Annex B contains the local continuity of operations (COOP) plans for various elements of The George Washington University. The purpose of a COOP plan is to establish priorities and procedures to sustain operations of the University in case a disruption is caused by an incident. Plans should cover the restoration of operations as quickly and completely as possible, and provide for alternate methods and locations of operations during the disruption.
In your overall Continuity of Operations plan, try to address these broad issues:
- Have you established the department’s priorities and identified the University priority of “people first”?
- Is authority and responsibility specifically addressed?
- Who will activate the plan, and how will they do this?
A continuity plan is functional in nature and should include all of the offices or locations that support critical functions of the department. Continuity plans prioritize essential operations and plan to minimize the duration of a disruption in operations caused by an incident. Continuity plans should provide for preparation, response and recovery in terms of continuity of operations.
The following is a broad outline of the eight steps of COOP planning:
- a) Identify Critical Operations and Functions
b) Minimum Requirements to perform critical functions
- Identify Internal and External Dependencies and Interdependencies
- Determine Alternative Methods and Redundancies of critical functions
- a) Identify the steps for Recovery and Restoration
b) Establish Recovery Goals/Timelines
- Examine Assumptions
- Examine Communication methods
- Examine Financial Issues
- Implement (Maintain, Review, and Exercise) the Plan
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Please review the full guidance for Continuity of Operations planning provided on the Campus Advisories web page.
This annex is located in the password secure site portion of the Incident Manual so that only approved members of the GW community will have access to view these plans. There may be contact information for individuals that has been excluded from the online version of the plan to maintain privacy. These will be visible in the department’s version and the version that the Office of Public Safety and Emergency Management maintains.
For further information or help with building a continuity plan please visit the following site for training information http://www.gwu.edu/~response/docs/annex-k/home.cfm or email any questions to OPSEM@gwu.edu.
