Using Business Impact Analysis

This section describes the out-of-the-box workflow provided by the Business Impact Analysis (BIA) use case. To learn more about using BIA, see Managing a BIA Campaign.

BIA Campaign Generation

The BIA Campaign automates the creation of Business Impact Analysis records based on the selected scoping methodology. Depending on the chosen scoping methodology, the BIA campaign will create BIA records for either the selected Business Processes, Products and Services, or Business Units. You can associate a BIA record to more than one campaign at a time but only to a single business process or product and service. If a business process or product and service already has a BIA created, the system links the existing BIA record to the new BIA campaign after the campaign starts. To start the campaign, click Generate BIA. This action enrolls the campaign record into advanced workflow and triggers the BIA Campaign JS Data Feed, which then generates BIA records. All BIAs associated with a BIA campaign are listed in the Related Business Impact Analysis section of the campaign record.

BIA Manual Creation and Submission

During manual creation, you must first select to scope by either business processes or products and services. You are prompted to select either the business process or the product and service to evaluate. Once you update the general information section, the record is enrolled in the advanced workflow upon save. During this period any dependency mapping that was performed in the evaluated business process or product and service is copied to the Supporting Infrastructure tab of the Business Impact Analysis (BIA) record using a data feed. Once the data feed is complete, the Criticality Assessment tab is displayed. Depending on the selected scoping method, either the Business Process Manager or Product and Service Manager will answer questions related to the impact categories. After all the questions are complete and the record is saved, an Overall Criticality Rating is calculated for the BIA. The Supporting Infrastructure tab is displayed. You can either validate the supporting infrastructure that was copied from the corresponding record or perform dependency mapping if it has not yet been completed. The record is then sent to the Business Process Owner or Product and Service Owner for their review by clicking Submit under the Actions drop-down. The record is advanced in the workflow and a notification sent to the corresponding Business Process Owner or Product and Service Owner. The reviewer can either reject the record, return it to the submitter for more information, or approve the submission. Approved BIA records initiate a data feed that copies the supporting infrastructure contained in the BIA to the corresponding business process or product and service. Additionally, the Overall Criticality Rating is inherited by the business process or product and service and cascades down to all pieces of supporting infrastructure.

BIA Review Phase

A BIA record undergoes a single level of approval. The Business Process Owner or the Product and Service Owner of the corresponding evaluated business process or product and service receives a notification. They can approve or reject the BIA record or send it back to the submitter for more information.

After a BIA has been approved, the Actual Date of Completion is populated, and the review date for the next assessment is set based on the overall criticality of the BIA record. At this point, the supporting infrastructure contained in the BIA record and the Overall Criticality Rating are copied to the corresponding evaluated record. The Business Impact Analysis - Archive Feed is preconfigured to copy approved Business Impact Analysis records into the BIA Archive on a daily basis.