BS25999 - the Business Continuity Planning Standard
BS25999 is the Business Continuity and Business Resilience certification standard that has worldwide applicability.
Importance of BS25999
BS25999, the Business Continuity Standard, is of real importance to everyone from Board directors, corporate executives and IT managers through to facilities managers and business continuity professionals. Service disruptions, delays in responding to customer requests, inability to process transactions in a timely manner or being unable to resume business in the face of a disaster can all have significant impacts on an organization's effective operation. Recent natural disasters as well as terrorist activities have shown that an organization's resilience to a disaster and its being able to resume business quickly and efficiently were directly related to its preparedness to respond to unforeseen events.
In the UK, the NHS has determined that BS25999 certification is a key way for NHS entities to demonstrate that they adequately resilient, and UK local authorities have recognised the BS25999 certification is the best method possible for demonstrating they are meeting their obligations under the Civil Contingencies Act. Internationally, organisations in both the public and private sector are pursuing BS25999 certification in order to demonstrate to stakeholders and customers that they have adequate business resilience arrangements in place.
BS25999 Certification (registration)
BS25999 is a two-part standard:
- BS25999-1 is a Code of Practice for Business Continuity Management, which has been available since 2006.
- BS25999-2:2007 is a Specification for a Management Scheme, officially launched by BSI on 30 October 2007, and available with effect from 20 Nov 2007.
Part 2, the management scheme specification, makes it possible for organizations to have their business continuity management arrangements independently certified by external auditors and, thereby, provide stakeholders, customers and insurers with a real degree of comfort about the rigour with which the business continuity efforts were developed.
This is a development of major importance for all organizations. The Route Map to Business Continuity Management: Meeting the Requirements for BS25999 is the best-selling guide to certification under this new standard and the BS25999 Introductory Kit is probably the best introductory collection available.
What we offer:
Here at IT Governance, we are supporting organizations pursuing BS25999 in every way possible. This site provides a comprehensive range of BS25999 Business Continuity resources:
- Buy BS25999-2:2007 (the specification) online - or, if you don't already have the Code of Practice, BS25999-1, buy both parts of the standard in this BS25999 Standards Kit;
- Buy a BCM & BS25999 Implementation Set; or a Best Practice Business Continuity Kit;
- Buy books from the Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery Bookstore, including the popular: Business Continuity Management - A Manager's Guide to BS25999;
- Attend our BS25999 Training Courses;
- Contact us for BS25999 consultancy support
Other Important Business Continuity Standards
ISO/IEC 27031 - ICT Readiness for Business Continuity has replaced BS25777, ICT Service Continuity Management,which itself replaced PAS77. ISO.IEC 27031 provides specific ITC continuity guidance within the context of ISO27001 and of the forthcoming ISO22301 international standard that will replace BS25999.
ISO/IEC 24762, the ICT Disaster Recovery Standard, provides specific guidance for organisations around the provision (either in-house or outsourced) of disaster recovery facilities.
International BCM Standard
An international Business Continuity Planning Management standard is also under development. This will have the number ISO22301. A number of nationally-originated standards and guidelines are being considered as part of the internationalisation process. These include:
- BS25999 - Business Continuity Management
- NFPA 1600 - Standard on Disaster/Emergency Management and Business Continuity (NFPA: National Fire Protection Association, recognised by ANSI in the USA), which I believe relates to ISO IWA 5:2006 ‘Emergency Preparedness’ from ANSI
- HB 221 - Business Continuity Management (Australian standard, published in 2004)
- Israeli Contributions on Security Management Systems: Management Standard and Accompanying Family of Standards – only issued as guidelines, with no easy reference number
- Japanese Guidelines for the Establishment of Framework on Emergency Preparedness – only issued as guidelines, with no easy reference number
It is not yet clear what the final form of the international standard will be, or the date by when it will finally be available. it may be published in the summer of 2011; the BS25999 management scheme is therefore likely to set the standard globally for externally certifiable BCM standards.
BS25999 has a critical relationship with ISO27001.
