UO Emergency Management - Continuity of Operations Planning

INCOMING ALERTS

Information on Pandemic Influenza & H1N1 Influenza Posted: 11/17/2009 06:04 AM PST

Continuity of Operations Planning

Overview:

Continuity of Operations Planning or business continuity planning is a systematic interdisciplinary approach to planning for how an departments, units and the University as a whole will continue critical operations and business during and after a disaster. Such planning is a crucial part of the larger integrated UO Emergency Management program which focuses on response, recovery, preparedness and mitigation planning and activities.

The “business” of the University of Oregon is framed by its mission of teaching, research and public service. The University’s ability to accomplish its mission is vulnerable to a major emergency which results in a significant loss of vital resources such as power, buildings, equipment, infrastructure, technology, or personnel. Peer institutions nationally and within the Pac-10 have indentified continuity planning as a major area of focus and development.

Process:

The decentralized nature of University decision-making makes a single “one-size-fits-all” continuity plan unfeasible and ineffective. Involvement and input by individual departments and units is essential to effective continuity planning at the University.

Collaborative department-based continuity planning identifies needs which are in some cases unique to individual departments and in other cases shared by multiple departments or the entire University. The process of identifying critical functions and taking steps to sustain those functions enhances the resilience of the University by enabling it to maintain or to quickly resume mission-critical activities when faced with a significant loss of essential resources and services.

Summary:

In summary, continuity planning benefits University by reducing existing vulnerabilities to major emergencies. The same process benefits individual departments and units, not only by decreasing vulnerability to campus-wide emergencies, but by reducing vulnerability to potentially more common localized emergencies affecting only that department. The UO Emergency Management Program is currently developing a continuity of operations planning program for university departments and units.

H1N1 Influenza Pandemic: Continuity of Operations Planning Resources

Public health experts tell us that pandemic H1N1 influenza may cause high levels of employee absenteeism this fall and winter. Some projections predict absentee rates of up to 40%. If this proves to be the case, university departments and units may find it
difficult to maintain normal operations with many employees absent due to illness. It is important that department/units plan now for ways to maintain critical functions and operations.

University of Oregon Emergency Management has developed the following resources to assist departments and units in developing continuity plans.

Introduction: This document provides general information on the H1N1 influenza pandemic and the continuity planning process.
Continuity Plan Template: This document provides a template for developing a basic continuity plan to protect critical departmentfunctions during the pandemic. This MS Word document can be downloaded for use by individual departments and units.
Continuity Planning Guide: This document provides step-by-step guidance for using the Continuity Plan template. Also includes a glossary of continuity planning terms.

Click here to access these documents.