. In some cases, the original plan may not be as successful as you expect which is why you need a contingency plan example to achieve the same goal . We have heard the term “Plan B” before and this in its simplest way, is a contingency plan.

Table of Contents

• 1 Contingency Plan Examples
• 2 What is a contingency plan?
• 3 Contingency Plan Templates
• 4 When to use a contingency plan?
• 5 Using a contingency plan example in risk project management
• 6 Business Contingency Plan Templates
• 7 Steps in contingency planning
• 8 Creating your contingency plan
• 9 Contingency Plan Samples
• 10 The challenges that may come with contingency planning

What is a contingency plan?

The steps taken by an organization when an unexpected situation or event occurs is a contingency plan. A contingency plan example may be positive like when there’s an unexpected surplus in the cash flow. But more often than not, the contingency planning process mostly refers to negative events.

The events which might have a bearing on the organization’s financial health, reputation or on its ability to continue with business operations. Such events may include natural disasters, fire, network failure, and a data breach, to name a few.

Having a contingency plan template helps you make sure that there’s always a continuity in the business. Most of the bigger business organizations have sets of business contingency plan templates for various potential threats. These undergo extensive research and the resulting appropriate responses get subjected to full practice even before the crisis occurs.

You can consider a contingency plan as a proactive approach as compared to crisis management, which is more of a reactive approach. Having a contingency plan ensures that you’re always prepared for any eventuality. Conversely, a plan for crisis management enables you to control the response after the eventuality occurs.

Contingency Plan Templates

When to use a contingency plan?

Also, keep in mind that the design of a contingency plan template is only for risks that can you can identify and not for unknown or unidentified risks. This is for the simple reason that you cannot make a plan if you don’t know the risk.

It’s also worth noting that contingency plans don’t only exist in anticipation should things go wrong but you can also create one to make the most of strategic opportunities.

For instance, you have come to know of a new type of software for training that’s about to get released soon. Should this occur during the project, you can create a contingency plan on how to include this into the training stage of your project .

Using a contingency plan example in risk project management

As mentioned earlier, a contingency plan example responds to a negative event that might affect or tarnish the reputation of an organization or its financial standing. In business, however, a business contingency plan template isn’t always negative. There are cases of positive contingency plans too.

Also, keep in mind that the contingency planning process is a proactive strategy, unlike crisis management which is a reaction to something that has happened. A contingency plan accounts for any disruptive events to ensure that the company is always prepared if and when such events should occur.

Contingency plans are usually part of the risk management department and project managers should know that the plan is simply an outline. However, there are times when the project may extend beyond this. This means that the manager can be more prepared to make changes in the plan if he deems it would be more effective.

Risk management isn’t the same as the contingency planning process. Risk management is more about establishing, assessing, mitigating, avoiding, sharing, transferring, and accepting risks, whereas a contingency plan focuses on developing steps for when a risk occurs. But they share a common aspect. They both describe the steps to take in such an occurrence.

In its simplest form, a contingency plan definition is what you should do when an unexpected event takes place. Simpler still is “What if….?”, then creating an outline of the steps that answer this question.

Business Contingency Plan Templates

Steps in contingency planning

Project management always involves several entry points for risks that you have to consider for a contingency plan example. Here are some risk factors that you should take into account for a contingency plan template:

• The physical aspect where losses can happen caused by damage to facilities, equipment or information because of natural disasters or an accident.
• Technical issues may be a risk factor too, where the system stops functioning as needed for the delivery of the project as scheduled and within the budget.
• Human resources can be another risk too as teams may leave projects, get sick or get terminated.
• In a much larger scale, risk factors beyond the project manager’s control are social and political changes. As an example, you can work with a contract which can drastically change depending on who’s in control. Nothing remains stable with risk factors. Communities can even protest against projects and bring them to a halt.
• There are also liability issues where there are potential threats in the form of compensation plans and legal actions.

Here are the basic steps in the contingency planning process:

• Make it a point to know which resources can you use in the event of an emergency and in which part of the contingency plan you can apply these resources.
• Identify important dates that, if you miss, might negatively affect the plan. For instance, getting approval from committees which rarely meet.
• Know your plan. Check its weaknesses and strengths. Identify slack which you may find.
• Check for any points in the plan where you can apply alternative routes and evaluate each scenario to make your plan more flexible.
• Use your knowledge and experience in discerning patterns in the ebb and flow of the activities in your project to make it more efficient.

Creating your contingency plan

You need a lot of planning and research when creating a contingency plan example. But planning ahead, with each plan makes things easier for you. When creating one for your company, follow these steps:

• Identify your resources and prioritize them Do research throughout the organization so you can identify then prioritize the integral resources in your organization.
• Identify the most significant risks You need to identify any potential threats to the researched resources. If you need to, meet with executives, and employees to get more a holistic picture of how events can affect your resources. To be more precise, bring with you a consultant or a specialist in the identification of risks.
• Draft a contingency plan template Although you may come up with plans for each of the risks individually, it’s recommended to begin with the threats you consider high priority. This refers to the ones which have a high likelihood of occurring and would have the most significant impacts. As time goes by, you may start working toward coming up with plans for the lower-priority risks. When drafting plans for identified risks, start asking yourself about the steps to take so that the organization can go back to normal operations. Take into account factors like employee activity, communications, timelines , and staff responsibilities. Based on these, you can then make a plan for each of the risks.
• Share the plans Make sure that all employees and stakeholders have access to each plan as soon as you’ve completed them and had them approved. You may want to consider using a mobile application for this very important step. This could make the contingency plan together with similar documents directly available to all of the employees through their mobile service. This method also ensures that every employee has easy access to the updated plans for when the need arises.
• Maintain the plans As the organization undergoes changes, make sure that you reflect such changes in your business contingency plan template. There’s also a need to rehearse the plan with stakeholders regularly so that the key players know their roles and responsibilities.

Contingency Plan Samples

The challenges that may come with contingency planning

Managers will always get confronted with challenges that they should consider before and while creating contingency plans. These challenges include:

• Only focusing on “Plan A” By nature, people only want to work on a single solution. This may be the reason why a contingency plan doesn’t get the proper attention it deserves. They all hope “Plan A” succeeds and they think that focusing too much on “Plan B” might potentially be damage their success. As managers, they should stress how important a contingency plan is as it serves as your safeguard to help facilitate success instead of obstructing it. This means that the contingency plan should never get shelved. Instead, you must make it readily accessible.
• A small probability of using the plan Because of the small probability that you will ever use the contingency plan, many believe there’s no urgency in creating one. That means the plan could find itself at the very bottom of the company’s list of tasks if anyone will create it at all. There is a need for this plan for any project, even if the company has to invest a little more in it. When you decide to create a comprehensive contingency plan, you will feel the pay off when you end up needing it.

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What Is A Business Continuity Plan? [+ Template & Examples]

Published: December 30, 2022

When a business crisis occurs, the last thing you want to do is panic.

The second-to-last thing you want to do is be unprepared. Crises typically arise without warning. While you shouldn't start every day expecting the worst, you should be relatively prepared for anything to happen.

A business crisis can cost your company a lot of money and ruin your reputation if you don't have a business continuity plan in place. Customers aren't very forgiving, especially when a crisis is influenced by accidents within the company or other preventable mistakes. If you want your company to be able to maintain its business continuity in the face of a crisis, then you'll need to come up with this type of plan to uphold its essential functions.

In this post, we'll explain what a business continuity plan is, give examples of scenarios that would require a business continuity plan, and provide a template that you can use to create a well-rounded program for your business.

Table of Contents:

What is a business continuity plan?

• Business Continuity Types
• Business Continuity vs Disaster Recovery

Business Continuity Plan Template

How to write a business continuity plan.

• Business Continuity Examples

A business continuity plan outlines directions and procedures that your company will follow when faced with a crisis. These plans include business procedures, names of assets and partners, human resource functions, and other helpful information that can help maintain your brand's relationships with relevant stakeholders. The goal of a business continuity plan is to handle anything from minor disruptions to full-blown threats.

For example, one crisis that your business may have to respond to is a severe snowstorm. Your team may be wondering, "If a snowstorm disrupted our supply chain, how would we resume business?" Planning contingencies ahead of time for situations like these can help your business stay afloat when you're faced with an unavoidable crisis.

When you think about business continuity in terms of the essential functions your business requires to operate, you can begin to mitigate and plan for specific risks within those functions.

Crisis Communication and Management Kit

Manage, plan for, and communicate during your corporate crises with these crisis management plan templates.

• Free Crisis Management Plan Template
• 12 Crisis Communication Templates
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• Additional Crisis Best Management Practices

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Business Continuity Planning

Business continuity planning is the process of creating a plan to address a crisis. When writing out a business continuity plan, it's important to consider the variety of crises that could potentially affect the company and prepare a resolution for each.

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What Is Contingency Planning? [+ Examples]

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Business Contingency Plan Template

What is a Business Contingency Plan?

A business contingency plan outlines the steps and procedures a business should take in the event of an unexpected disruption or disaster. The plan provides detailed guidance on how to respond to an event, initiate recovery operations, and resume business operations. The plan should cover all areas of the business, including operations, personnel, resources, and technology.

What's included in this Business Contingency Plan template?

• 3 focus areas
• 6 objectives

Each focus area has its own objectives, projects, and KPIs to ensure that the strategy is comprehensive and effective.

Who is the Business Contingency Plan template for?

This Business Contingency Plan template is designed for executives, managers, and teams in any industry to plan and prepare for unexpected events and contingencies. The template provides a framework for developing a comprehensive plan that can be used to mitigate the effects of a disruption or disaster.

1. Define clear examples of your focus areas

Focus areas are the overarching themes of the strategy that will be addressed. Examples of focus areas in a business contingency plan could include risk reduction, resource management, and training and education. Each focus area should have specific objectives and related projects that will help to achieve the desired outcomes.

2. Think about the objectives that could fall under that focus area

Objectives are the goals that will be achieved within a focus area. For each focus area, objectives should be identified that are measurable and achievable. Objectives could include establishing contingency plans, creating risk mitigation strategies, monitoring resources, and providing training and education.

3. Set measurable targets (KPIs) to tackle the objective

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are the metrics used to measure progress towards the objectives. For each objective, KPIs should be defined that are measurable and achievable. KPIs should be set for each focus area and objective, and should include an initial value, a target value, and a unit of measure. An example of a KPI for the focus area of Risk Reduction could be: Develop a working contingency plan.

4. Implement related projects to achieve the KPIs

Projects (or actions) are the initiatives that will be undertaken to achieve the objectives. For each focus area and objective, projects should be identified that are related to the goal and will help to achieve the desired outcomes. Projects should be detailed and include a timeline and resources that will be required. An example of a project related to Risk Reduction could be: Develop a contingency plan to identify potential risks and develop strategies to mitigate them.

5. Utilize Cascade Strategy Execution Platform to see faster results from your strategy

The Cascade Strategy Execution Platform enables organizations to quickly plan, execute, and measure their strategies. The platform provides an easy-to-use interface, powerful analytics, and real-time updates that make it easy to track progress towards objectives and ensure strategies are on track.

Free Business Continuity Plan Templates

By Andy Marker | October 23, 2018

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In this article, you’ll find the most useful free, downloadable business continuity plan (BCP) templates, in Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and PDF formats. Customize the templates to fit the needs of your business, ensuring you maintain critical operations at all times.

Included on this page, you’ll find a business continuity plan template , a small business continuity plan template , a business continuity framework template , and more.

Business Continuity Plan Template

Download Business Continuity Plan Template

Word | PowerPoint | PDF  | Smartsheet

Use this template to document and track your business operations in the event of a disruption or disaster to maintain critical processes. With space to record business function recovery priorities, recovery plans, and alternate site locations, this template allows you to plan efficiently for disruption and minimize downtime, so your business maintains optimal efficiency. This template is available for download in Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and PDF formats.

Additionally, you can learn the definition of a business continuity plan, the steps involved in business continuity planning, as well as about the business continuity lifecycle in our article about business continuity planning .

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IT Service Continuity Plan Template

Download IT Service Continuity Plan Template

This template is geared specifically to IT business operations and aims to maintain IT processes despite any possible harmful disruption. Use this template to document recovery objectives, teams, and strategies in order to accurately capture all facets of the continuity plan needed for an IT team. This template is available in both Word and PDF formats.

Business Continuity Framework Template

Download Business Continuity Framework Template

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This template outlines the structure involved in creating a business continuity plan. It provides an easy, comprehensive way to detail the steps that will comprise your unique BCP. Use this template to plan each phase of a typical BCP, including the business impact analysis, recovery strategies, and plan development. This template can serve as an overall framework for your larger BCP plan.

Business Continuity Program Template

Download Business Continuity Program Template

Similar to the business continuity plan template, this template documents the steps involved in maintaining normal business operations during an unplanned disruption or disaster. Using this template, you can plan out the critical elements needed to continue business as usual, including recovery priorities, backup and restoration plans, and alternate site locations. This template is available for download in both Microsoft Word and PDF formats.

Business Continuity Procedure Template

Download Business Continuity Procedure Template

Much like the business continuity framework template, this template helps users create a thorough, streamlined BCP by detailing the procedure involved in creating and maintaining a plan, as well as implementing one. Use this template to document everything from a business impact analysis to plan development, plan testing, and exercises. Download this template in Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, or PDF to get started.

Business Continuity Plan Template for Nonprofits

Download Business Continuity Plan Template for Nonprofits

In the event of a disruption in business that affects your nonprofit organization, use this template to document a business recovery strategy, identify alternate business locations, and effectively plan for inevitable business downtime. This template is available for download in Microsoft Word and PDF formats.

School Business Continuity Plan Template

Download School Business Continuity Plan Template

Plan for disruptions in regular school activities and operations in the event of emergency or crisis with this helpful template. This template, designed with schools, colleges, and universities in mind, allows you to prioritize operations and responses, identify important phases of recovery, design a restoration plan, and more.

Small Business Continuity Plan Template

Download Small Business Continuity Plan Template

Record your business recovery priorities, identify alternate site locations to conduct business, create recovery teams, and assign recovery responsibilities to specific team members with this continuity plan for small businesses. Ensure that you are able to maintain critical processes and minimize downtime so your business can keep moving forward.

SaaS Business Continuity Plan Template

Download SaaS Business Continuity Plan Template

Use this business continuity plan template to keep your SaaS business productive and efficient, despite any unforeseen events or disruptions. With space to record everything from recovery procedures and strategies to relocation strategies and alternate site locations, you’ll be able to keep business moving and remain productive during a crisis or disruption.

Business Continuity Plan Template for Medical Practices

Download Business Continuity Plan Template for Medical Practices

Identify risk strategies for specific areas of business, like clinical, finance and operations, and IT, designate specific recovery strategies, and prioritize the most important, mission-critical operations for your medical practice with this complete business continuity plan template.

Business Continuity Plan Template for Healthcare Organizations

Download Business Continuity Plan Template for Healthcare Organizations

Some businesses, like healthcare organizations, rely on critical processes and procedures to maintain productivity and keep both patients and staff safe. To ensure these processes are followed — even during a business disruption — use this business continuity plan template to identify all potential risks, create mitigation plans, and assign tasks to key team members.

Activities to Complete Before Writing the Business Continuity Plan

Certain steps can help you prepare to write a business continuity plan. See our article on how to write a business continuity plan to learn more.

Common Structure of a Business Continuity Plan

Every business continuity plan should include certain common elements. See our article on how to write a business continuity plan to learn more.

Tips For Writing Your Business Continuity Plan

Business continuity experts have gathered time-tested tips for business continuity planning. See our article on how to write a business continuity plan to learn more.

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Business continuity plan template

Creating a fail-safe for your business is a great way to mitigate risk. Establish your backup strategy with a business continuity plan template.

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It’s not always fun thinking about things that could go wrong. But when you’re creating a business, taking the time to think about these things can help prevent risk. Creating a solid backup plan for your business can help ensure success—even if something bad happens. That’s where a business continuity plan can help.

What is a business continuity plan?

A business continuity plan (BCP) is a long-term strategy to help your business overcome and recover from major roadblocks. Creating a BCP ensures that, even if something goes wrong, your business still has a strategy in place to overcome that issue.

What’s the difference between a business continuity plan and a contingency plan?

What is a business continuity plan template.

A business continuity plan template is the basic framework of a continuity plan, which you can easily duplicate whenever you need to create a new plan.It’s intended to be used as a skeleton, so your team can fill it with the important information needed to establish a strong business continuity plan.

Using a business continuity plan template ensures that every single BCP you create has all the necessary information your team needs to make the plan successful. When there’s a repeatable framework, your team becomes more familiar with what information goes into a BCP. As a result, they’ll be more comfortable using the plan, should the situation arise. 

What components does a business continuity plan template have?

The goal of a business continuity plan template is to help everyone on your team understand what to do after an emergency happens. That means your BCP template should organize key information into the following categories. That way, your team can fill out the correct information when you build your strategy.

Directly responsible individuals (DRIs) or important tiger teams : These are the individual points of contact you would go to in case of an emergency. You’ll find contact information for the DRIs, plus the best way to reach them in this section.

Risk assessment: This includes risk analysis documents such as a risk register , which analyzes potential setbacks a project or your business may encounter. 

Action plan : The step-by-step plan your team will follow if an emergency happens.

Recovery procedures: This section details the steps your team should take to recover from any major business interruptions.

Crucial business functions: The key aspects of the business that are necessary to keep things functioning. These are the bare minimum operations that your business needs running smoothly if you want to stay functional. It’s important to highlight these functions so your team knows which areas to focus on should an emergency arise. 

Succession plan : In the event that leaders or DRIs are unable to fill a role, a succession plan provides a back-up person to take their place. 

Internal communication strategy: It’s important to develop a communication plan for how you share information with your entire team. Developing a communication strategy beforehand can help prevent misinformation and confusing messaging from going out to your team during emergency situations.

Alternate business processes (aka backup plans): This section details alternate ways your business can still function even if a part of it fails. This can include alternate vendors or suppliers, or manual workarounds for automated tasks. 

Why you should use a business continuity plan template

Using a business continuity plan template can help your team in a few different ways. Here’s how.

Faster recovery: When disaster happens, you want to be able to recover quickly to minimize the amount of downtime your company faces. Having a BCP template prepared can help minimize the amount of time it takes to develop a full BCP strategy.

Create multiple fail-safes: Sometimes one BCP is not enough. A BCP template can help you create multiple plans so you have more than one way to recover should an emergency occur. 

Insurance doesn’t cover everything: While insuring your business is a smart move, it won’t be able to help you in all situations, such as an economic downturn. Using a BCP template means your business is ready to develop a strategy before any external environments begin to change, so your team can start planning as soon as you catch wind of something on the horizon. 

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Creating a business continuity plan template is simple. Start by using collaborative work management software like Asana so that your entire team can access the template. From there, create sections for all of the key components of a BCP template—like directly responsible individuals (DRIs), risk assessments, action plans, recovery procedures, crucial business functions, succession plans, internal communication strategies, and alternate business processes.

What are the four P’s of business continuity planning?

When you start filling out the key information in a business continuity plan template, there are four segments that you should consider: people (meaning your employees and potential customers), processes (the steps you need to take to run your business), premises (the physical location or locations of your business), and providers (business partners like suppliers and vendors).

What is a business continuity plan checklist?

A business continuity plan checklist is a list of tasks your team should complete when experiencing an emergency or potential risk. It helps by minimizing the amount of disruptions your business experiences when encountering issues or roadblocks.The easiest way to create this checklist is by using a business continuity plan template. That way, you have the same checklist for every strategy you create.

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9 Professional Business Continuity Plan (BCP) Templates

Written by: Idorenyin Uko

Crises are inevitable in business—be it natural disasters, pandemics, human error, system failures or other unforeseen events. PwC's 2023 Global Crisis and Resilience Survey revealed that 96% of business leaders encountered disruption in the past two years and 76% stated that the impact on operations was medium to high.

As a business leader who wants to stay ahead of the game, resilience should be a top priority. You don’t want to get caught off guard during disruptions—you could lose thousands of dollars or your reputation could take a hit. That’s why it's super important to create a business continuity plan that helps you proactively anticipate and respond to crises.

A well-crafted business continuity plan (BCP) template is your organization's roadmap for surviving unexpected disruptions. It outlines the steps necessary to keep your business operational during and after a crisis.

In this article, we’ll provide nine professional business continuity plan templates to get you started and cover how to create an effective business continuity plan.

Table of Contents

What is a business continuity plan, what should a business continuity plan include, types of business continuity, how to write a business continuity plan, business continuity plan faqs.

• A Business Continuity Plan (BCP) is a document that outlines the procedures an organization must follow during a disaster or other significant event that may disrupt business operations.
• A disaster recovery plan aims to restore IT infrastructure, systems and operations after a crisis. In contrast, a business continuity plan is designed to ensure that essential business functions are available during and after a crisis, including personnel, facilities, processes and technology.
• There are different types of business continuity, such as operational, technology, economic, workforce, safety, environmental, security, reputation management and regulatory and compliance continuity.
• Follow these business continuity planning steps to prepare for uncertainties: assemble a team, define your goals and scope, engage key personnel in different departments, identify critical business functions and threats, analyze the impact of each threat and conduct a business impact analysis.
• Visme provides a wide range of professionally designed templates, AI tools, an online whiteboard, analytics and advanced features for efficient business continuity planning. Create a team account to collaborate with stakeholders, brainstorm and create a plan that is robust and easy to implement and update.

A business continuity plan (BCP) is a playbook that explains the procedures your company must follow to maintain or resume operations in the event of a risk or crisis. These risks may include cyberattacks, civic unrest, human errors, pandemics, natural disasters or other threats.

This plan covers your essential business processes, human resources, assets, business partners and more. It also specifies the systems and processes that need to be sustained and describes how to maintain them to minimize downtime during unplanned events.

With a solid BCP plan, your team can quickly respond to risks and crises, reduce downtime, maintain customer confidence and protect your brand reputation. It also helps your company continue to meet its obligations to customers, suppliers and other stakeholders.

Business Continuity Plan vs. Disaster Recovery Plan

A business continuity plan and a disaster recovery plan are both essential components of any company's risk management strategy. Together, they are considered business continuity disaster recovery (BCDR).

However, they are not the same!

A disaster recovery plan focuses on restoring IT infrastructure, systems and operations after a crisis, while a business continuity plan covers all aspects of business operations, including personnel, facilities, processes and technology.

That said, a disaster recovery plan is a crucial element for maintaining business continuity. And the action items in your organization's disaster recovery plan should be informed by the business continuity plan.

If you want your business continuity plan to be effective, remember to incorporate these key components.

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• Business Impact Analysis (BIA): This section should pinpoint the critical business functions—the essential processes and activities that keep your business running. You should also determine business processes that can be interrupted without major consequences.
• Risk Assessment or Threat Analysis: In this section, identify potential threats or risks that could disrupt these essential processes. These could include natural disasters (floods, fires, etc), cyberattacks, power outages or a global pandemic. Then, prioritize these threats based on their likelihood of occurring and the potential severity of their impact.
• Continuity Strategies and Procedures: Develop detailed plans for recovering critical business functions after a disruption. This may include communication protocols, data backup and recovery procedures, alternative work arrangements, evacuation plans, emergency contacts, etc. Be sure to address all aspects of business continuity, including people, processes, facilities and technology.
• Business Continuity Testing and Maintenance: Your plan should include regular testing and maintenance of your business continuity strategy. Business continuity exercises—like simulations and drills—are great for spotting weaknesses and making sure your strategy is effective and reliable. Conduct these exercises regularly and update the plan periodically based on what you’ve learned from them or to reflect changes in your business, technology and the threat landscape.
• Crisis Management/Recovery Team: In your plan, assemble a recovery team responsible for implementing the BCP during a crisis. Outline the roles and responsibilities of each team member, along with the training and resources required to handle crisis situations. The team should have regular meetings to go over the business continuity plan and identify any adjustments to be made.
• Employee Training and Awareness: It is essential that all members of the business recovery team receive training so they know what to do before, during and after an emergency. Your plan should highlight the type of training they need, the resources needed to implement it and how to assess its effectiveness.
• Crisis Communication Plan: Establish internal and external communication protocols during a crisis. Outline who will be responsible for communicating with employees, customers, vendors, suppliers and other stakeholders. Also, describe how information will be disseminated—text, email, social media, phone call, etc.
• Backup or Alternative Work Locations: The business continuity plan should include a list of alternate locations where operations can continue if primary facilities are inaccessible and the details of those locations. Don't forget to list any physical assets, like computers needed at the backup location to keep things running smoothly.
• Technology : Explain how you’ll maintain access to critical systems like emergency power, data backup and redundant systems in your plan.
• Continuous Monitoring and Review: Establish a process for monitoring and reviewing the effectiveness of the BCP on an ongoing basis. This includes updating the plan to reflect changes in the business environment, technology or regulatory requirements.
• Documentation and Documentation Management: Maintain detailed documentation of the BCP, including policies, procedures and contact information. Ensure that this documentation is readily accessible to key personnel and regularly updated as needed.
• Operational Continuity: This type of continuity plan focuses on ensuring services, processes and infrastructure required for operations continue to function during and after a disruption. Operational continuity helps minimize downtime and financial losses.
• Technology Continuity: For companies that heavily depend on technology, this continuity plan keeps their IT systems and data (networks, servers, databases and applications) up and running and secure. IT continuity plans typically include strategies for data backup, system redundancy and recovery procedures.
• Economic Continuity: This continuity plan guarantees that your business will remain financially stable, liquid and profitable in times of disruption. It involves taking steps to ensure the organization is prepared to withstand potential scenarios that may negatively impact your bottom line such as accessing emergency funds, managing cash flow and securing lines of credit.
• Workforce Continuity: This plan involves having enough employees with the right skills and knowledge to handle the workload, especially during times of crisis. Workforce continuity plans may include company succession planning , cross-training employees, implementing remote work options or leveraging technology to automate specific tasks.
• Safety Continuity: Safety continuity addresses the well-being and safety of employees during a disruption. This involves guaranteeing their safety, providing support services, creating a comfortable work environment and ensuring employees have the tools they need to succeed.
• Environmental Continuity: This type of BCP ensures your team can operate effectively and safely in their work environment. Environmental continuity may include identifying potential threats to your physical office or headquarters and developing response strategies to protect against natural disasters, fires or other hazards that could disrupt operations.
• Security Continuity: Security resilience is about maintaining the safety and security of employees, critical assets and information during disruptions, natural disasters, cyber-attacks, etc. Security continuity strategies include implementing redundant security measures, creating backup systems, identity and access management, securing endpoint devices, regular security awareness training and developing incident response plans.
• Reputation Management: This plan focuses on protecting and preserving the organization's reputation and brand image during and after a crisis. Reputation management plans include strategies for managing public perception, addressing negative publicity and rebuilding stakeholder trust.
• Regulatory and Compliance Continuity: This business continuity plan addresses compliance with regulatory requirements and industry standards during and after a disruption. These may include strategies for ensuring ongoing compliance, maintaining documentation and addressing any regulatory issues that may arise.

9 Business Continuity Plan Templates

Here are nine business continuity templates you can customize to fit your branding and business planning needs.

1. General Business Continuity Plan

This lilac-themed business continuity plan is the perfect tool to prepare your company for risks or unplanned disruptions. It has dedicated sections for key contacts, communication guidelines, threat analysis, recovery phases and training and awareness.

By filling out these sections, stakeholders have a set of guidelines and procedures to follow during emergencies. You can adapt it to suit your company’s risk management strategy—no matter your business size or niche.

Each page of this plan is decorated with stunning visuals and graphics that drive visual appeal and hook your audience until the end. This template is customizable—you can edit content, change images, apply custom colors and add or remove pages.

Invite stakeholders to view, comment on or edit this plan in real time or asynchronously with Visme’s collaboration tool . Team members can also leave feedback, reply to or resolve comments.

Use the workflow tool to assign roles or different sections of the plan for team members to work on and manage progress, deadlines and corrections—all in one place.

 2. Business Continuity Plan Flow Chart

Unlike our previous example, this template is packed with stunning visuals, flowcharts and tables that illustrate your business continuity plan.

This business continuity plan example outlines the different stages of managing hard failure, from impact analysis to risk assessment and preventive measures. You’ll also find information on critical functions and key contacts and resources.

Notice how the first flowchart illustrates the link between different business functions and their threat types. There's also a table that lists the threat type, likelihood and impact. With Visme, you can easily visualize any business process with flowcharts , diagrams , charts , graphs , maps and other data visualization tools .

From a design perspective, this template is incredible. The visual hierarchy is top-notch and beautifully executed. The white text on a dark background creates a striking visual contrast that grabs readers’ attention and guides their eyes to the most important information.

3. Construction Business Continuity Plan

If you run a construction firm, this business continuity plan has everything you need to enhance your company’s resilience. It outlines all the procedures for responding to different scenarios, ensuring your company can continue operations even during adverse conditions.

This template isn’t set in stone. With our intuitive editor, you can easily adapt it to similar industries, such as architecture, engineering, project management, manufacturing, real estate development and more. This plan accounts for the project transition protocol, stakeholder communication plan, project review status, team support and training and contingency measures to be taken during a crisis.

The fusion of geometric shapes and a contemporary design layout will give your document a dynamic flair. Moreover, the black, white and red color blend creates a visually striking aesthetic.

4. Business Continuity Plan Framework

Use this business continuity framework to protect your company’s reputation. It demonstrates you have taken proactive steps to ensure operational continuity in the event of a disaster. You can replicate it to address other business continuity types such as technology, workforce, security or safety.

This template features key sections of your BCP framework: introduction and conclusions, key contacts, incident response, resource allocation, review and improvement.

The contemporary design grabs attention with its sleek layout and excellent typography, setting the stage for a fantastic reading experience.

But it's not just about aesthetics. The use of stunning images and visual assets helps illustrate the plan's critical components. Visme has an extensive library of graphics and visual assets, such as 2D and 3D icons , shapes, lines, 3D characters, stock photos and videos to make your BCP engaging and easy to understand.

5. SaaS One Pager Business Continuity Plan

Prepare for any emergencies or disruptions, such as application downtime, in your company's operations with this stunning BCP framework. This template—designed with SaaS, tech or e-commerce companies in mind—is here to help you plan for the worst and ensure your business stays up and running.

Not only does it mark the threat level as high, but it visualizes each phase of your BCP, objectives and action plan for each phase in a table format.

With its user-friendly business continuity plan checklist, you can easily prioritize operations and responses, identify critical recovery phases and create a complete restoration plan.

Do you have a draft of your plan in a Google Sheet or Microsoft Excel? Rather than filling out your table manually, you can copy and paste data into your project. You also have the option to embed your table or connect it to live data . Feel free to change the table theme or design, edit headers and cells and more.

6. Cybersecurity Business Continuity Plan

Use this cyber security business continuity plan to minimize the impact of cyber attacks or other security breaches. It ensures critical business operations can continue in the face of a security incident. With a subtle mix of white and accent colors, this template creates a minimalist look that draws the reader’s eye to your message without distractions.

The document starts with an intro that explains what the BCP is about. It further outlines roles and contact details for key personnel as well as internal and external communication guidelines.

Next up is the threat analysis and risk management plan and contracts for suppliers and partners. The final part of this IT continuity plan explains the recovery phases, procedures for responding to cybersecurity incidents and a training and awareness plan.

Remember to customize this plan to align your company’s branding with Visme’s Brand Design Tool . This sends a message that continuity planning is an integral part of your company's values and operations, rather than just a generic set of procedures.

To do this, just input your website URL; the wizard will pull in brand assets and save them in your brand kit . That way, you don’t have to manually add them every time you create a design. The best part is that you’ll have beautiful, branded templates crafted specifically for you.

7. Healthcare One Page Business Continuity Plan

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Disruptions in healthcare operations can have severe consequences not just for your patients but also to your reputation. Even during a crisis, you can’t compromise on the availability of medical supplies, equipment and critical personnel.

This business continuity plan is the key to ensuring you aren’t caught off guard. It prepares you for events such as natural disasters, cyber-attacks or disease outbreaks while minimizing the disruption to patient care.

This one-page business continuity plan analyzes the impact of each natural disaster, along with an immediate recovery strategy and long-term plan—all in a tabular format. With this detailed plan, you can keep critical systems and processes operational and continue to provide essential care and services during and after a crisis or disaster.

Keep stakeholders engaged and enhance their experience with animation and interactive elements like links, popups, hover effects, animated icons, illustrations and special effects. For example, you can link your one-pager to a website or document that contains detailed information about the plan.

8. Nonprofit Business Continuity Plan

Nonprofits need a continuity plan to continue serving their communities even in the face of adversity. This business continuity plan is designed to minimize the impact of unexpected events so your organization can continue operations and fulfill its mission.

This business continuity gap analysis template thoroughly details the organization’s financial status, cost reduction strategies, fundraising opportunities and grants, communication and transparency with stakeholders and continuous review and revisions of the plan.

If you need help tailoring the content to your project, take advantage of Visme’s AI Writer . Input a detailed prompt and watch the tool generate high-quality drafts, proofread your existing text or modify the tone to appeal to your audience.

9. Roles and Responsibilities Business Continuity Plan

This business continuity plan for leadership change is crucial for succession planning . With this template, your organization can continue operations smoothly, even during a transition period.

In this template, you will find the details for key contacts, a transition planning strategy, service delivery continuity and financial stability. Use it as a reference to guide and prepare for unexpected events that could impact leadership or key roles, such as sudden illness or other unforeseen circumstances.

This BCP design template is a stunning work of art. From the color scheme to the layout, every element is crafted to evoke emotions. Each page has beautiful visuals that strike the perfect balance between professionalism and aesthetic appeal.

Download the report in PDF or image format and share it offline with stakeholders. Alternatively, generate a shareable online URL or HTML code to embed it on your landing page or website.

Monitor how your readers engage with your plan using Visme Analytics . Gain insight into metrics, such as views, unique visits, average time and average completion.

A well-crafted business continuity plan (BCP) is your organization's roadmap for surviving unexpected disruptions— big or small.

However, business continuity management is not just about putting together a checklist of actions.

To truly prepare for the unexpected, you must approach BCP development with a proactive, strategic and intentional mindset.

In this section, we’ll break down the steps involved in writing an effective business continuity plan.

1. Assemble a Business Continuity Team

Start by forming a dedicated team responsible for developing, implementing and maintaining your business continuity plan.

Your team should work together to identify potential risks, develop plans for mitigating those risks, test them and be ready to implement them in the event of a crisis. It's important to ensure that the team is diverse, well-trained and has the resources to manage a crisis effectively.

This team should include representatives from various departments across your organization, such as IT, operations, human resources, finance, communications and legal. It’s advisable to have a high-level executive, such as a CEO, COO or CFO, who will not only provide leadership and support but also act as a link between company executives and the rest of the team.

Appoint a dedicated BCP coordinator or manager who will serve as the primary point of contact for the BCP team and coordinate activities across departments. You’ll also need a communications expert to handle information sharing related to the plan. Depending on your company size, you may need to bring in risk management experts, external consultants or advisors.

2. Define the Goals and Scope of the Business Continuity Plan

A well-defined Business Continuity Plan (BCP) should spell out what you aim to achieve, what your plan will cover and specific benchmarks for success.

For example, your goal(s) could be to minimize downtime for critical business functions, protect essential data and IT infrastructure from loss or damage, ensure the safety and well-being of employees during a crisis and minimize financial losses caused by disruptions.

Your scope should discuss the breadth and limitations of your plan. What type of disruption does it cover—natural disasters, cyberattacks, power outages? Which business functions are included—IT, finance or customer service? What level of detail will be provided—a high-level overview or step-by-step procedures?

Defining your goals and scope provides clear direction for the recovery team and ensures that your BCP aligns with the overall business objectives.

3. Engage Key Personnel in Different Departments

For your BCP to work, all different departments in your organization need to get involved and work together. This ensures all aspects of the business are considered and potential risks or vulnerabilities are properly addressed.

Start by mapping your critical business functions and identifying the departments that support them. Within each department, pinpoint key personnel who play a crucial role in those functions.

Then, hold brainstorming sessions with these key personnel using Visme’s online whiteboard . The goal is to learn about their key processes, the systems and applications that support your operations, the potential threats they might face, and to develop recovery strategies relevant to that department. This collaborative approach ensures that resources are allocated to the most critical areas.

4. Identify Critical Business Functions and Threats

After gathering insights from brainstorming or interview sessions, develop a list of your organization's critical functions, processes and activities. These functions will vary depending on the industry, size and nature of the organization.

Once you’ve identified critical business functions, carefully assess and analyze the potential threats that could impact them. Threats can come from various sources, such as natural disasters, cyber-attacks, supply chain disruptions, financial crises,  human errors and even more specific threats like losing a key supplier.

5. Analyze the Impact of Each Threat

Next, evaluate how each threat could disrupt your operations, considering factors like data loss, physical damage or employee displacement.

Evaluate the probability that each risk could occur by reviewing historical data, industry reports and expert opinions. Then, evaluate the potential impact of each risk on business operations.

When assessing the financial, operational and reputational impact of each risk, you may want to consider these questions:

• What is the potential impact on the company's reputation and brand image?
• How much revenue will be lost during the downtime?
• What are the potential costs of mitigating the risk?
• How would the risk affect the company's operations, such as production or delivery?
• How many stakeholders, suppliers or customers will lose confidence in the company?

Prioritize threats based on their likelihood of occurring and potential severity of impact. This activity will help you prioritize the most critical areas and develop appropriate mitigation strategies.

6. Conduct a Business Impact Analysis (BIA)

The BIA analysis helps you determine the maximum tolerable downtime (RTO) and acceptable amount of data loss (RPO) for each function. It analyzes the critical business functions within your organization, the major resources they utilize, their operational dependencies and the average time required for each function.

Recovery Time Objective (RTO) refers to the maximum amount of time that a system, network or application can be down after a disruption or failure before the resulting impact becomes unacceptable.

The Recovery Point Objective (RPO) is the maximum amount of data loss an organization can withstand in the event of a disaster or system failure.

Every organization has a unique Recovery Time Objective (RTO) and Recovery Point Objective (RPO). It all depends on the nature of its business, the industry it operates in, any regulatory requirements it needs to comply with and other operational factors.

What's more, different parts of a business can even have different RTOs and RPOs, which is why executives need to set them up based on their specific needs. This analysis helps prioritize your recovery efforts based on what's essential to keep your business running.

7. Develop Recovery Strategies for Each Risk

For each identified threat, develop detailed recovery strategies to ensure critical business functions can resume as quickly as possible.

For example, this might involve workforce redundancy plans, data backup and recovery procedures, alternative communication channels and plans for relocating operations to a backup site if necessary.

8. Document the Plan

Now that you have all the information you need for your business continuity plan (BCP), the next step is to draft it in a user-friendly format. That’s the beauty of pre-made templates—they can help you save time and effort.

Our templates are designed by professionals and include placeholder content that can inspire and fuel your creativity.

To get started, we recommend that you choose one of the templates we’ve shared above and customize it to meet your specific needs using Visme’s intuitive editor. You can easily edit the content, replace images, apply custom colors, input your fonts and logo and much more.

If you’re racing against the clock and need to create your BCP quickly, consider using Visme’s AI Document Generator . Write a detailed prompt explaining what you want to create, choose the design theme and watch the tool produce a plan with ready-made design and content.

If you’re creating BCPs for different risks or processes, duplicate the template and use our Dynamic Fields feature to do that.

Just create custom fields on each plan and you can make changes to multiple documents with a single click.

When drafting your plan, it’s essential to ensure that it is easily accessible to all relevant personnel and outlines the roles and responsibilities of team members during a crisis. That way, everyone knows their specific duties and responsibilities, increasing the chances of a successful response during a crisis.

9. Test and Revise the Plan

A BCP is only effective if it's tested regularly. Conduct tabletop exercises, simulations and drills to test the effectiveness of the BCP, identify weaknesses and ensure everyone understands their roles. Evaluate your company’s response to various scenarios and identify areas for improvement.

The BCP is a living document. Based on the outcomes of testing and exercises, document flaws and lessons learned and use them to update the BCP accordingly. Likewise, review and update it periodically to reflect changes in your business environment, technology or regulatory requirements.

Moreover, regularly train your employees on their roles and responsibilities during a crisis. Ensure they understand how to access and implement the BCP during a disruption. Read this article to learn how to create a successful training program that not only educates but engages your employees.

Q. Why Is a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) Important?

A Business Continuity Plan (BCP) is important because it helps your organization prepare for, respond to and recover from unexpected events that could disrupt normal business operations.

BCPs outline the procedures and strategies a company should follow during a disaster, such as a cyber attack, natural disaster or any other unforeseen event that could affect the organization's ability to operate normally.

By having a BCP in place, businesses can minimize the impact of a disruption and quickly resume operations, which can help reduce downtime, prevent financial losses and ultimately protect the organization's reputation.

Q. Who Is Responsible for a Business Continuity Plan?

A business Continuity Plan (BCP) typically falls under senior management or a designated team within an organization.

This team is responsible for identifying potential risks and threats that could impact the organization's operations, developing a BCP that outlines the steps to be taken in the event of a disruption and ensuring that the plan is regularly reviewed and updated.

In some cases, organizations may choose to hire external consultants or engage with third-party service providers to develop and implement a BCP.

Q. How Often Should You Create a Business Continuity Plan?

A Business Continuity Plan (BCP) should be created, reviewed and updated on a regular basis to ensure that it remains relevant and effective.

The frequency of reviews and updates will depend on several factors, including the size and complexity of your organization, the level of risk it faces and any changes to the business environment or regulatory landscape.

Many organizations review their BCPs annually, while others may opt for a more frequent review cycle, such as quarterly or bi-annually. However, you need to update it whenever there are significant changes to your organization's operations, such as introducing new products or services, changes in the workforce or modifications to IT systems.

Q. Why Do Business Continuity Plans Fail?

Business Continuity Plans (BCPs) can fail for a variety of reasons, including:

• Insufficient planning: Failure to recognize all possible risks and threats, unrealistic assumptions regarding the consequences of a disruption or neglecting the requirements of key stakeholders.
• Poor communication: Communication breakdown can lead to a poor execution of the plan. Employees may not be aware of their roles and responsibilities or may not have the information required to make informed decisions during a crisis.
• Failure to Test the BCP: Not regularly testing and updating the BCP through drills, exercises or simulations can result in an inability to recognize weaknesses or gaps in the plan.
• Lack of resources: A lack of resources, including funding and personnel, can also contribute to the failure of a BCP, as it may be difficult to implement and maintain the plan without adequate support.
• Overlooking human factors: BCPs that fail to account for human factors, such as panic, fatigue, or misinformation during emergencies, may struggle to manage the psychological and behavioral aspects of crisis response.

Q. How Long Does It Take to Create a Business Continuity Plan?

The time it takes to create a business continuity plan can vary depending on the size and complexity of your organization. Generally, it can take several weeks to several months to develop a comprehensive plan. With Visme’s AI document generator, you can create one in a fraction of the time.

Q. What Are the Six Phases of Business Continuity Planning?

The six phases of business continuity planning are as follows:

• Project initiation and management: This phase involves identifying the scope of the business continuity plan and selecting a team to oversee its development and implementation.
• Risk assessment: This phase involves identifying potential risks and hazards that could disrupt business operations and analyzing their potential impact.
• Business impact analysis: Once potential risks have been identified, the next step is to conduct a business impact analysis to understand the possible consequences of a disruption to different areas of the organization.
• Design and development of the business continuity plan: This phase is where you create the business continuity plan, which includes detailed procedures and protocols to be followed in the event of a disruption. It also covers all areas of the organization and outlines the roles and responsibilities of each team member.
• Testing and training: It is crucial to test and train employees on the business continuity plan to ensure that it is effective and that everyone knows what to do in the event of a disruption. This could involve tabletop exercises, simulations or full-scale tests.
• Plan maintenance and improvement: The business continuity plan should be regularly reviewed and updated to ensure that it remains effective and up-to-date. This could involve incorporating feedback from tests and exercises, updating contact information or revising procedures based on changes in the organization or external factors.

Streamline Your Planning & Documentation With Visme

A well-crafted BCP is the key to ensuring your business’ resilience and long-term success.

This article provides everything you need to develop a robust BCP that prepares your organization to respond to and recover from various disruptions effectively.

Now is the time to make it count. Visme offers an extensive library of templates, AI-powered tools, an infinite whiteboard, analytics and advanced features to streamline business continuity planning. You can easily collaborate with stakeholders, brainstorm and create a plan that’s not only robust but also easy to execute and update.

Get started on creating your business continuity plan today with Visme. Sign up now to ensure your business is prepared for any unexpected disruptions.

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10 Free Contingency Plan Templates in Word and ClickUp

Praburam Srinivasan

Growth Marketing Manager

February 13, 2024

• 10 Free Contingency Plan Templates in Word and ClickUp ', 'https://clickup.com/blog/contingency-plan-templates/')" class="share__link button-reset" id="social-share-button-mobile-top">

In the business world, risk management is crucial. Every day, businesses grapple with unpredictable factors that, if not appropriately managed, could disrupt their smooth operation. 

This is where contingency plan templates become vital. They provide a roadmap for businesses to follow when the unexpected occurs, like system failures or sudden market shifts. 

These templates are especially beneficial because they allow you to create strategic backup plans, ensuring you’re always prepared. They provide the necessary support for dealing with financial uncertainties and operational roadblocks. 

This article explores 10 of the best business contingency plan and backup plan templates from ClickUp and Microsoft Word. These useful tools will guide you in building robust strategies to secure your business operations, no matter what comes your way.

By using these templates, you can effectively prepare for and manage potential risks, thus bolstering the resilience of your business.

What is a Contingency Plan Template?

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A contingency plan template is a pre-structured document or tool to outline a strategic plan for handling unexpected situations or emergencies. 

This tool aids businesses in identifying potential risks, allocating resources, using risk probability, and setting a course of action to mitigate or minimize the impacts of unforeseen events. It’s your road map to continuity in the face of unexpected events and hurdles, be it a financial downturn, a tech malfunction, or an operational interruption.

The best contingency plan template should be comprehensive yet simple to use. It should identify and categorize potential risks, specify preventive measures, and clearly outline the response plan. 

A helpful business contingency plan also offers a mechanism for tracking progress and reviewing the plan’s effectiveness. 

Lastly, it should be adaptable to your business context, offering the flexibility to tailor it to your unique needs and challenges.

10 Contingency Plan Templates to Use in 2024

Here are our 10 favorite templates for contingency plans to use when hoping for the best but planning for the worst.

ClickUp’s Contingency Plan Template  is a robust and comprehensive tool for businesses of all sizes and industries.

You can view risks by stage or priority level, assign tasks to team members, and create automatic notifications so new developments don’t catch you unaware. This contingency plan template guides you through identifying potential risks, mapping response strategies, and assigning responsibilities. 

Its well-structured layout makes it easier to manage all aspects of your contingency planning process, ensuring no stone is left unturned. With the ClickUp Contingency Plan Template, you can confidently face any unforeseen business disruption.

In a fast-paced work environment, emergencies can arise without warning. ClickUp’s Workplace Emergency Action Plan Template  offers a structured approach to planning and responding to these emergencies for contingency planning.

The Workplace Emergency Action Plan Template helps you map out evacuation plans, contact lists, and protocols to ensure everyone’s safety. Its design also promotes effective team management  during crises.

This kind of crisis management plan is often highly sensitive, but rest assured, you can protect ClickUp Docs with custom privacy controls and manage permissions based on who needs access to edit or view. Use this to help you keep normal business operations running.

The construction industry is rife with potential hazards.

With ClickUp’s Construction Emergency Action Plan Template , you can establish a solid foundation for safety. The template allows you to identify possible emergencies, establish procedures, and allocate responsibilities effectively.

You can add tables, and images, create internal bookmarks, and link to other documents within the comprehensive contingency plan to make sure everyone has all the necessary context to understand the action plan and operate safely.

Its organized structure helps with project management and project prioritization  during crisis management like natural disasters.

For small businesses, emergencies can pose serious challenges. ClickUp’s Small Business Emergency Action Plan Template  supports small enterprises in setting up robust contingency plans.

The template encourages clear communication, task delegation, and resource allocation to handle emergencies swiftly.

Describe your office evacuation plan, layout mission-critical operations, and work processes, and make sure everyone has the proper emergency contacts with this contingency planning template.

ClickUp’s Emergency Plan Template  is a comprehensive business contingency plan for any organization type. It promotes clear objectives, allowing for more efficient goal-setting  during emergencies and natural disasters. 

With sections for action steps, responsible parties, stakeholders, technical issues, project requirements, and resource needs, it aids in the project’s success in handling resource constraints  effectively. This business contingency plan template is a great solution to emergency planning across your org.

Corrective actions are crucial when an unexpected event happens. ClickUp’s Corrective Action Plan Whiteboard Template  helps you brainstorm and lay out steps for disciplinary actions. 

This visual contingency planning tool supports your organization’s   strategic planning  efforts, encouraging a detailed analysis of incidents and fostering better employee decision-making.

Encourage your entire team to work together on solutions with collaborative editing features and a visual approach to post-incident retrospectives. This is the perfect tool for building contingency plans together as a team.

Create categories like “Areas for Improvement,” “Possible Solutions,” and “Measures of Success,” then let your stakeholders and team write their ideas on virtual Post-its and place them under the appropriate section. It can be a great way to develop themes and address what you discover as a group.

Incident management requires a structured response plan.   ClickUp’s Incident Action Plan Template  assists you in formulating a systematic response to incidents.

The template includes sections for a situation summary, an execution plan, emergency contacts, assignments, and more.

With its focus on process mapping  and task allocation, this business contingency plan template makes it easy to understand your project controls and work within them.

Reporting work incidents is essential to risk assessment and management.   ClickUp’s Report Work Incident Template  ensures accurate and efficient incident documentation, aiding your   issue-tracking  efforts. It streamlines the reporting process, allowing for timely responses and corrective actions.

In addition to an incident report form, it includes views that let you sort by new reports, track progress on corrective action through a Board View, file different incidents based on category with a Table View, or use a Map View to determine trends in incidents based on where they happened.

This is sure to help your contingency planning process to find what areas or trends are happening across your business.

Bonus: Account planning templates !

This Google Docs Contingency Plans Template by Template.Net offers a straightforward layout for mapping your contingency plan. It’s easy to use, and its Google Docs compatibility allows for real-time collaboration. 

This is the perfect tool for those who prefer the familiarity of Google Docs’ interface.

The Microsoft Word Contingency Plan Template by SampleTemplates offers an intuitive design and simple layout. It’s an excellent choice for businesses who prefer the ease of Microsoft Word for their contingency planning. 

Its structured sections make it easier to categorize, manage, and identify potential risks.

Effective Contingency Planning with ClickUp

As we’ve seen, solid contingency plans are a game-changer in risk management. And with these templates, the simple steps to create contingency plans on your own will now become a breeze. They’re your roadmap to a business continuity plan and success, despite unexpected hurdles with significant risks.

But remember, a template is only as good as the platform it’s on. This is where   ClickUp  shines. ClickUp isn’t just a place for templates; it’s a comprehensive platform that simplifies and streamlines your work management.

One standout feature is   ClickUp Docs . It lets you create, collaborate, and store all your planning documents in one place. Say goodbye to switching between multiple tools. With ClickUp Docs, you’ve got everything you need at your fingertips.

Another major strength of ClickUp is it’s Hierarchy feature. It provides an organized structure for your plans and projects. No more getting lost in a sea of tasks or documents. With ClickUp’s Hierarchy, you can maintain a clear overview of your objectives, allowing for efficient project planning, project management, and execution.

So why wait? Explore ClickUp for free today and elevate the impact level of your contingency planning and proactive strategy to new heights. It’s your tool to thrive, no matter what comes your way.

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Business contingency plan example

This business contingency plan example template can help you:

• Understand your organization's contingency plan more clearly.
• Communicate the plan to everyone who could potentially be affected.
• Prepare your organization to handle anything unexpected.

Open this template to view a detailed example of a business contingency plan that you can customize to your use case.

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Manage Team Workflow With Contingency Plan Template

Prepare for unexpected disruptions with this template, outlining strategies and resources to mitigate risks.

Be Prepared for Anything: Free Contingency Plan Templates

Unexpected events can disrupt your business. Our free contingency plan templates help you stay prepared and minimize downtime. Identify potential risks, outline response strategies, and assign clear roles and responsibilities. These customizable templates empower you to react quickly and efficiently, ensuring business continuity even when faced with challenges. Download your free contingency plan template today and gain peace of mind knowing you're prepared for anything.

How to Use Contingency Plan Template?

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Minimize Disruption, Maximize Results: Effective Contingency Planning with Templates

Our contingency plan templates offer a range of features designed to minimize disruption and maximize results during unforeseen situations. Proactively identify potential threats, develop clear action plans, and ensure effective communication across your team. This proactive approach allows you to anticipate challenges, mitigate risks, and ensure your business remains operational even during disruptions. With our templates, you gain the tools you need to build resilience and navigate unexpected events with confidence.

Build Business Resilience: Empower Your Team with Comprehensive Contingency Plans

Invest in your business resilience and empower your team with our comprehensive contingency plan templates. These customizable tools showcase your commitment to proactive risk management and demonstrate a clear plan for navigating unexpected events. By establishing a culture of preparedness and clear communication channels, you build trust with stakeholders and inspire confidence within your team. Download our contingency plan templates today and take control of your business's future, no matter what comes your way.

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Frequently asked questions, what is a contingency plan template and why use one.

A contingency plan template is a pre-defined document that helps you prepare for unexpected events that could disrupt your project. It provides a structured format to identify potential risks, define response strategies, and assign ownership for managing them. Using a template ensures you're proactive in handling disruptions, minimizing their impact on project success.

How Can I Customize a Contingency Plan Template?

Most templates are flexible. You can customize them by adding or removing sections relevant to your project risks. Common customizations include adding a probability rating for each risk or incorporating a communication plan to notify stakeholders during disruptions.

Who Typically Uses a Contingency Plan Template?

Project managers and anyone involved in risk management find these templates valuable. They promote proactive identification of potential issues, facilitate clear communication of response plans, and ensure a controlled approach to navigating disruptions.

How Can Project Management Software Help with a Contingency Plan Template?

Project management software can significantly boost your plan. Imagine having a digital platform to not only define risks and responses but also track their status, assign ownership for mitigation strategies, and receive alerts when potential disruptions arise. This smooths risk management and ensures you're prepared for any unexpected challenges.

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Blog Business 7 Business Continuity Plan Examples

7 Business Continuity Plan Examples

Written by: Danesh Ramuthi Nov 28, 2023

A business continuity plan (BCP) is a strategic framework that prepares businesses to maintain or swiftly resume their critical functions in the face of disruptions, whether they stem from natural disasters, technological failures, human error, or other unforeseen events.

In today’s fast-paced world, businesses face an array of potential disruptions ranging from cyberattacks and ransomware to severe weather events and global pandemics. By having a well-crafted BCP, businesses can mitigate these risks, ensuring the safety and continuity of their critical services and operations. To further safeguard their operations, integrating measures to protect against ransomware into their BCP is a natural and essential step.

Responsibility for business continuity planning typically lies with top management and dedicated planning teams within an organization. It is a cross-functional effort that involves input and coordination across various departments, ensuring that all aspects of the business are considered.

For businesses looking to develop or refine their business continuity strategies, there are numerous resources available. Tools like Venngage’s business plan maker and their business continuity plan templates offer practical assistance, streamlining the process of creating a robust and effective BCP. 

Click to jump ahead: 

7 business continuity plan examples

Business continuity types, how to write a business continuity plan, how often should a business continuity plan be reviewed, business continuity plan vs. disaster recovery plan, final thoughts.

In business, unpredictability is the only certainty. This is where business continuity plans (BCPs) come into play. These plans are not just documents; they are a testament to a company’s preparedness and commitment to sustained operations under adverse conditions. To illustrate the practicality and necessity of these plans, let’s delve into some compelling examples.

Business continuity plan example for small business

Imagine a small business specializing in digital marketing services, with a significant portion of its operations reliant on continuous internet connectivity and digital communication tools. This business, although small, caters to a global clientele, making its online presence and prompt service delivery crucial.

Scope and objective:

This Business Continuity Plan (BCP) is designed to ensure the continuity of digital marketing services and client communications in the event of an unforeseen and prolonged internet outage. Such an outage could be caused by a variety of factors, including cyberattacks, technical failures or service provider issues. The plan aims to minimize disruption to these critical services, ensuring that client projects are delivered on time and communication lines remain open and effective.

Operations at risk:

Operation: Digital Marketing Services Operation Description: A team dedicated to creating and managing digital marketing campaigns for clients across various time zones. Business Impact: High Impact Description: The team manages all client communications, campaign designs, and real-time online marketing strategies. An internet outage would halt all ongoing campaigns and client communications, leading to potential loss of business and client trust.

Recovery strategy:

The BCP should include immediate measures like switching to a backup internet service provider or using mobile data as a temporary solution. The IT team should be prepared to deploy these alternatives swiftly.

Immediate measures within the BCP should encompass alternatives like switching to a backup internet service provider or utilizing mobile data, supplemented by tools such as backup and recovery systems, cloud-based disaster recovery solutions, and residential proxies , while the IT team should be prepared to deploy these swiftly. 

Additionally, the company should have a protocol for informing clients about the situation via alternative communication channels like mobile phones.

Roles and responsibilities:

Representative: Alex Martinez Role: IT Manager Description of Responsibilities:

• Oversee the implementation of the backup internet connectivity plan.
• Coordinate with the digital marketing team to ensure minimal disruption in campaign management.
• Communicate with the service provider for updates and resolution timelines.

Business continuity plan example for software company

In the landscape of software development, a well-structured Business Continuity Plan (BCP) is vital. This example illustrates a BCP for a software company, focusing on a different kind of disruption: a critical data breach.

Scope and objectives:

This BCP is designed to ensure the continuity of software development and client data security in the event of a significant data breach. Such a breach could be due to cyberattacks, internal security lapses, or third-party service vulnerabilities. The plan prioritizes the rapid response to secure data, assess the impact on software development projects and maintain client trust and communication.

Operation: Software Development and Data Security Operation Description: The software development team is responsible for creating and maintaining software products, which involves handling sensitive client data. In the realm of software development, where the creation and maintenance of products involve handling sensitive client data, prioritizing security is crucial. Strengthen your software development team’s capabilities by incorporating the best antivirus with VPN features, offering a robust defense to protect client information and maintain a secure operational environment. The integrity and security of this data are paramount.

Business Impact: Critical Impact Description: A data breach could compromise client data, leading to loss of trust, legal consequences and potential financial penalties. It could also disrupt ongoing development projects and delay product releases.

The IT security team should immediately isolate the breached systems to prevent further data loss, leveraging data loss prevention tools to further enhance protection. They should then work on identifying the breach’s source and extent to assess the effectiveness of their existing security controls validations and identify any gaps or weaknesses that need to be addressed

Simultaneously, the client relations team should inform affected clients about the breach and the steps being taken. The company should also engage a third-party cybersecurity or pentest firm for an independent investigation and recovery assistance.

Remember, to ensure the IT security team is equipped to handle such situations effectively, it’s imperative to invest in their training. Resources like CCNA Certification Dumps provide valuable training materials to enhance the team’s knowledge in cybersecurity protocols and practices.

Representative: Sarah Lopez Role: Head of IT Security Contact Details: [email protected] Description of Responsibilities:

• Lead the initial response to the data breach, including system isolation and assessment.
• Coordinate with external cybersecurity experts for breach analysis and mitigation.
• Work with the legal team to understand and comply with data breach notification laws.
• Communicate with the software development team leaders about the impact on ongoing projects.

Related: 7 Best Business Plan Software for 2023

Business continuity plan example for manufacturing

In the manufacturing sector, disruptions can significantly impact production lines, supply chains, and customer commitments. This example of a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) for a manufacturing company addresses a specific scenario: a major supply chain disruption.

This BCP is formulated to ensure the continuity of manufacturing operations in the event of a significant supply chain disruption. Such disruptions could be caused by geopolitical events, natural disasters affecting key suppliers or transportation network failures. The plan focuses on maintaining production capabilities and fulfilling customer orders by managing and mitigating supply chain risks.

Operation: Production Line Operation Description: The production line is dependent on a steady supply of raw materials and components from various suppliers to manufacture products. Business Impact: High Impact Description: A disruption in the supply chain can lead to a halt in production, resulting in delayed order fulfillment, loss of revenue and potential damage to customer relationships.

The company should establish relationships with alternative suppliers to ensure a diversified supply chain. In the event of a disruption, the procurement team should be able to quickly switch to these alternative sources. Additionally, maintaining a strategic reserve of critical materials can buffer short-term disruptions. The logistics team should also develop flexible transportation plans to adapt to changing scenarios.

Representative: Michael Johnson Role: Head of Supply Chain Management Contact Details: [email protected] Description of Responsibilities:

• Monitor global supply chain trends and identify potential risks.
• Develop and maintain relationships with alternative suppliers.
• Coordinate with logistics to ensure flexible transportation solutions.
• Communicate with production managers about supply chain status and potential impacts on production schedules.

Related: 15+ Business Plan Templates for Strategic Planning

BCPs are essential for ensuring that a business can continue operating during crises. Here’s a summary of the different types of business continuity plans that are common:

• Operational : Involves ensuring that critical systems and processes continue functioning without disruption. It’s vital to have a plan to minimize revenue loss in case of disruptions.
• Technological : For businesses heavily reliant on technology, this type of continuity plan focuses on maintaining and securing internal systems, like having offline storage for important documents.
• Economic continuity : This type ensures that the business remains profitable during disruptions. It involves future-proofing the organization against scenarios that could negatively impact the bottom line.
• Workforce continuity : Focuses on maintaining adequate and appropriate staffing levels, especially during crises, ensuring that the workforce is capable of handling incoming work.
• Safety : Beyond staffing, safety continuity involves creating a comfortable and secure work environment where employees feel supported, especially during crises.
• Environmental : It addresses the ability of the team to operate effectively and safely in their physical work environment, considering threats to physical office spaces and planning accordingly.
• Security : Means prioritizing the safety and security of employees and business assets, planning for potential security breaches and safeguarding important business information.
• Reputation : Focuses on maintaining customer satisfaction and a good reputation, monitoring conversations about the brand and having action plans for reputation management .

As I have explained so far, a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) is invaluable. Writing an effective BCP involves a series of strategic steps, each crucial to ensuring that your business can withstand and recover from unexpected events. Here’s a guide on how to craft a robust business continuity plan:

1. Choose your business continuity team

Assemble a dedicated team responsible for the development and implementation of the BCP. The team should include members from various departments with a deep understanding of the business operations.

2. Outline your plan objectives

Clearly articulate what the plan aims to achieve. Objectives may include minimizing financial loss, ensuring the safety of employees, maintaining critical business operations, and protecting the company’s reputation.

3. Meet with key players in your departments

Engage with department heads and key personnel to gain insights into the specific needs and processes of each department. This helps in identifying critical functions and resources.

4. Identify critical functions and types of threats

Determine which functions are vital to the business’s survival and identify potential threats that could impact these areas. 

5. Carry on risk assessments across different areas

Evaluate the likelihood and impact of identified threats on each critical function. This assessment helps in prioritizing the risks and planning accordingly.

6. Conduct a business impact analysis (BIA)

Perform a BIA to understand the potential consequences of disruption to critical business functions. It has to be done in determining the maximum acceptable downtime and the resources needed for business continuity.

7. Start drafting the plan

Compile the information gathered into a structured document. The plan should include emergency contact information, recovery strategies and detailed action steps for different scenarios.

8. Test the plan for any gaps

Conduct simulations or tabletop exercises to test the plan’s effectiveness. This testing can reveal unforeseen gaps or weaknesses in the plan.

9. Review & revise your plan

Use the insights gained from testing to refine and update the plan. Continual revision ensures the plan remains relevant and effective in the face of changing business conditions and emerging threats.

Read Also: How to Write a Business Plan Outline [Examples + Templates]

A Business Continuity Plan (BCP) should ideally be reviewed and updated at least annually. 

The annual review ensures that the plan remains relevant and effective in the face of new challenges and changes within the business, such as shifts in business strategy, introduction of new technology or changes in operational processes. 

Additionally, it’s crucial to reassess the BCP following any significant business changes, such as mergers, acquisitions or entry into new markets, as well as after the occurrence of any major incident that tested the plan’s effectiveness. 

However, in rapidly changing industries or in businesses that face a high degree of uncertainty or frequent changes, more frequent reviews – such as bi-annually or quarterly – may be necessary. 

A Business Continuity Plan (BCP) and a Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP) are two crucial components of organizational preparedness, yet they serve different functions. The BCP is aimed at preventing interruptions to business operations and maintaining regular activities. 

It focuses on aspects such as the location of operations during a crisis (like a temporary office or remote work), how staff will communicate and which functions are prioritized. In essence, a BCP details how a business can continue operating during and after a disruption​​​​.

On the other hand, a DRP is more specific to restoring data access and IT infrastructure after a disaster. It describes the steps that employees must follow during and after a disaster to ensure minimal function necessary for the organization to continue. 

Essentially, while a BCP is about maintaining operations, a DRP is about restoring critical functions, particularly IT-related, after a disruption has occurred​

It’s clear that having a robust and adaptable business continuity plan (BCP) is not just a strategic advantage but a fundamental necessity for businesses of all sizes and sectors. 

From small businesses to large corporations, the principles of effective business continuity planning remain consistent: identify potential threats, assess the impact on critical functions, and develop a comprehensive strategy to maintain operations during and after a disruption.

The process of writing a BCP, as detailed in this article, underscores the importance of a thorough and thoughtful approach. It’s about more than just drafting a document; it’s about creating a living framework that evolves with your business and the changing landscape of risks.

To assist in this crucial task, you can use Venngage’s business plan maker & their business continuity plan templates . These tools streamline the process of creating a BCP, ensuring that it is not only comprehensive but also clear, accessible and easy to implement. 

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Free Contingency Plan Templates

Standardize and simplify your process of creating contingency plans for effective preparation and response to business disruptions using contingency plan templates.

Business Contingency Plan Template

• Eliminate paperwork with digital checklists
• Generate reports from completed checklists
• Free to use for up to 10 users

Use this basic contingency plan template to outline, list, and describe your organization’s recovery, restoration, and backup plans when a crisis occurs. Crisis management directors leadership teams, and other contingency planning stakeholders can use this plan template to do the following:

• Fill in basic information regarding your organization, such as the business name and its location. Also, state the date of creation of the contingency plan, its version history, and who prepared it.
• List and describe the strategies you must prioritize in recovering essential business operations, along with your relocation strategy and specific recovery plans.
• Once completed, you can download and export it into a contingency plan template PDF or other formats based on your business needs. These include PPT, Word, Excel, or CSV.

What is a Contingency Plan Template?

A contingency plan is a plan of action put in place to help businesses, governments, and organizations prepare for and respond to an unexpected event or situation and ensure that operations can continue amidst an emergency or disruption. Hence, a contingency plan template is a tool used to replicate, streamline, and standardize the process of creating such plans depending on the type of situation.

Benefits of Using One

A contingency plan is designed to help an organization or individual anticipate and manage potential business risks and minimize the impact of an unexpected event. These plans may include strategies for responding to a natural disaster, a cyber attack, or a financial crisis. They may also include strategies for dealing with personnel issues, such as sudden resignation or illness.

Having a contingency plan in place can also help ensure that the business is prepared for and able to respond accordingly to any potential risks or threats. Thus, it can minimize the potential for costly delays or disruptions. Using a template when writing or creating it provides you with the following benefits and more:

• Ensure all key information is supplied : Having to create a plan from scratch can be tedious and presents the risk of forgetting important information. With a template, you can replicate the most basic details that the plan must include and then customize it accordingly.
• Organize and standardize the format of a contingency plan : To help an organization quickly respond to a crisis and ensure business continuity, team members should know where to look for the necessary information they need. This is where having such details in a template is deemed helpful.
• Make the process of creating plans easier : To let you save time and effort, you can use a contingency plan template that you can already work on instead of creating one from scratch.

Risks of Not Having a Contingency Plan

Without a contingency plan, businesses are at risk of facing serious consequences. The most obvious risk of not having a contingency plan is the potential for financial losses. Without a plan in place, businesses may not be able to recover from unexpected events, including natural disasters, power outages, or cyber-attacks. This could lead to significant financial losses and a decrease in customer confidence as the business fails to deliver the expected outcomes.

Another risk of not having a contingency plan is the potential for operational disruption. Businesses may not be able to respond quickly and effectively to unexpected events. This could lead to delays in operations, which could have a negative impact on customer service and satisfaction. Additionally, it could lead to a decrease in overall organizational productivity and efficiency, resulting in costly damages.

There are several types of contingency plans that can be used to help an organization prepare for and respond to unexpected events. Some of the most common ones include the following:

Business Continuity

One type of contingency plan is a business continuity plan. This is designed to help an organization continue to operate in the event of a disruption, which uses a more general approach. The plan outlines the steps that need to be taken to ensure that the organization can continue to operate and provide services to its customers.

Disaster Recovery Plan

Another type of contingency plan is a disaster recovery plan. This type focuses more on the specific risks that disasters pose to the organization and how it can restore its processes and systems after an unplanned event or emergency.

Crisis Management

This type is where specific actions or steps are taken when an actual crisis occurs. Hence, a crisis management plan outlines the official protocols of an organization on how to respond to crises that put its operational capacity and employee safety at risk.

How to Use and What to Include in a Contingency Plan Template

Contingency Plan Template Sample Report | SafetyCulture

Make sure your contingency plan template has the following sections and elements to ensure a comprehensive course of action:

• Title Page – The first page of your checklist or template must include the name of the business, its location, the date of creation of the contingency plan, its version history, and who prepared it.
• Business Function Recovery – This is where you should specify, describe, or list the actions and strategies that you’ll apply once your business functions need to be recovered in an alternate business site.
• Recovery Plan – This part outlines how your business will go through each of the recovery phases, what steps to take for your priority strategies, and the respective teams to be in charge of carrying out each phase and task in the contingency plan.
• Completion and Sign-off – Have the plan creator and approver sign the template before completing and exporting the report for proper documentation.

Lastly, it’s important to regularly review and update contingency plans to ensure that they are up to date and reflect the current needs of the organization. Aside from this, contingency plan templates must also be updated regularly to reflect the necessary changes and key components they should contain.

FAQs About Contingency Plans

What are the four (4) major components of a contingency plan.

For a contingency plan to work, it must have the most basic components at its core. This way, organizations can prepare one that’s clearly written, has specific action points, and outlines concrete steps that the stakeholders can take to ensure business continuity. The 4 components of a contingency plan are the following:

• Preparation
• Response Planning
• Implementation Preparedness

What triggers a contingency plan?

Triggers may vary depending on the organization and its industry. They can be due to a specific action or based on a general condition. In this sense, triggers refer to events or circumstances that prompt the need for you to use your organization’s contingency plan.

What is a contingency plan in project management?

A project management contingency plan template refers to a tool used in creating an actionable plan that needs to be implemented when a project’s identified risk materializes. This is where a Plan B must be in place, which will serve as a safety net for the project team to effectively get back on track.

Enhance Your Contingency Planning Efforts with SafetyCulture (formerly iAuditor)

Why use safetyculture.

With SafetyCulture , a workplace operations platform , leadership and executive teams in charge of contingency planning can do the following and more:

• Download and use checklists and templates to simplify the contingency plan creation process.
• Benchmark insights and data for improved reporting of recurring issues during inspections and audits to proactively identify what actions you need to take and consider in your contingency planning efforts.
• Keep your employees engaged and reassured by sharing contingency plans and updates on business continuity action plans using Heads Up.
• Maximize SafetyCulture Training , a microlearning solution, to create and deploy contingency training and other related courses to ensure everyone is on board with how the organization can continue its operations.
• Use the SafetyCulture Exporter and integration capability to export accomplished templates into various formats like weblink, Word, CSV, PDF, PPT, Excel, and Google Sheets files.

Try SafetyCulture for free!

Featured Contingency Plan Templates

Workplace pandemic preparedness and contingency plan template.

This checklist provides a comprehensive approach to pandemic preparedness and response planning, helping organizations ensure the safety of their employees and customers. Use this template to track your organization’s progress on contingency planning aspects, including Business Continuity and Establishing Policies.

Emergency Response and Evacuation Evaluation Checklist

Download this checklist template to help you assess the effectiveness of the emergency drill, rescue plan, and shutdown duties. Using this checklist, you can also ensure that your employees are aware of their roles and responsibilities in the event of an emergency.

Oil Spill Contingency Plan Template - SPCC Tier 1 Attachment 2

Supporting the requirements of the Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) Plan Template – Tier 1 , this template provides specific and well-defined actions to be taken after the discovery and notification of an oil discharge, such as:

• the specification of an oil discharge response operating team;
• a preplanned location for an oil discharge response operations center; and
• provisions for varying degrees of response effort depending on the severity of the oil discharge.

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Home » Business » Free Contingency Plan Templates (Excel / Word / PDF)

Free Contingency Plan Templates (Excel / Word / PDF)

A contingency plan template is always a part of good strategies in case the original plan backfires. In some cases, you require a contingency plan example when the original plan may not be as successful as you expect.

Table of Contents

What is a contingency plan?

A contingency plan is the step taken by an organization when an unexpected situation or event occurs. A contingency plan example may be positive but more often than not, it mostly refers to negative events.

With the help of contingency plan template, you can make sure that there’s always a continuity in the business. For various potential threats, many of the bigger business organizations have sets of business contingency plan templates.

In comparison to crisis management, you can consider a contingency plan as a proactive approach. This plan makes sure that you’re always prepared for any eventuality. Contrarily, when the eventuality occurs, a plan for crisis management enables you to control the response.

In risk project management, using a contingency plan example:

A contingency plan template responds to a negative event. This may affect or tarnish the reputation of an organization or its financial standing. However, a business contingency plan template in the business isn’t always negative. There are also some cases of positive contingency plans too.

You should also bear in mind that the contingency planning process is a proactive strategy. A contingency plan accounts for any disruptive events to make sure that if and when such events should occur, the company is always prepared.

Usually, they are part of the risk management department and project managers. They should know that the plan is simply an outline. However, there comes a time when the project may extend beyond this. This indicates that if the manager deems, he can be more prepared to make changes in the plan so that it would be more effective.

How to make your contingency plan?

Here are the steps to follow while making one for your company;

Analyze your resources and prioritize them

Throughout the organization, do research. This way, you can determine then prioritize the integral resources in your organization.

Determine the most important risks

To the researched resources, you just have to identify any potential threats. You can meet with executives and employees in order to get more a holistic picture of how events can affect your resources. Bring with you a consultant or a specialist in the identification of risks in order to be more precise.

Create a contingency plan template

It is suggested to start with the threats you consider high priority, although, you may come up with plans for each of the risks individually. This reflects the ones that have a high likelihood of occurring and have the most important impacts. You may begin working toward coming up with plans as time goes by for the lower-priority risks.

In addition, when you are making plans for identified risks, begin asking yourself about the steps to take. That way, the organization can go back to normal operations. Take into account factors such as employee activity, timelines, staff responsibilities, and more. Then, you can create a plan for each of the risks on the basis of these.

Share the plans

You have to ensure that all employees and stakeholders have access to every plan when you have accomplished them and when they had approved. You may make use of a mobile application for this essential step.

Maintain the plans

You should ensure that you reflect the changes in your business contingency plan template when the organization undergoes changes. There is also requirement to rehearse the plan with stakeholders on daily basis.

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Conclusion:

In conclusion, a contingency plan template is for the risks that you can determine. It isn’t for unknown or unidentified risks. The project management always have to consider several entry points for a contingency plan example.

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I am Ryan Duffy and legal writer. I received a bachelor of business administration (BBA) degree from London Business School. I have 8+ years of writing experience in the different template fields and working with ExcelTMP.com for 7 years. I work with a team of writers and business and legal professionals to provide you with the best templates.

What Is A Project Management Plan And How To Create One

Updated: Jun 12, 2024, 11:45am

Table of Contents

What is a project management plan, 6 parts of a project management plan, before you create a plan, how to create a project management plan in 7 steps, bottom line, frequently asked questions (faqs).

A project management plan offers a blueprint to stakeholders and end-users surrounding the execution of an upcoming project. While it takes time to put it together, the process is worth it. It helps to reduce risks, create buy-in, gather your team’s expertise, align communication and ensure resource availability. This guide outlines what a project management plan is and its benefits, and then offers an easy step-by-step guide on how to create one.

A project management plan is a set of documents that outline the how, when and what-ifs of a project’s execution. It overviews the project’s value proposition, execution steps, resources, communication tools and protocols, risks, stakeholders (and their roles) and the deliverables involved in a project’s completion. Its documents include an executive summary, Gantt and team charts, risk assessment and communication- and resource-management subplans.

What Is a Project Management Plan Used For?

A project management plan serves as a blueprint or roadmap to the ultimate success of your project. It does so by aligning talent, buy-in, manpower, resources, risk management and high-quality communication around your plan. It also ensures everyone knows their responsibilities, which tasks are involved and when deadlines are so the project stays on track for quality on-time completion.

Here is a closer look at project management plan use cases:

• Buy-in . Your plan ensures all stakeholders are on board, so that they’re prepared to be productive.
• Expertise. A plan helps to ensure you have enough people to expertly own the activities needed to complete the project.
• Risk management. Putting together your plan helps you to assess the risks that may come up through the trajectory of project execution and how to prevent or mitigate them.
• Communication and collaboration. Your planning process ensures poor communication does not negatively impact the project’s outcome. It does so by getting everyone on the same page regarding communication tools, schedules, preferences and protocols.
• Milestones. As you plan your project, you ensure your team agrees on the necessary milestones to complete it successfully. Doing so ensures your team is ready to be productive instantly come project initiation and that scope creep does not impact the project negatively.
• Resource management. Through your planning process, you assess the resources needed to complete the project and their availability. Resources may include funds and raw materials, for example. Doing so ensures resource availability and that insufficient resources do not derail or stop the project altogether.

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A project management plan should include an executive summary, timeline or Gantt chart, resource management subplan, risk assessment, communication subplan and team chart. Here is an overview of each of these parts:

• Executive summary. An executive summary provides an overview of the project’s value proposition, the problem it addresses and its resolution, budget breakdown, milestones and deliverables.
• Timeline or Gantt chart. Many project management plans include a Gantt chart that shows both the dates the project begins and ends and all start and end dates for the milestones that lead to the completion of the project. It should also point out any dependent and independent activities.
• Risk assessment. A risk assessment should list all of the potential obstacles that could impact the completion of the project or the quality of its deliverables negatively. It also outlines the triggers that could cause these risks and how the risks can be mitigated or avoided altogether.
• Team chart. The team chart shows all the people who will be involved in completing the project, their roles and their communication preferences.
• Communication subplan. This subplan offers an overview of what tools will be used for communication, the communication assets and schedules that will be used to keep the project progressing and on track, communication protocols stakeholders should follow and team members’ communication preferences.
• Resource management subplan. This subplan should list what resources may be needed to complete the project. Essential resources may include raw materials, digital tools and funding. It should then offer a breakdown of what materials will be needed for each milestone, a way to ensure their availability and ways to track resources throughout project execution.

Before you begin writing your plan, take a few minutes to prepare. Doing so may involve defining what is at stake should the project not go well, identifying the milestones needed for successful completion, selecting key talent to complete your project, selecting and signing up for the tools that will make the plan creation process easy and efficient and defining the end beneficiary of your project. Below is a closer look at each of these preparation steps.

Failure Risk Assessment

Defining what would happen if the project were not completed successfully can guide you later as you motivate your execution team and formulate your plan’s and your project’s value proposition. This perspective tells all stakeholders how important their roles are.

Milestone Identification

One way to ensure you select the proper team members for plan creation and execution is to define the milestones for which they will be responsible. Once you have identified the milestones, you can identify the needed expertise and then the talent that holds that expertise.

Talent Selection

As you write your plan, it is essential to gather expertise from the team members who will execute it. Doing so could mean the success or failure of your project. Identifying these stakeholders now means you can get them involved sooner for higher collective knowledge during the planning process.

Tool selection

When planning your project, you will need to use charts, graphics and reports to record the necessary information. Graphic design tools like Canva and project management software like monday.com or Wrike can help.

Beneficiary or End-user Identification

Nothing can set you up for success in project completion like understanding what the end-user or project beneficiary needs in the final deliverable. Understanding this requires an understanding of that end-user or beneficiary. Take some time to listen to their needs, wants and hopes surrounding your project before beginning to plan a project that will impact and, hopefully, delight them ultimately.

To create a project management plan, first put together a high overview of the basics of your project, including the project’s scope, schedule and budget. Next, build on those basics to write an executive summary. Then, add a project timeline, risk assessment, stakeholder chart, communication plan and resource management plan to your executive summary. Lastly, gather and incorporate stakeholders’ insights to perfect and create buy-in for your plan.

1. Identify Baselines for Your Project

Your project’s baselines should first focus on the project’s scope, then the project’s schedule and, finally, its budget. The result should be a high overview that will inform the rest of your planning process. To complete this step, answer the following questions:

• What is a summary of the project’s deliverables, including the expected features in order of priority?
• What important milestones will help us complete this project?
• What should the project not focus on? (set some scope boundaries)
• When is the project scheduled to begin?
• When should the project be complete?
• How much do we have to spend on this project? If it is a project that needs to be completed for a client, what budget do we have to spend on it while still making a set profit margin?

2. Write an Executive Summary

An executive summary should include a definition of your project, your project’s value proposition, including the problem your project addresses and its solution, milestones and their deliverables, scope limits―and the consequences for changing these limits―goals and financial breakdown. Use the answers to the questions posed in step one to put together your executive summary.

As the face of your project before stakeholders, your executive summary should be visually appealing and succinct. Columns and visuals should break it up to make it easy to read quickly. One great tool for creating an attractive and succinct summary is a Canva executive summary template. You can customize a template to match your brand and add your content, then either download your executive summary or share it in link form.

To begin, sign up for Canva for free, then use the search box titled “What will you design?” for “executive summary” and press “enter.” Click the appropriate template for your purposes and brand, then use the tools on the left-hand side of the enlarged template to customize its colors, text and images. Add pages by clicking the plus sign at the top right-hand corner of the template and proceed to add text and customizations to complete your summary.

3. Plot Your Project’s Timeline

The best way to plot your project’s timeline is with a Gantt chart. A Gantt chart is a visual representation of what activities you plan to begin and complete and when. These activities are usually small chunks or milestones of your completed project. They also formulate the scope of your project, helping to reduce scope creep later on. Gantt charts are often the easiest to use to plot your timeline.

It is important to note expected dependencies on your Gantt chart. A dependency happens when one activity on a timeline must be completed before team members can go on to the next one. For example, a prototype needs to be completed before a focus group analysis of the prototype can take place. Thus, these two activities are dependent. Also note independent activities that can be completed even as other activities are underway, thereby saving time.

Pro tip: An easy way to note dependencies and independent activities is via color-coding. Arrows drawn on your Gantt chart can also help to pinpoint dependencies.

While Canva does offer Gantt charts to plot your project’s timeline, there are also platforms that specialize in producing Gantt chart software . Not only can this software help you put together your Gantt chart, but it can then help you stay on track with its timeline and avoid scope creep once your project begins via task descriptions and automations. If paying for such a service isn’t in your project’s budget, you can also create a Gantt chart in Excel or Google Sheets.

Gantt chart from monday.com

4. Define Stakeholder Roles

With your project activities recorded on your timeline, define who will be responsible for each activity. Your plan serves as a guiding star to all stakeholders involved in your project, so it’s best to record responsible parties in an intuitive chart. Create a project team chart to show who will be involved in completing the project and for which activities each is responsible. For collaboration ease, also note who each person is accountable to and their contact information.

Canva offers organizational or team chart templates you can use to customize for the needs of your project. Search “organizational chart” using the search bar in your Canva account. Click the chart that best suits your project and brand needs. Then, use the design menu to upload pictures of your team members, customize colors and replace template text to offer the data your stakeholders need for easy collaboration during the life of your project.

An example of a Canva organizational chart template to be adapted to create a project team chart.

5. Perform a Risk Assessment

Your risk assessment should begin with a list of obstacles that could impact your team’s ability to complete the project on time negatively at all and with the desired quality. It should then create a plan for each risk by addressing what might trigger the risk, steps that lend to risk prevention and how to mitigate a risk should it happen. Finally, it should assign stakeholders to manage risk triggers, prevention and mitigation. Some teams use a SWOT analysis to help identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in this stage.

To dive into each risk, answer the following questions:

• What could happen that would negatively impact the project?
• At what point in the project timeline is this risk most likely to happen?
• How likely is the risk to happen?
• What events or factors would trigger this risk?
• What steps can be taken to reduce the chances of this risk taking place? How can we avoid this trigger or these triggers?
• What would be the expected outcome should the risk happen anyway?
• How could we mitigate a negative outcome should the risk take place?
• Who would be the best person to manage each risk’s triggers, prevention or mitigation?

As you assigned responsible parties for each project activity, you likely selected people who had expertise in the areas in which their assigned activities fall. For example, if you assigned the graphic design of a marketing project to a team member, that person is likely a graphic designer. Their expertise is invaluable in assessing graphic design risks and their prevention and mitigation steps. Lean on your team for this expertise, and then implement their suggestions.

6. Create Key Subplans

Two key subplans you should include in your project management plan are a resource and communications management plan. Your resource sub plan should list what resources are needed to complete your project and their availability. Your communications plan should include how your team will communicate one-on-one and team-wide.

Resource Management Plan

A resource subplan can be completed in project management software. You can create columns for estimated expenses and other needed resources broken down by milestones, such as raw products and talent. Other customizable resource reports are available within the software and automatically kept up to date. Wrike, for example, offers customizable reports where you can track resource availability and export reports to include in your plan.

An example of Wrike’s customizable resource reports

Communications Management Plan

While it may seem inconsequential compared to your risk assessment and resource plan, poor communication is the primary reason most projects experience scope gaps and project failure, according to a PMI study . Poor communication can, therefore, derail all your other planning efforts.

As such, your communications management plan should be detailed and address what, when and how information will be shared during your project. Details should focus on what needs to be communicated and at what intervals during the project execution, stakeholders’ communication preferences, a communication schedule for virtual meetings or phone calls that occur at planned intervals, who will review tasks, to whom task completions should be reported and what platforms or tools should be used for communication purposes.

Pro tip: For best results, look at the communication tools available in your project management software. Alternatively, consider what communication-tool integrations it offers. For example, most project management software offer integrations with Slack. Using available tools within your software will allow ease of collaboration and the communication visibility your team needs to stay on the same page and on track.

7. Gather and Incorporate Feedback From Stakeholders

The team you have chosen to own the activities on your project timeline are uniquely capable of doing so. As such, they are likely to have recommendations you might not think about to make your project more successful. Moreover, if their insights are incorporated into the plan, they are more likely to enthusiastically follow it. So, get your team together and go over the details of your plan. Learn from them and incorporate their insights.

In addition, present your plan to the end-user or client for whom you are executing the project. Make sure they agree to the project scope and its deliverables. Make their preferred changes now so you don’t have to make them later. Discuss what will happen if they change their minds later―extra fees, for example―so that scope creep does not impact your project’s successful execution, on-time completion or quality final deliverable negatively.

Creating a project management plan is the first critical step to ensuring a quality project execution and completion. Without it, you risk project derailment, a blown budget, an unrealized value proposition and a potentially frustrated end-user. With it, you enjoy buy-in, resource availability, budget adherence, a quality and expertly-driven final deliverable and a delighted end-user. We hope this guide sets you on a trajectory to enjoy all of these benefits.

What are the six parts of a project management plan?

At minimum, a project management plan includes an executive summary, timeline or Gantt chart , stakeholder or team chart, risk assessment, communications subplan and resource subplan.

How do I write a project management plan?

To write a project management plan, begin by identifying your project baselines, then write an executive summary, create your timeline and team charts, perform and write a risk assessment and write your communications and resource subplans. Finally, present your plan to all involved stakeholders to gather and incorporate their insights, suggestions and feedback, and then finalize agreement around your plan.

What is the main purpose of a project management plan?

A project management plan lays out the details and steps necessary to reduce confusion, create confidence and prevent obstacles and risks during project execution. It does so by providing a clear outline and value proposition of the project, assigning essential roles, outlining milestones and the final deliverable, identifying and taking steps to prevent risks, ensuring clear communication guidelines and ensuring the availability of essential resources.

What is project management methodology?

A project management methodology is a set of principles, values and processes that determine how a team will complete a project. It dictates factors such as the methods of communication within and outside of the project team—as well as the level of planning, design and documentation—timelines and modes of assessment.

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Startup Business Development Plan

I. executive summary.

[Your Company Name] is a pioneering startup dedicated to transforming the business landscape through innovative solutions and unparalleled customer experiences. Leveraging cutting-edge technology and a client-centric approach, we aim to become the leading provider of customizable business software solutions in the market. This strategic roadmap focuses on capturing market share, driving growth, and delivering long-term value to clients, partners, and stakeholders.

II. Company Overview

[Your Company Name] Address: [Your Company Address] Phone: [Your Company Number] Email: [Your Email] Website: [Your Company Website]

Established in [Year] , [Your Company Name] is at the forefront of revolutionizing the business landscape. Our team comprises industry veterans, technology experts, and creative minds passionate about driving change and making a positive impact. With a commitment to excellence and innovation, we strive to exceed customer expectations and set new industry standards.

III. Market Analysis

The market is undergoing rapid evolution driven by technological advancements, changing consumer preferences, and emerging trends. Market research indicates a growing demand due to market drivers such as increasing digitalization, shifting consumer behaviors, and the growing emphasis on sustainability. Despite the market's potential, there are notable challenges, including regulatory hurdles and intense competition.

To capitalize on this lucrative market opportunity, [Your Company Name] has conducted extensive market analysis, gathering data on market size, growth projections, competitive landscape, and consumer trends. Through in-depth research and analysis, we have identified key market segments, customer needs, and pain points, providing valuable insights to inform our product development and marketing strategies.

The research indicates that there is a significant demand for innovative solutions that improve efficiency, enhance productivity, and drive cost savings, presenting a prime opportunity for the business to carve out a niche and establish a strong foothold in the market. By leveraging our unique value proposition, technology expertise, and customer-centric approach, we are confident in our ability to capture market share and become an industry leader.

IV. Target Market and Customer Segmentation

Our target market encompasses a diverse range of demographics, including small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in the manufacturing sector, such as automotive, electronics, and consumer goods industries. These customers exhibit common characteristics such as reliance on manual processes, legacy systems, and fragmented data management solutions. By segmenting our target audience based on factors such as company size, industry vertical, and pain points, we can tailor our marketing messages, product features, and pricing strategies to resonate with their unique needs and preferences effectively.

Through market segmentation, we aim to identify and prioritize high-potential customer segments that offer the greatest opportunity for revenue growth and market penetration. By understanding the distinct needs, pain points, and purchase behaviors of each segment, we can develop targeted marketing campaigns, personalized messaging, and tailored product offerings that speak directly to their interests and motivations.

V. Product Offering

At [Your Company Name] , we are proud to offer a comprehensive suite of enterprise resource planning (ERP) software solutions designed to address the diverse needs and preferences of our target market. Our flagship offering, [product/service], is the result of extensive research, development, and innovation, aimed at delivering superior performance, functionality, and value to our customers.

Key features include advanced inventory management, real-time analytics, and integrated supply chain optimization tools, designed to streamline operations, improve decision-making, and drive business growth. Whether it's enhancing inventory visibility, optimizing production scheduling, or automating procurement processes, our solution empowers businesses to achieve operational excellence and gain a competitive edge in the market.

In addition to our core offering, supplementary services such as implementation support, training, and ongoing technical support, are offered and designed to enhance the overall customer experience and maximize the value derived from our solution. From initial deployment and customization to ongoing maintenance and updates, we are committed to ensuring that our customers derive maximum value from their investment in our ERP software.

VI. Operations Plan

Operations are structured to ensure seamless execution of our strategies and delivery of exceptional value to our customers. Key elements of our operations plan include:

Production and Supply Chain Management: We maintain close oversight of our production processes and supply chain to ensure timely delivery of high-quality products to our customers. Through strategic partnerships with trusted suppliers and manufacturers, we minimize lead times, optimize inventory levels, and mitigate supply chain risks.

Quality Assurance: Quality is at the forefront of everything we do. We have implemented rigorous quality control measures and standards throughout our operations to uphold the highest levels of product excellence and customer satisfaction. Our quality assurance protocols encompass product testing, inspection, and continuous improvement initiatives to maintain consistency and reliability.

Customer Support and Service: Exceptional customer service is a cornerstone of our operations. Our dedicated customer support team is available to assist customers with any inquiries, issues, or feedback they may have. We prioritize responsiveness, professionalism, and empathy in our interactions with customers, ensuring their needs are addressed promptly and satisfactorily.

Technology Infrastructure: We invest in state-of-the-art technology infrastructure to support our operations and facilitate seamless communication, collaboration, and data management. Our robust IT systems and platforms enable efficient workflow processes, data analytics, and decision-making capabilities, empowering our team to perform at their best and deliver exceptional results.

Scalability and Flexibility: As we continue to grow and expand our business, scalability and flexibility are essential considerations in our operations. We design our processes and systems with scalability in mind, allowing us to adapt quickly to changing market dynamics, customer demands, and business requirements. Whether it's scaling production capacity, expanding into new markets, or launching new product lines, we are prepared to meet the evolving needs of our business and customers.

VII. Milestones

Product Development Milestones: Complete development and testing of our innovative AI-powered customer service chatbot by Q3 2054.

Market Entry: Official launch of our flagship product, the XYZ software platform, in the US market by January 2055.

Customer Acquisition: Acquire a minimum of 1000 new customers within the first six months of operation through targeted marketing campaigns and strategic partnerships.

Revenue Targets: Achieve monthly recurring revenue (MRR) of $50,000 by the end of the first year of operation, with a projected annual revenue growth rate of 150%.

VIII. Financial Projections and Funding Requirements

Based on thorough market analysis and financial modeling, we forecast robust growth and profitability in the coming years. Our projections indicate a steady increase in revenue, with a conservative estimate of $500,000 in the first year of operation, growing to $2,500,000 by the end of year three. These projections are based on factors such as market demand, pricing strategy, sales forecasts, and anticipated expenses.

To fuel our expansion plans and capitalize on market opportunities, we are seeking $1,000,000 in funding. This investment will be allocated towards strategic initiatives such as product development, marketing campaigns, talent acquisition, and infrastructure expansion. By securing the necessary funding, we can accelerate our growth trajectory, penetrate new markets, and solidify our position as a market leader.

IX. Risk and Contingency Plans

To mitigate inherent risks and ensure business continuity, we have developed comprehensive contingency plans that address potential challenges and disruptions. Key elements of our risk management strategy include:

Market Risk: Fluctuations in market conditions, competitive pressures, and regulatory changes pose risks to our business. To mitigate these risks, we conduct regular market assessments, monitor competitor activities, and maintain flexibility in our strategies to adapt to changing market dynamics.

Operational Risk: Operational disruptions, supply chain issues, and technology failures can impact our ability to deliver products and services effectively. We mitigate these risks through redundancy measures, disaster recovery plans, and investments in technology infrastructure to ensure operational resilience and continuity.

Financial Risk: Financial instability, cash flow challenges, and economic uncertainties may affect our financial performance. To mitigate these risks, we maintain robust financial controls, diversify revenue streams, and implement prudent financial management practices to safeguard our financial health and stability.

Cybersecurity Risk: Data breaches, cyber attacks, and information security threats pose risks to our business and customer data. We mitigate these risks through robust cybersecurity measures, employee training programs, and regular security audits to protect against unauthorized access, data breaches, and cyber threats.

X. Conclusion

With a clear roadmap for growth, a talented team, and a strong value proposition, the company is well-positioned to achieve our business objectives and create lasting value for our customers, investors, and stakeholders. As we embark on this exciting journey, we remain committed to excellence, innovation, and delivering exceptional outcomes that drive success for all stakeholders involved.

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