AN
APPRAISAL OF BUSINESS CONTINUITY PLAN BY FACILITIES MANAGERS IN NIGERIA
ABSTRACT
Happenings all over the world have shown that no business facility is
devoid of disaster. It is in the light of the above that good facilities
management practice, demands a proactive approach to such problems by preparing
business continuity plan (BCP). This research project is undertaken to appraise
the plans prepared by the facilities management firms in Nigeria as fall back
measure in case of any disruption in organizations business procedures. Field
survey was undertaken with structured questionnaire and oral interviews with
stakeholders as the instruments of research. Purposive sampling was adopted in
the interview. Seventy questionnaires were distributed out of which forty three
were completed and returned, giving 61.4% response. Results showed that
although facilities managers in Nigeria are well aware of the risk portfolio of
their organizations, but adequate measures are not put in its proper place to
prevent and prepare for any eventuality. For example, respondents opinion on how
often BCP is being used in managing facilities shows that 65.1% do not use it
often, 69.8% agreed that BCP is based on demand by client/organization. The
outcome of the result of the study showed that even if BCP is in use, it is not
proactive, also refusal of government and clients to request for BCP
contributed to the lack of preparation of plan. It was recommended that
government should make it mandatory for all organizations to request facilities
managers to prepare BCP to guide and prepare for any eventuality in the form of
disasters and their position as part of their financial statement. Professional
bodies and associations affiliated to disaster management, should assist
organizations by organizing workshops, trainings, awareness campaigns for personnel
of such organizations.
TABLE OF
CONTENTS
Title page – – – – – – – – – – i
Declaration – – – – – – – – – – ii
Approval – – – – – – – – – – iii
Acknowledgement – – – – – – – – – iv
Abstract – – – – – – – – – – v
Table of Contents – – – – – – – – – vi
List of Tables – – – – – – – – – – viii
List of Figures – – – – – – – – – – ix
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the
Study – – – – – – – 1
1.2 Problem Statement – – – – – – – – 2
1.3 Justification of the
Study – – – – – – – 2
1.4 Aim and Objectives – – – – – – – – 3
1.5 Methodology – – – – – – – – – 3
1.6 Scope And Limitations – – – – – – – 4
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Overview of Business Continuity Plan – – – – – 6
2.2 Business Continuity
Impact Analysis – – – – – – 15
2.3 The Key Players
(Personnel) in charge of Implementing BCP – – 30
2.4 Business Continuity Planning
Committee/Working Group – – – 32
2.5 Areas and Organisations that Prepare and
Implement BCP – – – 33
2.6 Various Views, Definitions and
Descriptions of BCP – – – 34
2.7 Key Steps of Business Continuity Planning
in Summary – – – 49
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH
METHODOLOGY
3.1 Preamble – – – – – – – – – 51
3.2 Sampling Size and
Sampling Technique – – – – – 51
3.3 Description of Data
and Data Collection – – – – – 52
3.4 Method of Data
Presentation – – – – – – – 52
3.5 Method of Data
Analysis – – – – – – – 53
CHAPTER FOUR: DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
4.1 Preamble – – – – – – – – – 54
4.2 Data Presentation and Analysis – – – – – – 54
4.3 Discussion of Result – – – – – – – – 36
CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION
AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 Summary – – – – – – – – – 69
5.1 Conclusion – – – – – – – – – 70
5.2 Recommendations – – – – – – – – 71
References – – – – – – – – – – 73
Appendix I (Letter of Introduction)- – – – – – – – 75
Appendix II (Questionnaire) – – – – – – – – 76
Appendix III (List of Facilities Management Firms) – – – – – 81
LIST OF TABLES
Table 4.1: Distribution of Questionnaires – – – – – 54
Table 4.2: Profession of Respondents – – – – – – 54
Table 4.3: Distribution
of Respondents based on experience – – – 55
Table 4.4: Educational
Qualification of Respondents – – – – 55
Table 4.5: Professional
Qualification of Respondents – – – – 56
Table 4.6: Designation
of Respondents – – – – – – 56
Table 4.7: Respondents’ Opinion of BCP – – – – – 57
Table 4.8: Response on areas where BCP is used in
Managing Facilities – 59
Table 4.9: Respondent opinion on how often BCP is used
in managing facilities 60
Table 4.10: Respondent Opinion on the Problems
militating against the effective use
of BCP in Managing Facilities – – – – – 42
Table 4.11: Respondent opinion on the impact of
effective management of facilities 64
Table 4.12: Respondents opinion on why BCP is prepared – – – 64
Table 4.13: Respondents’ opinion on the need for
management of facilities in Nigeria 65
Table 4.14: Respondents’ Perception on how BCP can
promote
effective Management of Facilities in Nigeria – – – 66
LIST
OF FIGURES
Fig. 2.1: Business
Continuity Planning Lifecycle – – – – 29
Fig. 2.2: Business
Continuity Organisation – – – – – 31
Fig. 2.3: Business
Continuity Organisation (Execution) – – – 32
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
While governments, not-for-profit institutions, and
non-governmental organisations also deliver critical services, private organisations
must continuously deliver products and services to satisfy shareholders and to
survive. Although they differ in goals and functions, business continuity
planning (BCP) can be applied by all governments.
Elliot et al (1999)
defines business continuity planning as identifying an organisation’s exposure
to internal and external threats and synthesizes hard and soft assets to
provide effective prevention and recovery for the organisation, while
maintaining competitive advantage and value system integrity.
There is much misunderstanding of business continuity
management (BCM) and as yet no commonly practiced methodology for the
assessment of an organisation in this regard (Honour 2001). Elliot et al (1999) noted that there is no
structured implementation of capabilities to directly address the risks
presented to us in the modern world. These newly emphasized risks in
partnership with the inherent vulnerabilities resulting from the lack of a
structured approach to BCM calls for a more robust and measurable means of
protecting our continuity management that is continuity assurance.
As the name implies, continuity assurance is concerned
with actively planning to avert the threat or reduce from the act, though this
recovery is implicit in the approach detailed in this work.
1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT
Management of facilities in developing countries like
Nigeria is replete with a lot of problems. Prominent among them is the
disruption of business operations, delays, ineffective or poor quality service.
This is due to lack of clear understanding of those organisations risk profile
or portfolio and absence of proactive measures that will ensure the
continuation of critical business operations. As a result of the
aforementioned, this affects the organisations in many ways, e.g. service
provision is poor or substandard, profit maximization is seriously affected and
the reputation of the organisation is equally affected, etc.
1.3 JUSTIFICATION OF THE STUDY
Emergency Preparedness and Business Continuity is one
out of the eleven (11) core competencies in the management of facilities. This
needs a holistic study of the core competencies to see ways and means for
effective facilities management. Business Continuity Plan (BCP) is suppose to
be properly put in place for any business to strife, be it small, medium or
big.
It is
in the light of the above that a critical look at plans that are supposed to be
put in place by FM for business to continue and also to mitigate any negative
effect of any disaster on the organisation.
It is
an acknowledged fact that one of the important and necessary conduction for
smooth successful and effective management of any facility devoid of any
interruption that may have far reaching impact on the organization is the
putting in place proactive measure to ensure the continuation of critical
activities considering the facilities management practice in Nigeria (being at
the development stage) a feedback system is needed or information is needed on
how this important activities were undertaken especially the approach adopted,
(1) quality of the plan, (2) how they are implemented and (3) problems relating
to the implementation and above all the quality of human resource who prepares
and implement (facilities management) this will enable the facilities
management practice to benefit from such results.
1.4 AIM AND OBJECTIVES
1.4.1 Aim
The aim of this project is to evaluate the business
continuity plans prepared by facilities manager in Nigeria with a view to
providing guidelines and procedures for an orderly and timely business continuance.
1.4.2 Objectives
a)
To study how BCP is used in the
management of facilities in Nigeria.
b)
To determine the factors
affecting the effective use of BCP in management of facilities by comparing (a)
above.
c)
To assess the perception of
stakeholders/facilities managers on how BCP can promote effective management of
facilities.
1.5 METHODOLOGY
The methods used could be summarized under the following
sub-headings:
1.5.1
Literature Review
Review of related literature on the subject using
magazines, journals, conference proceedings, internet, interviews, etc. This
was done in order to articulate existing knowledge on principles, procedures
and practice of undertaking business continuity planning in facilities
management.