Page 217 - (ISC)² CISSP Certified Information Systems Security Professional Official Study Guide

Select your team carefully! You need to strike a balance between
representing different points of view and creating a team with

explosive personality differences. Your goal should be to create a
group that is as diverse as possible and still operates in harmony.

Take some time to think about the BCP team membership and who
would be appropriate for your organization’s technical, financial,
and political environment. Who would you include?

Each one of the individuals mentioned in the preceding list brings a
unique perspective to the BCP process and will have individual biases.
For example, the representatives from each of the operational
departments will often consider their department the most critical to

the organization’s continued viability. Although these biases may at
first seem divisive, the leader of the BCP effort should embrace them
and harness them in a productive manner. If used effectively, the
biases will help achieve a healthy balance in the final plan as each
representative advocates the needs of their department. On the other
hand, if proper leadership isn’t provided, these biases may devolve

into destructive turf battles that derail the BCP effort and harm the
organization as a whole.

Senior Management and BCP

The role of senior management in the BCP process varies widely
from organization to organization and depends on the internal

culture of the business, interest in the plan from above, and the
legal and regulatory environment in which the business operates.
Important roles played by senior management usually include
setting priorities, providing staff and financial resources, and
arbitrating disputes about the criticality (i.e., relative importance)
of services.

One of the authors recently completed a BCP consulting

engagement with a large nonprofit institution. At the beginning of
the engagement, he had a chance to sit down with one of the
organization’s senior executives to discuss his goals and objectives
for their work together. During that meeting, the senior executive