The Business Continuity Toolkit is a place where those new to business continuity can find and learn about a variety of tools involved in building a holistic business continuity program. By considering these tools, you will get an idea of what it takes to construct a strong, workable program for your organization and ultimately achieve:

• A Culture of Business Continuity
• Organization-Wide Awareness of the Business Continuity Program
• Employee, Customer and Management Confidence in the Business Continuity Program
• Thorough, Clear, and Tested Plans to Guide You Through a Crisis

The BCM 101 Toolkit is divided into the following four sections:

Risk Mitigation Tools 
Risk Mitigation tools and strategies are used to enhance your organization’s continuity by developing defenses ahead of time. Risk mitigation involves taking preventative measures to minimize the likelihood of a disruptive event, or reduce the severity associated with an interruption if one should occur.

Response Tools
Response tools are designed to protect people, property and equipment following an incident by leveraging preplanned response mechanisms and processes. Examples include: shelter-in-place, evacuation and personnel accountability-related processes.

Recovery Tools
Recovery tools should be used during and following an incident. Recovery involves the resumption of critical business processes and all associated, required resources within a reasonable timeframe, by using alternate facilities, resources, personnel, technologies and/or processes.

Communications Tools
Communications tools are used during response and recovery efforts to ensure that all tasks are understood by all parties and are carried out effectively. Communications should address both internal and external stakeholders and involves the development of stakeholder messaging.