How to Perform a Business Impact Analysis (BIA)

A Business Impact Analysis (BIA) is a critical process in Business Continuity Management (BCM) that identifies and evaluates the potential effects of an interruption to critical business operations. Sohvo provides the tools to conduct a structured BIA, helping you understand your organization's vulnerabilities and prioritize recovery efforts.

What is a BIA?

A BIA helps you:

• Identify critical business functions and processes.

• Determine the maximum tolerable downtime (MTD) and recovery time objectives (RTO) for each process.

• Assess the financial and operational impacts of disruptions.

• Understand the interdependencies between processes and resources.

Steps to Perform a BIA in Sohvo

Follow these steps to conduct a comprehensive BIA using the application:

Step 1: Define Your Business Functions

Business Functions are high-level categories that group related processes. They provide an organizational structure for your BIA.

1. Navigate to Admin from the main menu.

2. Select Business Functions.

3. Add, Edit, or Delete business functions to accurately represent your organization's structure (e.g., Finance, Human Resources, Operations, Sales). Ensure you provide a clear name and a unique 2-character abbreviation for each.

Step 2: Document Your Critical Processes

For each essential business activity, you will document it as a Process in the application.

1. Navigate to Processes from the main menu.

2. Click the New button to create a new process.

3. For each process, ensure you define:

   • Process Name: A clear description of the activity.

   • Business Function: Link the process to one or more of the business functions you defined in Step 1. This is crucial for the BIA report.

   • Criticality Score: Assign a score (e.g., 1-100) reflecting the process's importance.

   • RTO (Recovery Time Objective): The maximum acceptable downtime for this process.

   • MTD (Maximum Tolerable Downtime): The absolute maximum time the business can survive without this process.

   • Needed Resources: Link all resources (e.g., systems, personnel, facilities) that this process relies on. This is vital for understanding recovery gaps.

Step 3: Link Resources and Define Their Capabilities

While documenting processes, you will link the resources they need. Ensure these resources also have their recovery capabilities defined.

1. Navigate to Resources from the main menu.

2. For each resource, ensure you define:

   • RTO (Recovery Time Objective): The time it takes to recover this resource.

   • SLA Recovery Time: If applicable, the recovery time guaranteed by a service level agreement.

   • Category: Assign a category (e.g., IT System, Personnel).

The application will use the RTO/SLA of these resources to determine if they can meet the RTOs of the processes that depend on them.

Step 4: Analyze the BIA by Function Report

Once your business functions, processes, and resources are documented and linked, you can generate the BIA report.

1. Navigate to Reports from the main menu.

2. Select BIA by Function under the "Risk & Impact" section.

3. Review the report, which will display:

   • Summary Metrics: Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) at the top, showing:

     • Total Processes: The total number of main processes documented.

     • RTO Gap Count: The number of processes where the process RTO is shorter than the recovery capability of its most limiting resource.

     • Unknown Capability Count: Processes where one or more needed resources have an undefined recovery capability.

     • No RTO Count: Processes where the process RTO itself has not been defined.

   • Process List: A detailed list of processes, grouped by business function, showing their criticality, RTO, MTD, and RTO status.

This report helps you identify which business functions and processes are most vulnerable and where recovery gaps exist.

Iterative Process

A BIA is not a one-time activity. It should be reviewed and updated regularly (e.g., annually, or after significant organizational changes) to ensure it remains accurate and relevant.

By diligently following these steps, you can leverage Sohvo to conduct a robust Business Impact Analysis, providing your organization with the insights needed to build a resilient and effective business continuity plan.

BIA dashboard showing key metrics and analysis status

Process criticality assessment interface

RTO gap analysis showing processes exceeding their recovery objectives

BIA report generation and preview interface