Business Continuity: Best Practices--World-Class Business Continuity Management, Second Edition [Paperback]

Andrew Hiles (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1931332223 | ISBN-13: 978-1931332224 | Publication Date: December 2003

This book is a guide to implementation of World-Class Business Continuity Management within an enterprise. It may be used as a step-by-step guide by those new to Business Continuity Management or dipped into by the more seasoned professional for ideas and updates on specific topics. There is no absolute "right way" to perform business continuity management - although there are plenty of wrong ways. Business Continuity is not rocket science: it is applied common sense. Yes, experience helps, but it is no mystic art. This book makes the processes transparent and provide the reader with everything necessary to do the job. Many examples are provided throughout this guide: these all have their roots in real cases and real organizations, and come heavily laden with pragmatism. Over fifteen years of business continuity experience in environments large and small, public and private, has gone into developing the methods described. Your own "right way" for business continuity management means picking, matching and tailoring from the cases and examples provided and combining these with existing best practice within your organization. EXCERPT FROM THE PREFACE Melvyn Musson, FBCI, CBCP, CISSP I was very pleased to be asked to write a preface to this much-needed book. There are many books that have been written covering various aspects of hazard control, emergency response, disaster recovery and business continuity, but not one that pulls all areas together under the auspices of the individual sections of the BCI and DRII Professional Practices. Why my interest? To quote from a letter I wrote to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) in 1991 when they were considering the establishment of a Technical Committee to develop a Standard on Disaster Management: "Disaster Management, or Business Continuation Planning as we prefer to call it, is a natural progression from Hazard/Loss Control through Emergency Response to the recovery process. "The best hazard/loss control programs cannot prevent emergency or catastrophic situations occurring. The emergency response procedures that most companies have developed or which may be required by law, deal with such aspects as initial fire fighting, evacuation, life safety, etc. - what one might term the stabilization of the situation. They cover the first hours of the emergency. They do not deal with the long-term recovery, which could take several months. "Disaster Management, or some other similarly named program, is needed to enable the company to institute procedures to return to normal operations as soon as possible. That standard is now available as NFPA 1600: Standard on Disaster/Emergency Management and Business Continuity Programs. Within that standard are details of the BCI/DRII Professional Practices, albeit as part of the various sections of the standard and not as an individual, specific section. In addition to NFPA 1600, other standards and guides such as BS7779 in Great Britain and the recent Australian Risk Management Standard are incorporating the Professional Practices either by specific reference or wording relating to the practices. The advent of the Turnbull Report introduces a new consideration and need, which the Professional Practices can support. This makes it all the more important to have a reference material that can clearly detail what should be considered in each of the ten subject areas, together with appropriate examples and details of not only the benefits but also the problems that can be expected with each of those subject areas. Andrew Hiles has been able to do so in the development of this book. In addition, since Andrew intends to issue periodic updates, this book becomes a living document, which will address both changes in the Professional Practices and developments within the industry.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Provides an invaluable reference work for those new to the profession and a source of help to experienced practitioners." -- Disaster Recovery Institute International, November, 2003

Endorsed by Business Continuity Institute (BCI)and Disaster Recovery Institute International (DRII) -- BCI, DRII

About the Author

Andrew Hiles was founder and for almost 15 years Chairman of the first international user group for business continuity planning. He was a founding Director of the Business Continuity Institute, an international body for certification of business continuity professionals, and a founder of the World Food Safety Organization. Having begun his management career with the Royal Air Force, he pioneered IT systems before leaving to take up a position within the Finance Department of London Transport. Subsequently in their Central Productivity Unit he was a Senior Projects Manager and later became responsible for the business re-engineering function, implementing new services and major technical projects. He left to take up a position with the UK Post Office as their first Business Systems Consultant responsible for major projects. Andrew then joined the UK Atomic Energy Authority at the Harwell Laboratories where he managed the supercomputing, mainframe and other bureau and outsourcing services.

Andrew was a founding director of Kingswell, an international consulting company with a blue chip client base specializing in Enterprise Risk Management, Business Continuity, Disaster Recovery and in Service Management. He is a pragmatic global consultant and trainer on these topics.

Andrew is an international speaker on risk management, business continuity and contingency planning and has featured on conference programs in the USA, Southern Africa, Europe, the Middle East and the Pacific Rim. He has presented workshops and seminars on these topics for Frost & Sullivan (Europe), IIR (Europe and Middle East), AIC (South Africa), CEL (Hong Kong), UPOM (Saudi Arabia) and other companies, having also lectured at Ashridge, Cranfield, GEC Dunchurch and Henley Management Colleges in the UK. He has broadcast on radio, TV and on Internet webinars.

He has designed the training programs Emergency Business Management for the 350,000 members of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) which run successfully in North America and his highly acclaimed workshop The ABC of Business Continuity Management has been franchised for use in several other countries. With IIR, the world’s biggest conference company, he designed and delivered a Certified Risk management course specifically addressing the needs of the Middle East.

He has over 300 published articles on business continuity. Andrew is also the author of Enterprise Risk Management: Best Practices, published by Rothstein Associates Inc. 2002 and of Guide to Risk Management, published by the Chartered Institute of Accountants of England and Wales in 2002. He co-edited and was the major contributor to The Definitive Guide to Business Continuity Management (published by Wiley, 1999) and The IBM GUIDE UK Disaster Recovery Manual. He contributed to the Confederation of British Industry business guide, Business Continuity Management and to the UK Institute of Directors / Department of Trade and Industry Business Continuity Guide.

Andrew is a Fellow of the Business Continuity Institute, a Member of the British Computer Society and a Freeman of the City of London.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 290 pages
• Publisher: Rothstein Associates Inc. (December 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1931332223
• ISBN-13: 978-1931332224
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #817,335 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Authoritative and Comprehensive, November 20, 2004

By 

Book Bug "Yvonne" (UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Business Continuity: Best Practices--World-Class Business Continuity Management, Second Edition (Paperback)

This book certainly helped me to find my way through the complex world of BC. It is easy to follow, with a roadmap to guide you through and summaries after each chapter. It covers the DRII / BCI Common Body of Knowledge step by step, with many examples from real life cases, checklists, forms - everything I needed to get through a first assignment. And it will become provide a useful benchmark for us as we become more mature and widen the scope of our BC and risk managementactivities.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive Treatment, May 27, 2005

By 

Douglas M. Henderson (Port Saint Lucie, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Business Continuity: Best Practices--World-Class Business Continuity Management, Second Edition (Paperback)

Business Continuity: Best Practices
by Andrew Hiles

The Business Continuity: Best Practices book addresses all the professional areas of competencies recommended by the Disaster Recovery Institute International (DRII) and the Business Continuity Institute (BCI). The DRII and BCI are the largest professional groups establishing industry standards and membership educational requirements on a worldwide basis in the continuity and disaster recovery field.

Business Continuity: Best Practices is designed for use by professionals as well as by interested non-professionals. In fact the book directs the user at a `Practitioner Level' and at a `Foundation Level'. Most business continuity concepts are more practical than technical and the conscientious nonprofessional can utilize this book. The book makes very liberal use of Appendices in every section, thus allowing the serious user to selectively examine specific topics in detail. The casual reader can skip any technical Appendix without losing important concepts.

For the serious reader / plan developer there are numerous tables and checklists that are useful in gathering information and developing the actual Business Continuity Plan. The checklists and tables are very detailed allowing the user to develop a comprehensive plan that does not miss any major points. The book is easy to read and even a non-professional can develop a good plan, especially if a good planning template or actual Business Continuity Plan from a similar business is available as a guide.

In addition to developing a Business Continuity Plan document, Business Continuity: Best Practices addresses ongoing communication, plan implementation, plan activation and all the important aspects of plan development and execution. There is also an excellent section on emergency response and plan operations that provides important guidance during an actual emergency situation. Most importantly, Business Continuity: Best Practices addresses ongoing maintenance and exercise issues so the plan can be properly maintained.

Business Continuity: Best Practices deserves a solid 5-star rating.

Douglas M. Henderson, FSA, CBCP
Disaster Management, Inc.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars FROM THE PUBLISHER, February 26, 2004

By 

P. J Rothstein (Brookfield, CT USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Business Continuity: Best Practices--World-Class Business Continuity Management, Second Edition (Paperback)

This is the new, 2004, 2nd edition of the landmark 1999 book, BUSINESS CONTINUITY: BEST PRACTICES which was the first book to address the ten units of The Common Body of Knowledge for Business Continuity adopted jointly by BCI and DRII.

It is the only book on Business Continuity endorsed by BOTH the Business Continuity Institute and The Disaster Recovery Institute International.

NEW IN THIS EDITION:

- Practical Business Continuity Road Maps for both Novices and for Experienced Practitioners.

- An extensive exercise script for a business continuity tabletop exercise.