Following the "Plans & Tabletop Exercises To Build an Effective Communication Strategy" webinar hosted by Disaster Recovery Journal and lead by Regina Phelps of EMS Solutions, we're extremely excited to announce a new community project related to the topic.  We believe that the community of practicing business continuity & emergency management professionals possesses a great deal of expertise that when brought together will form a definitive set of best practices on how to effectively cover the communication aspects of their roles.

Whether a plan covers a natural disaster, product recall, equity market event, leak of client data, or any other type of event for which a contingency planning might be required, there are a wide set of elements that a business continuity professional needs to ensure are covered in the communication plan.  The goal of this project is to build out a comprehensive list of planning, technology, process, design, usage, and analysis concerns that should be considered as plans are assembled. 

Since this is a community project, all contributions are not only welcome, but those submitting them will also fully attributed in all versions of the documents.  Details on the process are provided later in the post.

Here is a sneak preview of what the project looks like today.  Think of it as a visual representation of a checklist that you would go through when putting together the communication part of a contingency plan for any type of incident.  Some may include only a small subset, while others could be all encompassing.

FAQ:

How do I contribute to the project?

Easy!  Just add a comment to the post.  Each suggestion will be reviewed, and if approved, added to the project, along with attribution for the entry.

Can I contribute more than once?

Absolutely! Contribute as much to the project as you like!  The more you add to the project the higher up in the list of contributors your name will appear.

Where can I download the latest, full version of the project where all the details are visible?

You can download it here.  For some additional context on the launch of the project, check out the recording of the webinar as well.

What application(s) will the project be available in so that I can modify & use it as part of my day to day activities?

The project is being maintained in GoalScape, but will also be made available in MS Project and MindJet's MindManager formats.  If there is demand, it can be provided in PDF, Word, and Excel formats as well.

What is the licensing model for this project?  Once I download it, can I do whatever I want with it?

The project is licensed as Creative Commons Attributon-NonCommercial-ShareAlike. Essentially, it means that you can download it, modify it to suit your own purposes, repackage it, and build new things around it.  Only restrictions are that any derivative works carry the same license, and they can't be used for commercial projects.

How do I ask a question that's not covered in this FAQ?

Post a comment!

Looking forward to seeing all your great contributions come together!