SAMPLE 1 - Failure of Telecommunications Business Contingency Plan Location: Plan ID:

ABC Private Hospital (ABC) Pathology Lab Site

ABCH01

Plan Purpose:
To maintain essential pathology services to ABC Company P/L Hospital for the duration of the telecommunications failure.

Distribution List:
ABC Pathology Lab Manager at the ABC Hospital phone: 07 3312 3456 HQ Business Continuity Manager phone: 07 123 4567 Gold Coast Regional Pathology Lab Manager phone: 07 5512 3456

Responsible Personnel:
The ABC Pathology Laboratory manager or delegate will be responsible for the laboratorys ongoing operations. A Practice Management Group Manager (PMG) or delegate will be responsible for implementation of this plan. The computer room operator will be responsible for resolution of the telecommunications failure.

Reasons for failure:

Determine reasons for failure: Mainframe failure. PABX failure. Telephone exchange failure. ISDN failure and or PSTN failure. Fax lines fail. Physical disruption to telecommunication lines. Power failure, partial or complete. LAN connection to a Hospital server and or server software.

Warning indicators: Decrease in number or no incoming phone calls Difficulty or inability to perform data entry Difficulty or inability to phone out Little or no report printout Modem disconnection in computer room Lights out Failed faxes are recorded and printed at Data Services No online results in wards
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Areas Affected:
Identify areas that are affected: Contact with the rest of the organisation. Contact with patients, doctors or wards. Data entry of patient demographics and entry of online results. Reports from the mainframe. Faxed results. Online results to Hospital wards.

Recovery Time Objective (RTO):

1 hour (The time up to which the system is monitored and after which the plan is implemented in order to prevent serious business impact)

Notification:
Contact will be by any unaffected means of communication (e.g. Mobile phone, Public Phone, unaffected fax line). Call for assistance and notify personnel Internal Taringa switchboard operator

Taringa switch to notify: Practice Management Group (PMG) manager Computer operator

External Telecommunications carrier (Telstra) Directly affected clients (e.g. Hospital wards with results enquiry terminals and/or fax machines)

Resources for notification: Computer operator obtains Escalation Plan for Telecommunications Failure

Backup Resources:
Check and monitor the status of backup resources in priority order. Recover backup resources if necessary in priority order. Mobile phones. Offline testing and manual result reporting materials. Report delivery from redirected printers. Report printer ID list.
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Initial Response
Determine the estimated duration of failure and compare with Recovery Time Objective If estimated duration of outage is less than RTO, implement - Monitoring tasks Monitoring tasks Responsibility: ABC Lab Manager Establish a means of communication between ABC and Taringa by any unaffected means of communication: Alternate Phone close location; Check all close phones for operation. Especially those with direct lines outside of PABX. Mobile phone; notify PMG Manager of number and arrange a replacement phone and / or charger. Check all Fax lines for operation; an analogue handset, if available, may be connected to this line for voice communication. Otherwise use fax. Public phone; Communication by public phone is not desirable for ongoing use. A mobile phone should be arranged. If necessary, a courier can be dispatched to Taringa with a written message. Notify Taringa switchboard operator of failure. Request they notify a PMG manager and the computer operator. Notify Lab staff to ensure urgent specimens are processed and to print out results from instruments or transcribe results to interim report forms and deliver to wards.

If estimated outage is greater than RTO, implement Initiation tasks Initiation tasks Responsibility: ABC Lab Manager Redirect Data entry, Result Input and Staff to Wesley Lab. Identify report printer destinations from Report printer ID list. Confirm with Computer operator to redirect these printer destinations to Taringa Mail Room.

Responsibility: PMG Manager Contact Couriers to organise delivery of redirected reports to ABC Company P/L Laboratory. Contact Data Services to initiate a reprint of failed faxes to the redirected report printer address. Contact Wesley Lab to advise that Data Entry, Result input and associated Staff is being sent to that location. Contact Taringa switch to advise of communications failure and to redirect results enquiry to data services and blood bank enquiry to Wesley. If failure occurs out of Wesley laboratory operating hours, Wesley blood bank may need to be activated.

Responsibility: Computer operator Redirect identified report printers and Oncology Clinic EFT destination to Taringa Mail room. Make a note of all redirections for recovery when communications re-established. Contact the telecommunications carrier to redirect ABC Company P/L lines to Taringa Switch. Obtain recovery time estimate from the Telecommunications carrier. Contact PMG Manager to update on any progress and confirm redirection of PSTN lines. Monitor printer queues to check for undiverted printers.

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Sustaining
Monitor situation and re-evaluate at 2-hour intervals in priority order. After 6 hours, decide if sustaining tasks are to be implemented. Sustaining tasks Organise sorting bench to redirect routine specimens to Taringa, Mater or Wesley laboratories.

Rostering of staff Adjust Staff rosters if required and arrange staff relocation to Wesley or Taringa laboratories.

Additional resources required Adjust courier runs and delivery of reports from Taringa to ABC Company P/L with special deliveries for urgent reports.

Recovery
If confirmed that failure has ended, commence recovery tasks: Recovery Tasks Responsibility: Computer operator Confirm with telecommunications carrier that normal telecommunications have been established. Return all printers to normal destination and confirm they are working. Contact ABC Lab Manager to confirm resumption of normal operations. Contact PMG Manager to confirm resumption of normal telecommunications.

Responsibility: ABC Lab Manager Confirm that the PABX is operating normally, i.e. all incoming lines are available. If PABX not working, reset the PABX. Check that voice and data links to ABC Company P/L Hospital and other on-line clients are operating normally, e.g. urgent faxes. Contact PMG Manager to confirm normal operations and arrange for resumption of normal work practices. Contact Staff at other locations and arrange for their report to ABC lab.

Responsibility: PMG Manager Contact Data services, Switchboard and Wesley laboratories to advise that normal communications have been established.

Updates and Plan Location

When implemented, record events on attached Business Interruption Event Log and forward to the Business Continuity Manager.
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Review and update when there are additional or changed telecommunications conditions or when work procedures are reviewed. A copy of the plan is with ABC lab quality system procedures manual. A copy of the plan is in the ABC lab managers office. A copy of the plan is in the computer room.

ABC Company P/Laboratory Report Printer ID List Location ABC EC ABC ICU Lab Lab Lab Lab Destination ID ABC9 ABC ABC (Color Laser A4 Hospital reports & A5 GP reports) ABC4 (Color Laser A4 Hospital reports & A5 GP reports) ABC2 (Color Laser A5 GP reports) ABC (Black Laser A5 reports)

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Business Interruption Event Log Event Description: Location: Date Time Actioned By Contact/Task

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