
![](ISO_22317_Guidelines%20for%20business%20impact%20analysis.pdf)

## Steps

The steps for conducting an initial Business Impact Analysis (BIA) are:

- **Define the context and scope of the BIA process.** This involves understanding the organization’s external and internal operating environments, including its business processes, activities, and resources. The BIA process should cover the entire scope of the business continuity management system (BCMS), which should be defined in terms of the organization’s products and services.
    
- **Define and communicate roles and responsibilities for the BIA process.** Top management should ensure that roles and authorities are assigned, communicated, and that resources are provided. Key roles include the BIA leader and activity owners. The **BIA leader is responsible for the BIA process**, including preparing and delivering the BIA methodology, planning, and managing the process, consolidating and analyzing information, and presenting the outcomes to top management. **Activity owners are responsible for providing a detailed understanding of their activities, applying the BIA methodology, and providing information to the BIA leader**.
    
- **Obtain commitment from leadership and allocate adequate resources.** Top management commitment is essential for the BIA process. This includes communicating the value of the BIA process, providing support, allocating sufficient resources, agreeing on methods, priorities, and time frames, and ensuring an environment of continual improvement.
    
- **Plan the BIA.** This can include allocating resources, grouping products and services with similar characteristics, identifying the organizational structure and teams or individuals that can provide information, and communicating expectations to participants.
    
- **Agree on the approach for undertaking the BIA process.** This involves understanding the potential impacts of a disruption on the organization. Impacts can include loss of revenue, market share, customer confidence, reputation, and legal or regulatory penalties.
    
- **Define impact types and criteria.** The organization should define impact types and criteria to understand the impact of a disruption over time. Impact types can include business objectives, environmental, financial, health and safety, legal, regulatory, contractual, market share, operational, and reputational. Criteria should be defined for each impact type to determine when the impact becomes unacceptable. This can be done by defining thresholds or using an impact matrix.
    
- **Define time frames.** Impacts typically increase over time, so it’s important to define time frames to assess the magnitude of the impact. This can be done using a set number of time frames or a set number of time frames within which to consider the increasing impact.
    
- **Define the BIA methodology.** A consistent methodology should be defined to assess all products, services, and activities. The methodology should include how to assess impacts over time, the definition of the maximum tolerable period of disruption (MTPD), and the recovery time objective (RTO).
    
- **Determine the priorities of products and services with top management.** Top management should determine the priorities of products and services based on the organization’s objectives, obligations, and the potential impacts of a disruption. Factors to consider include legal and regulatory requirements, contractual obligations, customer expectations, and the impact of failure to deliver. The output should be a list of prioritized products and services and their continuity requirements.
    
- **Determine the prioritized activities.** For each prioritized product and service, the related activities should be identified. Activity owners should then assess the impacts of a disruption over time, identify the MTPD, and set the RTO for each activity. The output should be a list of prioritized activities and their RTOs.
    
- **Identify resources and other dependencies.** The resources and dependencies required to perform prioritized activities should be identified. These can include people, information and data, physical infrastructure, equipment, ICT systems, transportation and logistics, finances, partners, and suppliers. For each resource, the quantity, time frame, characteristics, dependencies, and applicable requirements should be documented.
    
- **Analyze and consolidate BIA results.** The information gathered from all levels of the BIA process should be analyzed and consolidated to identify business continuity priorities and requirements. The organization should choose an appropriate analytical approach, ensuring the information is correct, credible, consistent, current, and complete.
    
- **Obtain top management approval for BIA results.** The BIA leader should present the BIA results to top management for their review, amendment, and approval. This should include the prioritization of products and services, activities, and resources. Top management approval should be documented. The BIA results can then be used to identify and select business continuity strategies and solutions.
    
- **Review the BIA process and methodology.** The BIA process and methodology should be reviewed regularly and updated as needed to ensure its effectiveness and efficiency.
    
- **Review BIA results.** The BIA results should be reviewed periodically and whenever there are significant changes within the organization or its context that could affect the business continuity priorities and requirements.


## Dependencies between processes and assets

The ISO/TS 22317:2021(E) standard emphasizes the importance of understanding dependencies between processes and assets in conducting a Business Impact Analysis (BIA). This involves recognizing how disruptions to one area can affect others, both internally and externally.

Here's what the standard highlights:

- **Impact of Disruptions on the delivery of products and services**
  The BIA process should consider how disruptions can affect the delivery of products and services to customers and other interested parties.This includes disruptions originating internally, within the supply chain, or from external sources. The analysis should consider how these disruptions can impact various stakeholders, including customers, partners, the community, media, shareholders, creditors, competitors, staff, and regulators.
- **Interdependencies of Activities**
  When analyzing the impact of disruptions on specific activities, it is crucial to consider their interdependencies on other activities, both within and outside the organization. This means understanding how a disruption to one activity can affect the ability of other activities to function. For instance, a delay in a manufacturing process could impact subsequent production stages or even the final delivery of a product.
  - **Resource Dependencies**
  A detailed understanding of daily resource requirements is essential to identify the resources necessary to recover or maintain prioritized activities following a disruption. These resources can include various assets like:
	  - People (staff, contractors)
	  - Information and data (including vital records)
	  - Physical infrastructure (buildings, workplaces, facilities, utilities)
	  - Equipment (office equipment, manufacturing equipment, tools, spare parts)
	  - ICT systems (applications, cloud services, remote access)
	  - Transportation and logistics
	  - Finance
	  - Partners and suppliers
- **Identifying and Documenting Dependencies**
  The BIA process should identify the dependencies between activities and resources. This involves documenting the quantity, time frame, characteristics, and dependencies of each resource required for an activity. For example, for IT resources, specific details like software versions, hardware specifications, and data backup regimes would be essential. Recognizing these dependencies helps in developing appropriate recovery strategies and solutions.
- **Analyzing and Consolidating Dependencies**
  When analyzing and consolidating the BIA results, it's vital to recognize and address potential conflicts or inconsistencies arising from the interdependencies between activities and resources. For example, if the recovery objectives of one activity conflict with the resource availability for another, these issues need to be resolved.

The ISO 22317 emphasizes the need for a holistic approach when conducting a BIA. This involves understanding not just the direct impact of a disruption on individual processes or assets but also the ripple effect it can have due to the complex network of dependencies within and outside the organization. By mapping these dependencies and analyzing their potential impact, organizations can develop more robust business continuity plans and ensure a more resilient operation.
