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Monday, August 8, 2011

"Workflow on Workflow" is Required to Promote BCP

In Japan after the earthquake, products and services related with BCP are in "emergency demands". Demands for Cloud-related products are growing also in IT industry. (Everyday we find in newspapers such words of "electricity saving"and "telecommuting" and "BCP")

BCP stands for Business Continuity Plan. Compare to "Contingency Plan", BCP defines actions that "action in order to recover the business" in relatively long-term, whereas Contingency Plan is focused on "actions in emergency"

But creating "business continuity plan" is not easy. It is necessary to consider during peacetime "How should major operation processes be recovered"on assumed scenarios such as "blackout" or "traffic network breakdown". So to consider this, not only one must be familiar with the flow of operation in peacetime, in some cases he also will be required consideration of the perspectives advanced management.

The following is a Workflow model "to prepare for Workflow under assumed condition"

<Tasks>
1. Workflow and Assumption, 2. Study Flow chart, 2b. Discussion, 3. Review, 4. Confirmation

[Creating Flow chart: "2.Study Flow chart" screen]





<Items>
  • Title(string)<Name Flow (Assumed condition)>
-Assumotion-
  • Summary of Assumption (string)
  • Probability (numeric)
  • Person in Charge (user)
  • Deadline (date)
-Flow chart-
  • Summary Target Flow chart (string)
  • Recover Priority (numeric)
-Result-
  • Flow chart (file)
  • Notes on Flow chard (string)
  • Sharing Address (string)
-Control-
  • Status (selest: Consult Supervisor/Designate Reviewer)
  • Designate Reviewer (user)
  • Review deadline (date)
  • Correspondent (discussion)

The deliverable of this workflow is supposed to be an operation which must be recovered as sooner as possible, such as "Material procurement flow "or"Estimating flow", the core of the business.

To create Workflow, hearing to Section chief and working party is indispensable. In the Workflow above, by looping Task 2. and 3., designate a chief or a working person and goes to [3. Review] again and again.

In addition, it is desirable to also specify its "input" and "output" when a supervisor orders creating Workflow chart.

[Email setting screen]