Gopakumar Nair BCCE, Deputy Director, Service Excellence and Plans, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) (Nominated for the BCM Excellence Award 2012)

1. BCM Implementation in A*STAR Biomedical
Sciences Institutes Business Centre:
The Journey from Project to Programme
Management
The 5Es of building and sustaining BCM
Mr Gopakumar Nair
Deputy Director Service Excellence & Plans
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2. Scope
Introduction
Pre-Project phase
Project phase
Programme Management
Conclusion
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3. • “Business continuity is not a project with a beginning and
ending date, it is a programme to be managed indefinitely.”
Business Continuity Management
• “A company needs to have good business reflexes to be able
to marshal its forces in a crisis or in response to an
unplanned event.”
Bill Gates
• “While no plan can guarantee success, inadequate plans are
proven contributors to failure.”
US Department of Homeland Security Nationwide Plan
Review Phase 2 Report June 16, 2006

4. Introduction
• Who are we & what do we do?
 A*STAR Biomedical Sciences Institutes Business Centre (BBC)
 Mission: Render reliable & responsive HR, Finance and Procurement
Shared Services in our partnership with BMSI entities

5. Introduction
• What are the 5Es of building and sustaining BCM?
 Engagement, Examination, Education, Exposure and Equipment
 How BBC has applied them
 Transformed from reactive participants to proactive partners
 Built a resilience capability
 Developed our people capacity
 Overcame silos to align and synergize within and across the
organization
 Stayed ahead of the curve

6. Pre-Project phase
• Aim: To establish the imperative/business case for/against BCM
Engagement & Examination:
 Mission – “…Reliable & Responsive…Shared Services...Partnership
Q: How to realize this in a BCM situation?
 Preparedness – Policies, Plans & People
Q: What’s there to guide, align, prioritize, coordinate efforts and specify
roles & responsibilities?
 Impact & Consequences of Delays & Disruptions
Q: What are the tangible & intangible issues?
 3 more key questions
 What if we are impacted?
 What if they are impacted?
 What if both are impacted?

7. Pre-Project phase
Conclusion:
BBC needs to be able to render critical Shared Services functions to its
RIs during an incident, crisis or disaster.
To realize this, BBC needs a credible BCM plan
 Compliant with SS-540 standard
 To achieve this, we require:
 Budget – CITREP funding
 Human Resources – Identification of Critical Business
Function owners, Covering Officers and Split Teams
 Training – 1 day training and 5 half day workshops plus
reports and competency certification test
 Expertise – Consultants with training and industry experience

8. Project phase
• Aim: To develop a SS540 compliant BC plan through
 Engagement
 BBC Senior Management for endorsement
 Within & across BBC Functions wrt Expectation Management
 With Consultant wrt expectations, desired outcomes
 Education
 BBC Senior Management
 Senior Management roles (Peacetime & Crisis/Disaster)
 BCM Team Structure, Appointments, Roles & Responsibilities
 Project output
 Business Recovery requirements
 Reports – RA, BIA, RS, Framework and Policy
 BC Plan (Organizational + Departmental)
 Planning Assumptions
 Crisis Management flow

9. Project phase
 Education
 CBFowners
 BCM BOK
 Planning methodology
 Terminology
 Organizational + Departmental Perspectives
 Reports, Recovery & Plans

10. Project phase
 Examination
 Systematic
 Within each Function
 Across Functions
 Intra dependencies
 Inter dependencies
 Prioritisation (What & Why)
 Cost versus Benefits
 Exposure
 Impact & Consequences of Crisis/Disaster

11. Programme Management
• Aim: To ensure Relevance & Robustness of BCM plan
It’s all about preparation for Execution
 Engagement
 To ensure Alignment, Coordination and Expectation Management in Peacetime, during
Crisis and Return to Normal
 BBC and Council Management
 CBF and BCM appt holders
 RI BCM Coordinators
 HQ BCM (Stakeholders)
 Partners (IPFM, ISTD, Landlord)
 Suppliers & Service Providers (NCS)
 Education
 To instill clarity over roles & responsibilities, ensure a common working language,
establish mutual understanding of dependencies and stay up to date as a Community
 Staff
 CBF and BCM appt holders
 RI BCM Coordinators
 HQ stakeholders

12. Programme Management
 Equipment
- To ensure Availability, Access & Alternative plans
 Exposure
– To ensure readiness, coordination, integration & identify areas for
improvement
 Exercises, Drills, Tests
Winston Churchill on testing:
"However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results."

13. Conclusion
• Engagement, Examination, Education, Exposure and Equipment
 Transformed BBC from reactive participants to proactive partners
 Enabled BBC to grow a resilience capability
 Developed BBC’s people capacity
 Empowered BBC to overcome silos to align and synergize within and across
the organization
 Motivated BBC to stay ahead of the curve
• Engagement, Examination, Education, Exposure and Equipment
 Not mutually exclusive
 Not superior to each other
 Need to be applied in an integrated manner to build and sustain BCM

14. End of presentation
Thank you
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