Business Impact Analysis

Definition

Business Impact Analysis is a component of Business Continuity Management. Business impact analysis is the process of identifying and measuring (quantitatively and qualitatively) the business impact or loss of business processes in the event of a Business Disruption. A process of analyzing activities and the effect that a business disruption might have on them.

Objectives

Business Impact Analysis is a dynamic process for identifying

• Exposure
• critical operations and services
• essential staff
• key internal and external dependencies
• recovery priorities
• recovery resource requirements
• appropriate resilience levels

Structure

Business impact analysis is a form of Risk Analysis. The focus is on Operational Risk, whereby known risk factors and risk types are analysed:

• Defining the scope of the impact analysis (Threat Analysis)
  • Likelihood and severity of Loss
  • Major Incident classification
• Identify Critical Service, Critical Infrastructure

Tools

• Scenario
• Situational Analysis

Constraints

• Financial Impact
• Estimated Maximum Loss
• Cost Benefit Analysis

Outcome

Through the Business Impact Analysis plan an organization assesses the risks and potential impact of various disruption scenarios on an organisation’s operations and reputation and shapes a Business Continuity Plan

See Also

• Business Continuity Glossary
• Business Continuity Guidelines
• Business Continuity Case Studies