When preparing a business continuity plan, who of the following is responsible for identifying and prioritizing time-critical systems?

Question

Options

• AExecutive management staff
• BSenior business unit management
• CBCP committee
• DFunctional business units

• A
  4% (1)
• B
  92% (22)
• D
  4% (1)

Explanation

Senior business unit management is correct because they possess the operational knowledge to assess which systems are critical to their business functions and can quantify the impact of downtime - making them best positioned to prioritize recovery time objectives (RTOs) for systems under their ownership.

Why the distractors are wrong:

• (A) Executive management sets overall organizational strategy and approves the BCP, but lacks the granular operational knowledge to identify specific time-critical systems within each unit.
• (C) BCP committee coordinates and oversees the overall planning process, but relies on business units to supply the criticality information - they don't generate it themselves.
• (D) Functional business units (i.e., line-level staff) perform the day-to-day work but typically don't have the authority or cross-functional perspective needed to prioritize systems relative to organizational risk.

Memory tip: Think of it as a "know your domain" principle - the people who manage a business unit know best what would cripple it if it went down. Senior unit managers sit at the sweet spot between strategic authority and operational knowledge, unlike executives (too high) or staff (too low).

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