ASIS Int'l to Develop Business Continuity Management Standard
November 4, 2008 // Published as a news service by IHS
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ASIS International hosted a stakeholder deliberation meeting with business continuity professionals from more than 12 organizations to discuss its American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standards project initiative to develop a Business Continuity Management (BCM) standard.
ASIS held the stakeholder meeting due to some initial concerns over the development and application of a new BCM standard and in compliance with ANSI's procedural requirements.
The ASIS-proposed BCM standard would include auditable criteria for preparedness, crisis management, business and operational continuity and disaster management.
ASIS is seeking input from business continuity professionals to develop potential membership on the technical committee that would draft and critique the standard.
ASIS said its goal was not to infringe on the credibility of current BCM practitioners or turn BCM into a subset of security management, but to use its position as an ANSI-accredited standards development organization to lead the effort of providing its members and the business continuity community at large, a standard it believes is needed.
The opinion of the participants was that the meeting was a step toward the development of a standard that could be both auditable and scalable, said ASIS International.
The need for the standard was unanimously identified.
Most participants agreed that while other standards, such as National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1600, already existed and provided value to the business continuity community, future needs of the community were not met since they were not auditable, were partial to certain industry segments or did not promote a holistic view of BCM including the range of disciplines BCM programs have to consider, said ASIS International.
Additionally, although some meeting participants agreed that the ASIS BCM standards project was in potential conflict with existing ANSI standard(s), the group agreed that the NFPA 1600 and other complementing standards will continue to have a role in the continuing maturity of the BCM field, while emphasizing that the need for the standard is evident.
Next steps include:
- Outreach to develop the technical committee to draft the standard. The membership of the committee will include professionals responsible for their organization’s continuity programs, service providers and third parties with a general interest in the subject such as professional associations, government and academia.
- Begin work on the standard by Nov. 15, 2008.
- Ensure procedural requirements of the ASIS standards operating procedures and ANSI essential requirements are met.
Source: ASIS International.