DMSO Mission Assurance Lexicon

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Overview

The DMSO Mission Assurance Lexicon is apparently a document released by the United States Defense Modeling and Simulation Office [W]. The original documents were unable for access at the time of this writing (2007-05-26 16:52 EST), but the text was retrieved from a cached copy at Google. The HTML title is given as "Business Assurance Office (BAO) Lexicon".

Text

Term Definition Related Terms
Activation Phase Initial actions taken upon system disruption or detection of imminent emergency. This phase includes activities to notify recovery personnel, assess system damage, and implement the plan. Emergency Response, Notification
Activity Log A record of activities and data information maintained during an emergency.  
Alert Notification that a potential emergency or crisis exists or has occurred; direction for recipient to stand by for possible activation of crisis management and to ensure emergency preparedness procedures are in place. Notification
Alternate Site / Alternate Backup Site An alternate location, such as an IT or computer center, that becomes operational should a primary facility become inaccessible due to a disaster. Cold Site, Deployment/ Relocation Site, Recovery Site
Backups Duplication or replication of systems, applications, programs, and/or production files for storage both on and/or offsite.  Data backups are vital in the restoring of corrupted or lost data, or to recover entire systems and databases in the event of a disaster. File Shadowing
Backup Generator An independent source of power, usually fueled by diesel or natural gas.  
Business Continuity The process on sustaining an organization’s business functions during and after a disruption. See: Business Continuity Plan  

Business Continuity Management

Strategic and operational framework in which appropriate redesign is required in the way an organization provides its products and services while increasing its resilience to disruption, interruption or loss.  
Business Continuity Plan (BCP) The documentation of a predetermined set of instructions or procedures that describe how an organization’s business functions will be sustained during and after a significant event or disruption. A disaster recovery plan, business resumption plan, and occupant emergency plan may be appended to the BCP. Responsibilities and priorities set in the BCP should be coordinated with those in the Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP) to eliminate possible conflicts. See also Continuity of Operations. Contingency Plan, Disaster Recovery Plan
Business Impact Analysis (BIA) An analysis of all critical business functions and processes and the measured impact that a disaster would have on an organization. The BIA should quantify the total loss impact by establishing the costs (lost daily revenue) multiplied by the number of days of interruption to business.  

Business Recovery

Process of returning/restoring an entity to an acceptable operational condition in order to resume business processes. Business Resumption, Business Continuity, Reconstitution
Business Recovery Team See:  Business Resumption Team  
Business Resumption (BR) The process of resuming an organization’s critical business processes and functions to an acceptable level of operations as defined by the organization or agency. Developing advance business resumption plans and procedures addresses all activities within the lifecycle of an event to the return to normal business operations. See Business Resumption Plan Business Recovery, Business Continuity, Disaster Recovery Planning, Data Recovery, Restoration

Business Resumption Plan (BRP)

The documentation

of a predetermined set of instructions or procedures that describe how business processes will be restored after a significant disruption has occurred.

Business Resumption, Business Continuity Plan, Disaster Recovery Plan
Business Resumption Team (BRT) A team of subject

matter experts who will support in activities of resuming critical business processes and functions after a disruption. The Business Resumption Team will integrate and collaborate with the IT Disaster Recovery Team

to provide integrated business continuity support.
Disaster Recovery Team
Call Plan/Call Roster A plan containing

personal contact information and procedures for contacting everyone on a list to assess accountability and life/safety of all personnel. 

Activated upon implementation of a COOP or emergency.
Call Tree
Call Tree A common notification

method that involves assigning notification duties to specific individuals, who in turn are responsible for notifying other recovery personnel. The call tree should account for primary and alternate contact methods and should discuss procedures to be followed if an individual cannot

be contacted.
 

Certified Business Continuity Practitioner

(CBCP)
A certified practitioner

having subject matter expertise in the business continuity field. The Disaster Recovery International Institute (DRII) is the sole grantor for these certifications, including the MBCP (Master Business Continuity

Practitioner) and ABCP (Associate Business Continuity Planner).
DRII Certified Practitioner
Checklist A checklist is a list

of items of activities and/or items contained in a plan that one must

execute in event of an emergency.
 
Cold Site A backup facility

that has the necessary electrical and physical components of a computer facility, but does not have the computer equipment in place. The site is ready to receive the necessary replacement computer equipment in the event that the user has to move from their main computing location

to an alternate site.
Backup Site, Recovery Site, Alternate Site
Consortium Agreement An agreement made

by a group of organizations to share processing facilities and/or office facilities if any one member suffers severe impact from a disaster and

cannot operate self-sufficiently.
Reciprocal Agreement, Memorandum of Understanding
Contingency Planning Management policy,

plans, and procedures designed to maintain or restore business operations, including computer operations, possibly at an alternate location, in the event of an emergency, system failure, or disaster. A contingency plan may contain any number of resources including workaround procedures,

an alternate site, a reciprocal agreement, or replacement resources.
Continuity of Operations Plan, Business Continuity Plan
Continuity Of Government (COG) All measures designed

or taken to ensure the uninterrupted execution of specific executive, legislative, and judicial functions of government in the event of an

enemy attack on the Continental United States (CONUS).
 

Continuity Of Government Condition (COGCON)

System
A rating system specifically

designed to relate COOP actions to threat and alert posture. The new system, COOP COGCON, shows actions designated by ratings of 1 through 4, with 1 being the highest, that should be accomplished when the government’s “level of concern” changes from a range of Guarded (i.e., COGCON

4) to High (COGCON 1).
Homeland Security Advisory System

Continuity Of Operations (COOP) Plan

A COOP Plan identifies

essential functions, specifies succession to office and emergency delegation of authority, provides for the safekeeping of vital records and databases, identifies alternate operating facilities, provides for interoperable

communications and describes the test, training, and exercise program.
Contingency Plan

Continuity of Support Plan 

The documentation

of a predetermined set of instructions or procedures mandated by Office of Management and Budget (OMB) A-130 that describe how to sustain major applications and general support systems in the event of a significant

disruption
.
 

Consolidated Crisis   Management

The overall coordination

or management approach of an organization's response to a crisis in an effective, timely manner, with the goal of avoiding or minimizing damage to the organization's profitability, reputation, or ability to operate. Elements include situation awareness, business intelligence,

decision support, and incident management.
 
Crisis A critical event(s),

which if handled ineffectively, can dramatically impact an organization's

profitability, reputation, or ability to operate.
Disaster, Event, Emergency, Disruption
Crisis Management The coordination of

efforts to control a crisis event consistent with strategic goals of the organization.  Crisis management responsibilities extend to pre-event prevention and preparedness, and post-event restoration and

transition.
Incident Management
Crisis Management Plan (CMP) A plan designating

varied responsibilities to the ICS teams, providing guidance on authorities, communication strategies, building evacuation procedures, call plan, shelter in place procedures, and other relative information to provide

support to personnel on life/safety issues during a disruptive event.
Incident Management Plan
Crisis Communication All means of communication,

both internal and external to an organization, designed and delivered

to support the Crisis Management function.
 
Crisis Communication Plan Typically addresses

internal communication flows to personnel and management and external communication with the public. The most effective way to provide helpful information and to reduce rumors is to communicate clearly and often. The plan should also prepare the organization for the possibility that during a significant disaster the organization may be a communication-forwarding point between personnel, civil and federal authorities, and affected

families and friends.
 
Critical Business Process (CBP) Business activities

or process information that cannot be interrupted or unavailable a predetermined amount of time without significant negative impact to an organization’s

ability to continue operations.
Essential Functions
Critical Infrastructure Basic installations

and facilities on which the continuance and growth of an organization or business depend, such as power plants, transportation systems, communications systems, water supply; etc. Also, critical infrastructure includes those systems and assets so vital to the nation that their incapacity or destruction would have a debilitating impact on national security, national economic

security, and/or national public health or safety.
Critical Infrastructure Plan
Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) Risk management actions

intended to prevent a threat from attempting to, or succeeding at, destroying or incapacitating critical infrastructures. (FPC 65, PDD 63)  See

Critical Infrastructure
 
Cyber Incident Response Plan The Cyber Incident

Response Plan establishes procedures to address cyber attacks against an organization’s IT system(s). These procedures are designed to enable security personnel to identify, mitigate, and recover from malicious computer incidents, such as unauthorized access to a system or data, denial of service, or unauthorized changes to system hardware, software, or data (e.g., malicious logic, such as a virus, worm, or Trojan horse).

This plan may be included among the appendices of the BCP.
 
Damage Assessment Process of assessing

the amount of damage immediately following a crisis or disaster; evaluation on damages to equipment, hardware, vital records, office facilities, etc., and examination of what can be salvaged or restored and/or what

must be replaced.
 
Data Mirroring The act of copying

data from one location to a storage device in real time. Because the data is copied in real time, the information stored from the original location is always an exact copy of the data from the production device. Data mirroring is useful in the speedy recovery of critical data after a disaster. Data mirroring can be implemented locally or offsite at

a completely different location.
 
Data Transfer See: Electronic Vaulting  
Decision Support Portal (DSP) The DSP is a comprehensive

emergency management support tool.  Capabilities include: tailored desktops, document repository, calendar, geographical information system, situation report capability, iJet advisory and travel intelligence integration, integrated emergency broadcasting using SendWordNow, via a third-party

vendor.
Decision Support System
Decision Support System (DSS) Management system

tool providing situation and awareness updates and status of threats, incidents, and events, reporting enterprise-wide. The Decision Support Portal (DSP), developed by Booz Allen Hamilton, has been implemented

and tailored for use at various agencies.
Situation Awareness
Delegation of Authority Predetermination of

authorities to implement policy and key decisions to ensure rapid response

to an emergency requiring COOP plan implementation (FPC 65).
 
Deployment Mobilization, movement,

or relocation of essential personnel and transfer of operations to an alternate site in order to manage the resumption of critical business

functions and processes.
 
Deputy Incident Commander As a member of the

Incident Command Team, the Deputy Incident Commander, under the direction of the Incident Commander, organizes and directs the Emergency Operations Center (EOC); assumes interim command and responsibility of the Incident Commander when the Incident Commander is not available; verifies execution of the Incident Commander's directives; ensures that the personnel in charge of functional units detail the activities of their section in

reports as necessary; reviews situation reports for completeness.
 
Devolution The capability to

transfer authority and responsibility for essential functions from an agency’s primary operating staff and facilities to other employees and facilities, and to sustain that operational capacity for an extended

period.
 
Disaster Any natural catastrophe

(e.g., hurricane, tornado, earthquake, etc.) regardless of cause; any fire, flood, or explosion, causing extensive damage or loss; the inability of an organization to provide critical business functions for a significant period of time, typically necessitating deployment from primary to alternate

location.
Crisis, Disruption, Emergency
Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP) A plan that applies

to major, usually catastrophic, events that deny access to the normal facility for an extended period. Frequently, DRP refers to an IT-focused plan designed to restore operability of the target system, application, or computer facility at an alternate site after an emergency. The DRP scope may overlap that of an IT contingency plan; however, the DRP is narrower in scope and does not address minor disruptions that do not

require relocation.
Information Technology (IT) Disaster Recovery Plan
Disaster Recovery Team See: Business Resumption Team Business Recovery Team
Disruption An unplanned event

that causes the general system or major application to be inoperable for an unacceptable length of time (e.g., minor or extended power outage, extended unavailable network, or equipment or facility damage or destruction).

Crisis, Emergency, Event
Distributed System An interconnected

set of multiple autonomous processing elements, configured to exchange and process data to complete a single business function. To the user, a distributed system appears to be a single source. Distributed systems use the client-server relationship model to make the application more

accessible to users in different locations.
Server

Distributive Adaptive Capacity

Distributing the ability

to adapt to any crisis throughout an enterprise, i.e., creating hubs, networks, and nodes throughout an organization to enable all divisions

of an agency to maximize its ability to respond effectively to a crisis.
 
Drill See: Exercise  
Electronic Vaulting Electronically forwarding

backup data to an offsite server or storage facility. Vaulting eliminates the need for shipment and significantly shortens the time required to

move the data offsite.
Vital Records, Data Transfer
Emergency A sudden, unexpected

event or crisis requiring immediate action due to potential threat to

human capital, the environment, or property.
Crisis, Event, Disaster
Emergency Management Activities associated

with the development, coordination, and direction of all emergency-related planning, preparedness, readiness assurance, response, and recovery measures designed to protect people, assets, and programs and to ensure the continuity of essential functions and facilities in the event of

an emergency or other national security-related contingency
Contingency Planning
Emergency Management Center (EMC) A site managed by

a team of trained personnel that, when activated during an event, will be operational in exercising command and control activities during an

event.
Warm Site
Emergency Operations Center (EOC) A site from which

response teams/officials (municipal, county, state and federal) exercise

command and control in an emergency or disaster.
 
Emergency Preparedness The discipline and

tools to facilitate an organization’s readiness to respond to an emergency

in a coordinated, timely, and effective manner.
Emergency Response
Enterprise Management The systemic understanding

and management of business operations within the context of the organization’s culture, beliefs, mission, objectives and organizational structure.  Enterprise-wide programs and structures, including Business Crisis and Continuity Management, should be aligned and integrated with overall

Enterprise Management.
Business Crisis and Continuity Management
Environmental Sensing Continual monitoring

of the relevant internal and external business environment to detect, communicate and initiate appropriate actions to prevent, prepare for, respond to, recover, resume, restore and transition from a potential

or actual crisis event.
 
Enterprise Resilience A state of balance

between efficiency and effectiveness.  Resilience is in the people, processes, technology, and infrastructure supporting enterprise-wide

mission-critical business processes.
Mission Assurance

Emergency Response

Immediate reaction

to an incident or emergency to assess the damage or impact and to ascertain the level of containment and control activity required. In addition to addressing matters of life safety and evacuation, “response” also addresses the policies, procedures, and actions to be implemented in the event of an emergency. Also, the step or stage that immediately follows a disaster event where actions begin as a result of the event

having occurred.
Emergency Preparedness
Essential Functions FPC 65 defines essential

functions as those that enable the Federal government to provide vital services, exercise civil authority, maintain the safety and well being of the general populace, and sustain the industrial/economic base in

an emergency.
 
Evacuation Plan See: Occupational Emergency Plan  
Exercise An activity to improve

team awareness and performance ability and instill collaborative decision-making;

a testing of organization’s plans and procedures.
Drill, Tabletop Exercise, Simulation, Mock Disaster
Fault Tolerance The ability of a system

to respond gracefully to an unexpected hardware or software failure. There are many levels of fault tolerance, the lowest being the ability to continue operation in the event of a power failure. Many fault-tolerant computer systems mirror all operations -- that is, every operation is performed on two or more duplicate systems, so if one fails the other

can take over.
Data Mirroring
File Shadowing A technique that maintains

a replica of the database or file system by continuously capturing changes to a log and applying the changes in the log to the replicating server.

Backups, Electronic Vaulting

General Support System 

An interconnected

information resource under the same direct management control that shares common functionality. It usually includes hardware, software, information, data, applications, communications, facilities, and people and provides support for a variety of users and/or applications. Individual applications support different mission-related functions. Users may be from the same

or different organizations.
 

Global Leadership Business Assurance

Team (GLBAT)
The GLBAT provides

strategic guidance and authority for firm crisis management activities to manage serious events and disruptions affecting single and/or multiple Booz Allen offices.  The GLBAT supports the CFBAT, regional teams, and local crisis management teams. The GLBAT is chaired by the General Counsel and includes the firm’s Treasurer, Chief Administrative Officer,

and Chief Human Resources Officer. 
 
Hazard or Threat Identification The process of identifying

situations or conditions with the potential to cause injury to people,

damage to property, or damage to the environment.
Risk Identification, Risk and Threat and Vulnerability Analysis
High-Risk/High Vulnerability Area Area in which there

exists a potential high risk of impact to a densely populated area, and has high impact and risk to critical infrastructure particularly (e.g., susceptible to high-intensity earthquakes, floods, tsunamis,

or other disasters).
 
Homeland Security Advisory System (HSAS) A threat condition/advisory

system that provides a comprehensive and effective means to disseminate information and warnings regarding the potential risk of terrorist acts

to Federal, State, and local authorities and to the American people.
 
Hot Site A fully operational
 off-site data processing facility equipped with hardware and system 
 software to be used in the event of a disaster.  An internal hot 
 site is a fully equipped processing site owned and operated by the organization.  
A warm site is a partially equipped alternate site.
 
Human Resources (HR) Coordinator As a member of the
 Incident Command Team, the HR Coordinator performs human resources and 
 administrative functions in response to a crisis and provides resource 
 support to the CMT before and during a crisis, including providing the 
manpower needed to respond to an incident.
 
Imaging Imaging represents
 another contingency solution. A standard desktop computer image can 
 be stored, and the corrupted computer can be reloaded. Imaging will 
 install the applications and setting stored in the image; however, all 
 data currently on the disk will be lost. Therefore, PC users should 
 be encouraged to back up their data files. Because disk images can be 
 large, dedicated storage, such as a server or server partition, may 
need to be allocated for the disk images alone.
 
Incident Command System (ICS) The combination of
 facilities, equipment, personnel, procedures, and communications tools 
 operating within a common organizational structure used to manage assigned 
 resources to effectively accomplish stated objectives pertaining to 
 an incident. The ICS forms the basis for an effective emergency management 
 system for organizations of all sizes, all types of incidents and degrees 
 of severity; provides an escalation framework for managing information 
 technology, disaster recovery, and overall business resumption/continuity 
 operations; develops a “tiered” system activating organizational 
 layers when appropriate and utilized only as dictated by incident complexity; 
 creates clear lines and rules of authority, communication and planning 
 strategies to efficiently and effectively support a unified management 
 team.b
Unified Command and Control
Incident Command Team Personnel (e.g., financial,
 logistics, operational) at the local, regional, or national office office, 
who may, upon delegation of authority, activate a plan.
 
Incident Commander Leads the local Incident
 Command Team and reports up to senior management during a crisis; the 
IC has authority to activate a plan. See Incident Command Team
Deputy Incident Commander
Incident Management Plan (IMP) A plan of procedures
 that will enable the control and coordination of all activities needed 
 to manage an incident throughout the incident life cycle under the ICS 
system.
Crisis Management Plan, Incident Response Plan
Incident Response The act of responding
 to a disaster or other significant event that could significantly impact 
 an organization, its people, or its ability to function productively.  
 An incident response may include evacuation of a facility, initiating 
 a disaster recovery plan, performing damage assessment, and any other 
measures necessary to bring an organization to a more stable status.
 
Incident Response Plan The documentation
 of a predetermined set of instructions or procedures to detect, respond 
 to, and limit consequences of a malicious cyber attacks against an organization’s 
IT systems.
 
Indications and Warning See: Threat; Single Points of Failure  
Information Assurance Integrated information
 technology security program that includes capabilities such as managing 
data backup, classified document control and vital records.
 
Information Technology (IT) System Any major application
 or general support system identified by boundaries around a set of processes, 
communications, storage and related architecture.
 
 Information Technology (IT) Contingency 
Planning
Refers to the dynamic
 development of a coordinated recovery strategy for IT systems (major 
 application or general support system), operations, and data after a 
 disruption.  Because an IT contingency plan should be developed 
 for each major application and general support system, multiple contingency 
plans may be maintained within the organization’s BCP.
IT Disaster Recovery
 Plan, Disaster Recovery Plan, Business Impact Analysis, Contingency 
Plan
Integrated Risk Management An approach that addresses
 risks – information, financial, personnel and operations – in an 
 integrated, uniform, and systematic manner across the enterprise. Risk 
 management provides a whole view of activities across an agency, moving 
beyond stovepiped security.
 
Integrated Security An integrated approach
 combining the areas of Physical Security, Cyber and IT Security, and 
Personnel Security.
 
Integrated Test A test conducted on multiple components of a plan, typically under simulated operating conditions.  
Interdependencies Identification of
 those critical functions shared by agencies – both internal and external.  
 Each agency must provide a reciprocal arrangement to ensure that these 
 critical functions can be continued, and that the interdependency must 
be accounted for in both COOP and BC plans.
Risks
Interim Site A temporary location
 used to continue performing business functions after vacating a recovery 
 site and before the original or new home site can be occupied.  
Staging Area
Liaison/Information/ Communications Coordinator A member of Incident
 Command Team, the Liaison / Information / Communications function is 
 a primary component of providing vital information to the ICS for appropriate 
 decision support and situational awareness, as well as synthesizing 
data feeds to external points of contact. 
 
Lifecycle Duration of an event from impact to resumption of normalized business operations.  
Local Area Network (LAN) Short distance network
 used to connect terminals, computers, and peripherals under some standard 
 form, usually within one building or a group of buildings. A LAN does 
 not use public carriers to link its components, although it may have 
 a "gateway" outside the LAN that uses a public carrier. A 
 LAN is owned by a single organization; it can be as small as two PCs 
 attached to a single hub, or it may support hundreds of users and multiple 
servers.
 
Load Balancing Distributing processing
 and communications activity evenly across a computer network so that 
 no single device is overwhelmed. Load balancing is especially important 
 for networks where it's difficult to predict the number of requests 
 that will be issued to a server. Busy Web sites typically employ two 
 or more Web servers in a load-balancing scheme. If one server starts 
 to get swamped, requests are forwarded to another server with more capacity. 
Load balancing can also refer to the communications channels themselves.
 
Local Crisis Management Team (CMT) The local CMT within
 facilities is responsible for preparing for and managing events directly 
 affecting the local office and staff; and may initiate lead with response 
to events with associated offices and clients.
 
Loss Unrecoverable business
 resources that are redirected or removed due to a disaster. Such losses 
 may include loss of life, revenue, market share, competitive stature, 
public image, facilities, or operational capability.
 
Maximum Allowable Outage

See: Recovery Time Objective

 
 Memorandum of Understanding 
See: Consortium Agreement  
Mirror Site Fully redundant facilities
 with full, real-time information mirroring. Mirrored sites are identical 
 to the primary site in all technical respects. These sites provide the 
 highest degree of availability because the data is processed and stored 
 at the primary and alternate site simultaneously. These sites typically 
 are designed, built, operated, and maintained by the organization. 
Hot sites
Mission Assurance The approach of implementing
 a system consisting of plans, procedures, and capabilities, which when 
 integrated can enable an agency or organization (Federal) to ensure 
 continuation of essential functions, thus eliminating stovepiped processes.  
Business Assurance
 Mission Assurance Governance Committee 
(MAG-C)
Working group represented
 by senior executive members of Federal Government agencies whose mission 
 it is to determine and identify best practices to overcome the myriad 
 challenges faced by their respective organizations, to pool resources, 
 and to identify single points of failure so that in event of a disaster 
 there is a common answer to minimize impact (derived from the firm-hosted 
Mission Assurance Summit Conference)
 
Mission-Critical Application System applications
 essential to the organization’s ability to perform necessary business 
 functions.  A loss of mission-critical applications would have 
a negative impact on the business, as well as legal or regulatory impacts.
 
Mobile Site A self-contained,
 transportable shell custom-fitted with the specific IT equipment and 
 telecommunications necessary to provide full recovery capabilities upon 
notice of a significant disruption.
 
Mock Disaster One method of exercising
 teams in which participants are challenged to determine the actions 
 they would take in the event of a specific disaster scenario. Mock disasters 
 usually involve all, or most, of the applicable teams. Under the guidance 
 of exercise coordinators, the teams walk through the actions they would 
 take per their plans, or simulate performance of these actions. Teams 
 may be at a single exercise location, or at multiple locations, with 
 communication between teams simulating actual ‘disaster mode’ communications. 
 A mock disaster will typically operate on a compressed timeframe representing 
many hours, or even days.
Simulation Exercise, Tabletop
Network Outage An interruption in
 system availability resulting from a communication failure affecting 
a network of computer terminals, processors, and/or workstations.
 
Normalization Operational activities
 designed to return to business as usual either at the original or new 
site.
 
Notification See: Activation Phase, Alert  
Occupational Emergency Plan (OEP) A plan of action to
 prevent the loss of life and minimize injury and property damage; provides 
 procedures on how to respond to the protection of employees, i.e., evacuation 
 or shelter in place; defines roles, responsibilities and actions during 
 a crisis. An OEP provides directions for facility occupants to follow 
 in the event of an emergency situation that threatens the health and 
safety of personnel, the environment, or property.
Evacuation Plan, Shelter in Place

Offsite Storage Facility

Alternate facility,
 other than the main facility, where duplicated vital records and documentation 
are kept.
 
Operational Exercise A test or exercise
 conducted on one or more components of a plan under actual operating 
conditions.
Drill, Simulation Exercise, Tabletop
Operational Resilience See: Mission Assurance, Enterprise Resilience  
Order of Succession The order of succession
 identifies personnel responsible to assume authority for executing the 
 contingency plan in the event the designated person is unavailable or 
 unable to do so. The Order of Succession includes provisions for implementation 
and communication process to staff and others.
 

Physical Security Plan

Plan that identifies
 vulnerabilities to facilities, personnel, operations, and resources 
and recommends mitigation actions.
 

Project Team

Groups of people representing
 key organizational areas that work together and follow documented responsibilities 
 for the design, development, and implementation of a business continuity 
plan or suite of BCP plans.
Working Groups
Project Management Planning, organizing,
 and managing tasks and resources to accomplish a defined objective, 
usually under time and cost constraints.
 
 Redundant Array of Independent Disks 
(RAID)
A category of disk
 drives that employ two or more drives in combination for fault tolerance 
 and performance. RAID disk drives are used frequently on servers but 
are not generally necessary for personal computers.
Fault Tolerance
Reciprocal Agreement Agreement between
 two organizations with basically the same equipment that allows one 
 organization to process data for the other in case of disaster. 
 
Reconstitution Phase In the Reconstitution
 Phase, recovery activities are terminated and normal operations are 
 transferred back to the organization’s facility. If the original facility 
 is unrecoverable, the activities in this phase can also be applied to 
 preparing a new facility to support system processing requirements. 
Restoration
Recovery Point Objective (RPO) The period of time
 within which systems, applications, or functions must be recovered after 
 an outage (e.g., one business day). RPOs are often used as the basis 
 for the development of recovery strategies, and as a determinant as 
 to whether to implement recovery strategies during a disaster situation. 
Maximum Allowable Downtime
Recovery Site See: Alternate Disaster Recovery Site, Cold Site  
Recovery Strategy An approach by an
 organization that will ensure its recovery and continuity in the face 
 of a disaster or other major outage.  Plans and methodologies are 
 determined by the organization’s strategy.  There may be more 
 than one methodology or solution for an organization’s strategy.  
 
Recovery Time Objective (RTO) The maximum acceptable
 length of time that can elapse before the lack of a business function 
 severely impacts the business entity. The RTO is comprised of two components: 
 the time before a disaster is declared, and the time to perform tasks 
 (documented in the disaster recovery plan) to the point of business 
resumption.
Maximum Allowable Outage
Replication A common backup method
 for portable computers. Handheld computers or laptops may be connected 
 to a PC and replicate the desired data from the portable system to the 
 desktop computer.  With disk replication, recovery windows are 
 minimized because data is written to two different disks to ensure that 
 two valid copies of the data are always available.  
 
Restoration Process of planning
 for and/or implementing procedures for the repair or relocation of the 
 primary site and its contents, and for the restoration of data and normal 
 operations at the primary site. Salvage and restoration is the process 
 of reclaiming or refurbishing computer hardware, vital records, office 
facilities, etc. following a disaster.
Salvage and Restoration, Reconstitution, Business Resumption

Risk

The potential for
 exposure to loss.  Risks are man-made, political or natural. The 
potential is usually measured by its probability in years.
Threat, Vulnerability

Risk Assessment

Process of identifying
 the risks to an organization, assessing the critical functions necessary 
 for an organization to continue business operations, defining the controls 
 in place to reduce organization exposure, and evaluating the cost for 
 such controls. Risk assessment often involves an evaluation of the probabilities 
of a particular event.
 
 Risk/ Threat/ Vulnerability Analysis 
 and Identification
See: Hazard or Threat
 Identification
 
Risk Management The ongoing process
 of assessing the risk to mission/business as part of the approach used 
 to determine adequate security for a system by analyzing the threats 
 and vulnerabilities and selecting appropriate, cost-effective controls 
to achieve and maintain an acceptable level of risk.
Risk, Risk Assessment, Risk Mitigation

Risk Mitigation

Implementation of
 measures to deter specific threats to the continuity of business operations, 
 and/or respond to any occurrence of such threats in a timely and appropriate 
manner.
 

Salvage and Restoration

See: Restoration  

Security/Safety/Facilities Coordinator

As a member of the
 Incident Command Team, the Security/Safety/Facilities Coordinator will 
 anticipate the need for accumulation of equipment and supplies to facilitate 
 an immediate response to a request for logistical support.  Additionally, 
 this Coordinator is responsible for maintaining a list of private vendors 
 that can provide logistical support, which includes the local alternate 
operations site.
 

Server

A computer or device
 on a network that manages network resources. For example, a file server 
 is a computer and storage device dedicated to storing files. Any user 
 on the network can store files on the server. A print server is a computer 
 that manages one or more printers, and a network server is a computer 
 that manages network traffic. A database server is a computer system 
that processes database queries.
Distributed System

Shelter in Place

Emergency procedures
 to stay in place when hazardous materials may have been released into 
 the atmosphere.  Shelter-in-Place is an emergency response procedure 
 aimed to keep employees safe while remaining indoors.  Employees 
 will be asked to remain in a selected interior room with no or few windows 
 and take refuge.  Instructions are provided for durations of a 
few hours, not days or weeks.
 

Simulation Exercise

A method of exercising
 teams in which participants perform some or all of their responsibilities 
 and activities in the event of plan activation. A simulation exercise 
 may involve one or more teams and are performed under conditions that 
 at least partially simulate “disaster mode.”  The exercise 
 may be performed at the designated alternate location, typically using 
only a partial recovery configuration.
 

Single Points of Failure (SPOF)

Areas outlined in
 a BCP identifying critical business processes and functions that would, 
 upon impact of a disaster, severely impair or destruct the ability of 
 an agency to resume operations. Interviews of stakeholders and examination 
 of priorities of critical business functions would need to be conducted 
 to determine SPOF analysis that map to critical business functions. 
See: Business Impact Analysis
 
Situation Awareness Monitoring of all
 potential crisis-inducing emergencies; notification of an alert or advisory 
 to executive leadership and senior management; collection and dissemination 
 of all event information, physical and cyber, to national and local 
sites.
Decision Support System
Situation Report (SITREP) A written, detailed
 account of an event or incident, which is distributed to those in the 
 organization having a need to know through the Decision Support Portal. 
See Decision Support System
 
Staging Area A temporary location
 for relocation until decision is made to deploy to alternate site or 
 return to original site; may be used to continue performing business 
 functions. A staging area is planned and scheduled in advance to minimize 
 disruption.
Interim Site
Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) Step-by-step set of
 instructions to an operator to carry out a process or function, or task 
broken down into its most basic component parts.
 
Structured Walk-Through Exercise Simulated method used
 to exercise or test a completed plan. Team members meet to verbally 
 walk through each step of the plan to confirm the plan effectiveness 
 and identify gaps, bottlenecks, or other plan weaknesses. Promotes quicker 
response time and faster decision making skills.
 
Summit Series Sponsored by Booz
 Allen Hamilton, the objective of the series is to facilitate the development 
 of a professional community of mission assurance practitioners. Summit 
I and II were conducted in 2004.
 
Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) SDLC is the process
 of developing information systems through initiation, development and 
 acquisition, implementation, and operation and maintenance. SDLC is 
 a systems approach to problem solving and is made up of several phases, 
 each comprised of multiple steps.  Although contingency planning 
 is associated with activities occurring in the operation/maintenance 
 phase, contingency measures should be identified and integrated into 
 ALL phases of the SDLC. Incorporating contingency planning into the 
 SDLC reduces overall contingency planning costs, enhances contingency 
 capabilities, and reduces impacts to system operations when the contingency 
plan is implemented.
 
Tabletop Exercise A tabletop exercise
 is a specialized form of training that typically has the following characteristics: 
 Group Training - Train a group of persons who will need to work together 
 in an actual emergency or crisis; Scenario Based - The training seeks 
 to simulate realistically the types of events and problems that are 
 most likely to occur in an actual emergency or crisis; Role Based - 
 Each participant in the training exercise carries out or performs the 
 responsibilities of his or her actual job, office or position, or assumes 
 the role of another person; and Facilitated - The training is guided 
 by one or more facilitators or moderators, who lead the training, manage 
 the scenario, and provide real-time and post-training feed-back to the 
participants.
Exercise, Drill
Telecommunications Data transmitted by
 electrical, optical, or acoustical means between separate processing 
facilities.
 
Test Plan A document designed
 to periodically exercise specific action tasks and procedures to ensure 
viability in a real disaster or severe outage situation.
 
Threat Physical or cyber
 event that causes a risk to become a loss. Environmental threats include 
 both natural disasters and aspects of adjacent and supporting infrastructure, 
 including power failures. Adversarial threats include criminal activity 
 (e.g., disgruntled and violent employees) and terrorism, focusing on 
 aspects of attack by internal and external criminal adversaries, and 
 domestic and international adversaries.
Indications and Warning, Single Points of Failure, Risk
Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) A backup supply that
 provides continuous power to critical equipment in the event that commercial 
 power is lost. 
 
Vital Records Electronic and hardcopy
 documents, references, and records that are required in support of essential 
 functions and must be preserved and available for retrieval for resumption 
of business operations during a COOP situation.
Offsite Storage Facility, Essential Functions
Vital Records Management The management of
 vital records through offsite storage facilities and establishing a 
backup recovery system.
 
Vulnerability See: Threat, Risk  
Warm Site Partially equipped
 office space that contain some or all of the system hardware, software, 
 telecommunications, and power sources. The warm site is maintained in 
 an operational status ready to receive the relocated system. The site 
 may need to be prepared before receiving the system and recovery personnel. 
 In many cases, a warm site may serve as a normal operational facility 
 for another system or function, and in the event of contingency plan 
 activation, the normal activities are displaced temporarily to accommodate 
the disrupted system.
Emergency Management Center, Alternate Site
Wide Area Network (WAN) Network linking metropolitan,
 campus, or local area networks across greater distances; usually accomplished 
using common carrier lines.
 
Working Groups See: Project Teams  
Workaround Procedures Interim procedures
 or contingencies that may be used by a business unit to enable it to 
 continue to perform its critical functions during temporary unavailability 
 of specific IT application systems, electronic or hard copy data, voice 
 or data communication systems, specialized equipment, office facilities, 
personnel, or external services.
Contingency Planning