Continuity of Operations Planning

A Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP) documents how a department or business unit will perform essential operations during an emergency situation or long-term disruption, which could last from two days to several weeks. The plan identifies mission-critical functions, departmental communication methods, and alternate personnel, systems and locations. Each University department needs a COOP to ensure Slippery Rock University can respond effectively to a variety of situations.

The key to successful campus continuity of operations is “buy-in” from all corners of Slippery Rock University, from senior administration downward throughout all business units, encompassing all university faculty and staff. Working collegially and cooperatively towards achieving SRU’s mission and goals during emergencies and long-term disruptions is in of itself, a continuity work task, critical to the success of our students.

The COOP planning process focuses on two key questions:

What operations performed by the department are essential to the University community? Such operations might include providing food and shelter, utilities, security services, communication and computing devices, payroll, etc…
What resources are required to continue these essential operations during an emergency or disruption?

For additional information or assistance with more specific questions regarding campus continuity of operations, contact EHS/EM by calling 724.738.2055, or by email at emergencymanagement@sru.edu.

COOP Documents

SRU COOP Plan
Business Intelligence Analysis Worksheet (TEMPLATE)
Continuity Work Task Process/Procedure (TEMPLATE)

How Continuity of Operations Plans Differ from Emergency Plans

Departmental emergency plans are different from continuity plans. Fire Safety and Evacuation Plans are short-term plans that contain emergency contact information for employees, outline how inter-departmental communication will be achieved, detail how building occupants should evacuate or shelter-in-place, and where to assemble if the building is evacuated. In contrast, departmental Continuity Plans detail how an entire department or division will provide essential services and continue to function in an extended emergency event or disruption.

Department Community Planner

Identifying a department continuity planner is highly recommended to manage your department’s continuity plan. It is important to designate an employee within your department, preferably a staff member who has a good relationship/rapport with department heads and leaders. The department continuity planner will need to identify key information within the department and will be responsible for building and maintaining the continuity plan with support from the Office of Environmental Health and Safety/Emergency Management (EHS/EM).

Although building the continuity plan will require more time at the onset, this is not a full-time position for every campus department. Eventually, continuity work will become periodic, and involve assignment of updating documents, contact information, and annually reviewing the plan.

In essence, all levels of the department or business unity will be involved in the continuity planning process.

Planning Process

Assign a department Continuity Planner. A department continuity planner is responsible for building and managing your department-specific continuity plan, who knows each piece of your operations. A backup continuity planner is advised who can fill in when the primary is unavailable. Initial preparation steps should involve becoming acquainted with the planning process, locate important records, contact lists and specialized equipment for your department to operate during an emergency.

Building your continuity plan. A planning tool to assist departments in identifying essential functions is the Business Impact Analysis (BIA) worksheet. This document uses a series of questions to assist in the building of your department’s continuity plan. After essential functions are identified, you should use the Continuity Work Task form to record the procedure/process for performing each specific continuity work task identified. Blank copies of both documents are available as menu items on this website.

Continuity Plan Guidance and Support. EHS/EM will provide support to departments with respect to continuity of campus operations. This includes but is not limited to plan review and feedback. A departmental continuity plan is a living document and will always need review and updated as university goals and objectives, infrastructure capabilities and staffing change. At minimum, an annual review is recommended.

Annual Review and Update. As you develop your plan, you’ll have several opportunities to identify action items for improving essential services continuity. The procedures identified for achieving continuity work tasks are key components of your department’s level of preparedness.

Planning Considerations

Developing a continuity plan is an inter-disciplinary exercise. Collaboration with your department, and across other campuses departments is critical to building a sustainable, meaningful and reasonable continuity plan. Rather than simply engaging in your own business area, reach out and partner with other campus departments.

Here are some questions to consider in this process:

What essential functions does your department provide?
What other departments should you be engaging with?
Are there alternate work sites identified? What work can be done in the event of loss of a building? Personnel loss? Loss of connectivity?
Does your department have an updated employee contact list? Is it also available off-line?
What special equipment, access or system requirements does your department need to function? This includes laptops, desktops, workspace, network access, laboratory equipment and machinery.
What websites/vendors are critical for your department to continue operations?
Are your vital records and documents backed up?
Is there a designated order of succession for your department/business unit?
Have you identified dependencies on other campus departments, both upstream and downstream?

What is Upstream and Downstream Dependence?

Upstream Dependence
Consider water flowing down a river. Whatever happens upriver, affects those downriver. Your critical functions (projects, duties, work tasks etc…) rely on something or someone else. Upstream dependencies are processes, decisions, etc… that your department is reliant on happening before you can complete an essential function. Your essential function may be waiting on deliverables from another office before it can continue.

For example – Information and Administrative Technical Services (IATS) must be functional before you can access information from a shared drive. IATS would then be an “upstream” dependence to any work requiring SRU technology services. Another example is that you may be waiting on a list of students from the Office of Academic Records & Registration, so you know who to contact for advising sessions. The Office of Academic Records & Registration is reflective of an upstream dependence in this instance.

Downstream Dependence
Downstream dependencies are processes, decisions, duties or other departments who depend on your processes.

For example – A downstream dependence for the Office of Admissions would be Housing and Residence Life because Housing relies on students being admitted to the institution before a housing agreement/contract can be completed. In other words, your critical function must occur before another can begin. Another example would be grant-funding. An office waiting for funds might rely on the approval and submission of a grant by the Office of Sponsored Programs and Research and might include the Office of Financial Aid. Therefore, the office is a “downstream” dependence for the actions of the higher-level and prior grant approval process.

Common Errors to Avoid

Common errors made when attempting to develop a departmental Continuity of Operations Plan include:

Focusing on the “emergency” and planning for specific scenarios. Rather than plan for what to do for a flood, fire, etc., concentrate on what your department will do if your normal building was inaccessible for any reason.
Getting lost in the extreme. A catastrophic loss of support is possible and should be considered, but in general, are unlikely. Try to categorize the planning process into basic groups, such as (1) loss of building/workspace, (2) loss of staff and (3) loss of utilities/networking functions.
Overplanning to the last emergency. After-action evaluations following an emergency often identify “lessons learned” which are beneficial concepts. Please remember that each incident is different and continuity planning should take a broader scope.
Assuming the existing management hierarchy. It’s extremely important to remember that the normal decision-makers for a department may not be available in an emergency. Designating alternate decision-makers as part of a department’s order of succession is extremely important to ensure the alternates are empowered to take action if necessary.

SRU EHS/EM SharePoint Site Access

Campus continuity and emergency operations plans are housed on the SRU EHS/Emergency Management (EHS/EM) SharePoint site.

EHS/EM developed this SharePoint site to serve as a repository for our plans such that they are accessible by both senior administration and campus leadership at any time, whether we are on campus or not. EHS/EM has provided access in the form of a link sent in the form of an email from the emergency management.

Upon establishing an order of succession plan, contact EHS/EM by email or by calling 724-738-2055 and we will facilitate access to key staff reflected in a department’s succession plan.

Once on the EHS/EM SharePoint site, select Documents Library to locate a list of files.

Environmental Health and Safety

Continuity of Operations Planning

Environmental Health and Safety

Contact Information