The dates for the 2008 Business Continuity Awareness Week in North America are still pending.

• Business Continuity Awareness Week in the UK and Europe is March 31 to April 4.
• Business Continuity Awareness Week in Australia will be the week April 28 to May 2.

Business Continuity Awareness Week was established by several business continuity planning (BCP) associations including the BCI and the Disaster Recovery Institute International. The goal of the initiative is to promote the awareness of BCP in the business community.

In North America, Business Continuity Awareness Week was held May 6-12, 2007. Business Continuity Awareness Week should be a time when you introduce and strengthen the concepts of BCP in your organization.

Below are some articles on testing and building awareness within your organization as well as case studies and other information on BCP. Please share the documents with colleagues and co-workers.

Testing
Business Continuity Awareness Week is a perfect opportunity to test your plan. Most government regulations and experts agree that your plan should be tested at least once a year. Why not conduct that test during Business Continuity Awareness Week? Even if you can’t arrange a full-scale exercise on short notice, how about arranging a test of your organization’s call tree? Here are some resources for testing your plan.

• Test First, Then Plan: A Unique Approach to Build and Gauge BCP Awareness
• Best Practices for Structured Walkthrough Exercises
• Best Practices for Tabletop Exercises
• Best Practices for Conducting a Functional Exercise
• Why Test

Executive Support
Most business continuity professionals agree, if you don’t have strong executive support, your planning program may be doomed. It’s one thing to say it, it’s quite another to do it. Here are some tips from seasoned professionals on how to get and maintain executive support for your organization’s BCP program.

• Getting Executive Support for your BCP
• Building an Internal BCP Marketing Program
• Business Continuity Planning and the Organization: Who’s the Boss?
• Building Corporate Awareness (From the 2004 Strohl Systems UGC)
• The BCP Sell to Executives is Tough, but Does It Have to Be?

General Information
BCP Tip Sheets - Tips on how to minimize potential business disruptions in the event of a particular disaster.

• Earthquakes
• Floods
• Hurricanes
• Severe Winter Storms
• Terrorism
• Tornadoes

Case studies

• Baker Botts – Learn how a large law firm dealt with flooding caused by a tropical storm.
• Chicago Mercantile Exchange – Examines how the world’s largest futures exchange has built a world-class business continuity planning program.
• Constellation Energy – Explains how a large energy company responded to a hurricane hitting its service area.
• Countrywide Financial – This case study discusses how a diversified financial services company was able to handle wildfires which threatened its headquarters.
• Landata – Learn how a large IT services company used Strohl Systems products and consulting to build a comprehensive business continuity program.
• Mercedes-Benz USA – The large auto maker used plans built in LDRPS to cope with the loss of its customer service phone lines following floods caused by a hurricane.
• Merrill Lynch – The financial services giant used LDRPS to help respond to 9/11.
• Nextel - Get a glimpse inside how this Fortune 200 company embarked on building a world-class business continuity program – and how it all turned out.
• Qwest Communications – Discusses how the fourth largest local phone service providers uses Strohl Systems solutions for business continuity planning.
• Scottish Enterprise – A question and answer with the head of the Scotish Enterprise’s BCP program.
• Wells Fargo – A question and answer with the vice president of Wells Fargo’s business continuity office.

Articles – Informative articles and essays on various BCP topics.

• How To Find and Motivate Employees for Business Continuity
• How to Prioritize the BCP Effort with Recovery Timeframe Objectives
• Viewing the Business Continuity Development Process with 20/20 Vision
• A BCP Survival Guide to Mergers and Acquisitions
• Why Any Plan is Better Than Having No Plan
• Tips For Implementing Internal Recovery

Surveys – Results of Strohl Systems quarterly surveys on a variety of topics within the business continuity planning industry.

Links for more information
www.drii.org
www.thebci.org
recoverychronicles.com