Hornford Associates

Hornford Associates takes a very pragmatic approach to Business Continuity. After all Disaster Preparedness Planning is a simple process:

1. Identify mission critical processes and functions
2. Identify and assess risks to mission critical processes
3. Decide what to do:
   Accept the risk, change the process, insure against the risk, mitigate the risk or eliminate the risk

With Disaster Planning the devil is in the details. Think of a continuum running from the most basic - Business Survival to the most complete Risk Management. At a minimum your Disaster Preparedness plans has to provide for Business Survival. As your plans and capabilities expand you start looking at Risk Management.

Risk Management is a business call - given a risk what will you do? There are five choices:

1. Accept the risk
2. Change the business
3. Purchase insure against the risk
4. Mitigate the risk
5. Eliminate the risk

Any of the choices is valid, if and only if, you have made it consciously. If your approach is to accept the risk because you have not examined anything, you do not know whether you are on a tightrope in a windstorm or having a coffee on a sunny day.

Hornford Associates work in our Business Continuity focus area includes:

1. Business Continuity Assessment
   We work with you to identify your key business functions and the supporting processes. For each key business function we review your risk factors and business impact. We conduct an investigation and assessment of 5 domains comprising your Information Technology that support key business functions. We outline high-level choices to deal with risk that is outside your risk appetite.
   This service provides a base-line and go-forward plan to deal with technology-based business risk.
2. Business Continuity / Disaster Planning Online Service
   We are working to develop an online Business Continuity Service focused on Small Medium Enterprise/Small Medium Business (SME/SMB)
3. Business Continuity Training
   Manager-level Business Continuity Course
   Previously offered publicly with the British Columbia CGA Association

We have a few free tools to assist you start your Business Continuity Plan.

• Business Continuity / Disaster Planning Self-Assessment Checklist
  Risk Assessment Spreadsheet
• NFPA 1600: Standard on Disaster/Emergency Management and Business Continuity Programs (2004)
• NIST Disaster Recovery Planning for IT
  Contingency Planning Guide for Information Technology Systems Recommendations of the National Institute of Standards and Technology

US Government

US Government (FEMA)

UK Government

UK Government (UK Resilienc)
Don't miss their publication 'Dealing with Disaster'

Canadian Government

Canadian Government (Public Safety and Emergency Prepardness Canada)

Hornford Associates
Suite 114, 100 - 111 5th Ave., SW
Calgary, Alberta, CANADA, T2P 3Y6
+1 (403) 818-4303