Business
impact analysis (BIA) is a systematic process for determining and evaluating
the potential effects of an interruption to critical business operations as a
result of a disaster, accident or emergency.
A BIA is an essential component
of an organization's business continuance plan. It includes an exploratory component to reveal
vulnerabilities as well as a planning component to develop strategies for
minimizing risk. The end result is a business impact analysis report, which
describes the potential risks specific to the organization studied.
One of the basic assumptions
behind conducting a BIA is that while every component of an organization is
reliant upon the continued functioning of every other component, some
components are more crucial than others and require a greater allocation of
funds in the wake of a disaster. For example, a business may be able to
continue more or less normally if the cafeteria had to close, but would stumble
if the information system crashed.
The analysis quantifies the
importance of business components and suggests appropriate funding to protect
them in the event of a disaster. The possibilities of failures are likely to be
assessed in terms of their impacts in areas such as safety, finances,
marketing, business reputation, legal compliance and quality assurance.
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