Business Impact Analysis Templates
Effectively assess impact and quantify potential company losses.
Effectively assess impact and quantify potential company losses.
Published 15 Sep 2021
Business impact analysis is the process of planning for operational interruptions or disruptions caused by natural disasters or other similar incidents. It identifies and evaluates the impact of disasters and provides companies a basis for investment in recovery, prevention, and mitigation strategies. Conducting a business impact analysis aids companies in providing informed decisions, appropriate response, and proper resource allocation during a non-operation period.
A Business Impact Analysis (BIA) template is used to assess the impact of possible disruptive events across key business functions of a company. Impact analysis includes an assessment of losses in terms of operational activities and financial/ revenues. Senior management of an organization uses BIA to prioritize functions for recovery during critical emergencies. This checklist includes the following steps:
A Business Impact Analysis (BIA) template is used to evaluate and document the potential negative impact to an organization in the event of an emergency disruption. It is used by management to measure the potential financial/ operational loss and minimum recovery times of critical functions during outages. It is an important first step to help management prioritize which areas to establish business continuity planning for.
Here are the most common business functions that are typically prioritized for an impact assessment:
Building Access & Facilities Support
Building collapses, fires, or acts of terrorism can prevent physical access to workplaces. The impact of building disruptions can be severe and range from staff death, major operational disruption, and loss of revenue.
Identify the physical buildings that are most customer-impacting and interdependent with other operations. Assessed recovery times should be based on office relocations and/ or implementation of remote work environments. It is also important to perform a BIA on the expected alternate workplace location. A BIA can assist in identifying which physical buildings and divisions should be prioritized for continuity planning.
Data Center Availability
Weather disasters, power outages, and server equipment failure can cause disruptions to data center operations. Loss of data center operations can impact external and internal communication channels and critical IT functions.
Engage senior IT departments to determine which servers (internal or cloud-hosted) support critical business functions. Assessed recovery times can depend on how long it would take to fix backup programs and/ or the amount of time needed to operate in an alternate data center.
Loss of Key Positions
Loss of key executive roles in business operations can lead to loss of customer contracts, PR damage, and operational disruption. Loss of key roles can be due to sudden & unreported changes in key business processes, illnesses, or resignation.
Engage senior management and the Board to map out key positions, responsibilities, and departmental dependencies. The financial impact can be assessed against the probability of losing key customer contracts. The operational impact should also be assessed based on dependencies with other departments. Recovery time can be evaluated based on succession planning and remaining positions across the organization chart.
Communication is key to administering a good business impact analysis. Any business should be able to gather all the necessary elements to ensure that recovery strategies are planned thoroughly. Here are the five elements that a business impact analysis should have:
Business impact analysis plays an important role in business decision making. It helps prioritize the crucial areas of the business operations that can cause harm to the business in case of a non-operational period. It provides valuable analysis on the short and long-term effects of a disaster, pandemic, or incidents. The following key aspects help create a business impact analysis.
Using cloud software tools like iAuditor by SafetyCulture can eliminate wasteful time spent gathering questionnaire responses and on data-entry when performing BIAs. Your BIA team can use iAuditor to:
Get started by using iAuditor for your BIAs using these free customizable BIA templates and surveys:
Business Impact Assessment Questionnaires are used to gather feedback from management teams on the operational function of their department. Use this survey questionnaire to identify interdependencies with other departments and existing recovery plans in place. This digitized template allows you to:
An IT impact analysis template is used to assess multiple risks to specific IT functions and analyze the impact on operations including financial losses.