DRI Business Continuity Planning 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which document defines the minimum level of services and resources needed to keep a business operational during a disruption?
- Business Impact Analysis
- Minimum Business Continuity Objective (MBCO) (Correct answer)
- Recovery Time Objective
- Crisis Communication Plan
Correct answer: Minimum Business Continuity Objective (MBCO)
The Minimum Business Continuity Objective (MBCO) specifies the minimum level of services or products acceptable to meet organizational objectives during a disruption.
Question 2: In BCP, what is the purpose of a 'tabletop exercise'?
- To physically test evacuation procedures
- To discuss and walk through scenarios in a facilitated meeting without actual execution (Correct answer)
- To conduct a full failover of IT systems
- To validate backup generator capacity
Correct answer: To discuss and walk through scenarios in a facilitated meeting without actual execution
A tabletop exercise is a discussion-based session where team members talk through simulated scenarios to identify gaps in plans without deploying resources.
Question 3: What does 'Maximum Tolerable Downtime' (MTD) represent in business continuity planning?
- The time needed to restore full operations
- The longest a business function can be disrupted before causing irreversible harm (Correct answer)
- The average downtime expected per year
- The time between backups
Correct answer: The longest a business function can be disrupted before causing irreversible harm
MTD (also called Maximum Tolerable Period of Disruption) is the threshold beyond which an organization cannot survive the loss of a critical function.
Question 4: Which BCP strategy involves routing work to another location already staffed and operational?
- Cold site activation
- Warm site failover
- Hot site failover (Correct answer)
- Reciprocal agreement
Correct answer: Hot site failover
A hot site is a fully equipped, staffed alternate facility that can take over operations immediately with minimal or no switchover delay.
Question 5: A BIA (Business Impact Analysis) primarily helps organizations identify:
- The root causes of past incidents
- Critical business functions and the impact of their disruption over time (Correct answer)
- Vendor contract terms
- Employee emergency contact lists
Correct answer: Critical business functions and the impact of their disruption over time
The BIA identifies time-sensitive business functions, their dependencies, and quantifies the operational and financial impact of disruption over time.
Question 6: Which of the following best describes a 'single point of failure' in a BCP context?
- A system that has redundant backups
- A component whose failure would halt an entire critical process (Correct answer)
- A risk that only affects one department
- A vendor with a single contract
Correct answer: A component whose failure would halt an entire critical process
A single point of failure is any element in a process or system that, if it fails, causes the entire critical function to stop with no fallback.
Question 7: What is the key difference between a Business Continuity Plan and a Disaster Recovery Plan?
- DRP covers people; BCP covers technology
- BCP focuses on maintaining business operations; DRP focuses on restoring IT systems (Correct answer)
- DRP is strategic; BCP is tactical
- BCP only applies to natural disasters
Correct answer: BCP focuses on maintaining business operations; DRP focuses on restoring IT systems
BCP addresses how the organization continues delivering services during a disruption, while DRP specifically addresses restoring IT infrastructure and data.
DRI Business Continuity Planning 2
Which document defines the minimum level of services and resources needed to keep a business operational during a disruption?