Gathering the BIA data can sometimes be intimidating enough that looking beyond to the reporting stage sometimes falls into the “I’ll think about that tomorrow” category. However, at some point, you have to get there. After all, you’ve invested a lot of time and effort in designing your questions, setting up the appointments and gathering the data. If you wish to avoid leaving your stakeholders and sponsors with the impression that it has been a waste of time or, perhaps worse, a cosmetic box-ticking exercise, it is crucial that the reports be useful. Even better is to produce a report which is both useful and intuitive.
How much ability you have to shape the BIA reports will depend on the tools used to gather the information. Using off-the-shelf systems will simplify your initial set up but they are likely to restrict you to the standard reports offered by the system. On the other hand, creating your own BIA tools will give you complete control over the data you gather and how you manipulate it but will require considerably more computer expertise on your part.
Whichever route you choose to follow (I’m a fan of the DIY approach for a number of reasons), you will be collecting information which must flow to various stakeholders if you’re going to gain the most out of the BIA exercise. For example:
- the profile of staff needed over the days and weeks following the event should be available to the people responsible for finding and outfitting new work locations or simply repairing the existing locations.
- the desired IT systems and when they are needed will be of great interest to those responsible for recovering your information and technology.
- the web of relationships (the business unit’s suppliers and stakeholders) is important for the business recovery strategists to understand the ripple effects of a failure in the supply chain. Also, such information will assist in determining the post-event communications strategy.
Over the course of the next few posts, I will be suggesting ways of presenting the information which are intuitive to understand and also visually appealing.