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ABC FIRE EXTINGUISHER: Chemically based devices used to eliminate ordinary combustible, flammable liquid, and electrical fires.

ACTIVATION: The implementation of business continuity capabilities, procedures, activities, and plans in response to an emergency or disaster declaration; the execution of the recovery plan. Similar terms: Declaration, Invocation.

ALERT: Notification that a potential disaster situation exists or has occurred; direction for recipient to stand by for possible activation of disaster recovery plan. A formal notification that an incident has occurred, which may develop into a disaster.

ALTERNATE SITE: An alternate operating location to be used by business functions when the primary facilities are inaccessible. 1) Another location, computer center or work area designated for recovery. 2) Location, other than the main facility, that can be used to conduct business functions. 3) A location, other than the normal facility, used to process data and/or conduct critical business functions in the event of a disaster. Related Terms: Cold Site, Hot Site, Interim Site, Internal Hot site, Recovery Site, Warm Site.

ALTERNATE WORK AREA: Office recovery environment complete with necessary office infrastructure (desk, telephone, workstation, and associated hardware, communications, etc.); also referred to as Work Space or Alternative work site.

APPLICATION RECOVERY: The component of Disaster Recovery that deals specifically with the restoration of business system software and data after the processing platform has been restored or replaced. Similar terms: Business System Recovery.

ASSEMBLY AREA: The designated area at which employees, visitors, and contractors assemble when evacuated from their building/site.

ASSET: An item of property and/or component of a business activity/process owned by an organization. There are three types of assets: physical assets (e.g. buildings and equipment), financial assets (e.g. currency, bank deposits and shares) and non-tangible assets (e.g. goodwill, reputation)

ASSUMPTIONS: Basic understandings about unknown disaster situations that the disaster recovery plan is based on.

AUDIT: The process by which procedures and/or documentation are measured against pre-agreed standards.

ASSOCIATE BUSINESS CONTINUITY INSTITUTE (ABCI): BCI Membership for entry-level professionals who are currently in the business continuity or related profession.

ASSOCIATIE BUSINESS CONTINUITY PROFESSIONAL (ABCP): DRI International, a non-profit corporation, certifies professionals and promotes credibility and professionalism in the business continuity industry. This is the entry level of certifications and achievable by a passing grade on an exam and approved application. Associated terms: Certified Business Continuity Professional (CBCP), Master Business Continuity Professional (MBCP).

ASYNCHONOUS REPLICATION: Data replication or mirror in which the application is allowed to continue while the data is mirrored to another site. In this case, the application data can represent a prior state of the application. It is critical to use ordered asynchronous mirroring for real-time applications. This means that each write is applied in the same order at the second or backup site as it was written in the primary site, even if the network has re-ordered the arrival of the data. Associated term: synchronous replication.

ANNUAL LOSS EXPOSURE/EXPECTANCY (ALE): A risk management method of calculating loss based on a value and level of frequency.

BACKLOG: a) The amount of work that accumulates when a system or process is unavailable for a long period of time. This work needs to be processed once the system or process is available and may take a considerable amount of time to process. b) A situation whereby a backlog of work requires more time to action than is available through normal working patterns. In extreme circumstances, the backlog may become so marked that the backlog cannot be cleared.

BACK OFFICE LOCATION: An office or building, used by the organization to conduct support activities, that is not located within an organization's headquarters or main location.

BACKUP (Data): A process by which data, electronic or paper based, is copied in some form so as to be available and used if the original data from which it originated is lost, destroyed or corrupted.

BACKUP AGREEMENTS: A contract to provide a service which includes the method of performance, the fees, the duration, the services provided, and the extent of security and confidentiality maintained.

BACKUP GENERATOR: An independent source of power, usually fueled by diesel or natural gas. BACKUP POSITION LISTING : A list of alternative personnel who can fill a recovery team position when the primary person is not available.

BACKUP STRATEGIES (RECOVERY STRATEGIES) : Alternative operating method (i.e., platform, location, etc.) for facilities and system operations in the event of a disaster.

BUSINESS CONTINUITY: The ability of an organization to ensure continuity of service and support for its customers and to maintain its viability before after and during an event.

BUSINESS CONTINUITY COORDINATOR: Designated individual responsible for preparing and coordinating the business continuity process. Similar term: disaster recovery coordinator, business recovery coordinator.

BUSINESS CONTINUITY MANAGEMENT (BCM): A holistic management process that identifies potential impacts that threaten an Organization and provides a framework for building resilience with the capability for an effective response that safeguards the interests of its key stakeholders, reputation, brand and value creating activities. The management of recovery or continuity in the event of a disaster. Also the management of the overall program through training, rehearsals, and reviews, to ensure the plan stays current and up to date.

BUSINESS CONTINUITY PLAN ADMINISTRATOR: The designated individual responsible for plan documentation, maintenance, and distribution.

BUSINESS CONTINUITY MANAGEMENT PROCESS: The Business Continuity Institute's BCM process (also known as the BC Life Cycle) combines 6 key elements: 1) Understanding Your Business 2) Continuity Strategies 3) Developing a BCM Response 4) Establishing a Continuity Culture 5) Exercising, Rehearsal & Testing 6) The BCM Management Process

BUSINESS CONTINUITY MANAGEMENT PROGRAM: An ongoing management and governance process supported by senior management and resourced to ensure that the necessary steps are taken to identify the impact of potential losses, maintain viable recovery strategies and plans, and ensure continuity of products/services through exercising, rehearsal, testing, training, maintenance and assurance.

BUSINESS CONTINUITY MANAGEMENT TEAM: A group of individuals functionally responsible for directing the development and execution of the business continuity plan, as well as responsible for declaring a disaster and providing direction during the recovery process, both pre-disaster and post-disaster. Similar terms: disaster recovery management team, business recovery management team. Associated terms: crisis management team.

BUSINESS CONTINUITY PLANNING (BCP): Process of developing advance arrangements and procedures that enable an organization to respond to an event in such a manner that critical business functions continue with planned levels of interruption or essential change. SIMILAR TERMS: Contingency Planning, Disaster Recovery Planning, Business Resumption Planning, Continuity Planning,

BUSINESS CONTINUITY PROGRAM: An on-going program to ensure business continuity and recovery requirements are addressed, resources are allocated, and processes and procedures are completed and rehearsed. Most effective with management sponsorship and through regular rehearsals.

BUSINESS CONTINUITY STEERING COMMITTEE: A committee of decision makers, business owners, technology experts and continuity professionals, tasked with making strategic recovery and continuity planning decisions for the organization.

BUSINESS CONTINUITY STRATEGY: An approach by an organization that will ensure its recovery and continuity in the face of a disaster or other major outage. Plans and methodologies are determined by the organizations strategy. There may be more than one solution to fulfill an organization's strategy. Examples: Internal or external hot-site, or cold-site, Alternate Work Area reciprocal agreement, Mobile Recovery, Quick Ship / Drop Ship, Consortium-based solutions, etc.

BUSINESS CONTINUITY TEAM: Designated individuals responsible for developing, execution, rehearsals, and maintenance of the business continuity plan, including the processes and procedures. Similar terms: disaster recovery team, business recovery team, and recovery team. Associated term: crisis response team.

BUSINESS IMPACT ANALYSIS (BIA): A process designed to prioritize business functions by assessing the potential quantitative (financial) and qualitative (non-financial) impact that might result if an organization was to experience a business continuity event.

BUSINESS INTERRUPTION: Any event, whether anticipated (i.e., public service strike) or unanticipated (i.e., blackout) which disrupts the normal course of business operations at an organization's location. Similar terms: outage, service interruption. Associated terms: business interruption costs, business interruption insurance.

BUSINESS INTERRUPTION COSTS: The impact to the business caused by different types of outages, normally measured by revenue lost. Associated terms: business interruption, business interruption insurance.

BUSINESS INTERRUPTION INSURANCE: Insurance coverage for disaster related expenses that may be incurred until operations are fully recovered after a disaster. Business interruption insurance generally provides reimbursement for necessary ongoing expenses during this shutdown, plus loss of net profits that would have been earned during the period of interruption, within the limits of the policy. Associated terms: business interruption, business interruption costs.

BUSINESS RECOVERY COORDINATOR: An individual or group designated to coordinate or control designated recovery processes or testing. SIMILAR TERMS: Disaster Recovery Coordinator

BUSINESS RECOVERY TIMELINE: The chronological sequence of recovery activities, or critical path, that must be followed to resume an acceptable level of operations following a business interruption. This timeline may range from minutes to weeks, depending upon the recovery requirements and methodology.

BUSINESS RESUMPTION PLANNING (BRP): The operations piece of business continuity planning. Also see: Disaster Recovery Planning.

BUSINESS UNIT RECOVERY: The component of Disaster Recovery which deals specifically with the relocation of key organization personnel in the event of a disaster, and the provision of essential records, equipment supplies, work space, communication facilities, computer processing capability, etc. SIMILAR TERMS : Work Group Recovery.

BUSINESS RECOVERY PROCESS : The common critical path that all companies follow during a recovery effort. There are major nodes along the path which are followed regardless of the organization. The process has seven stages: 1) Immediate response, 2) Environmental restoration, 3) Functional restoration, 4) Data synchronization, 5) Restore business functions, 6) Interim site, and 7) Return home.

BUSINESS RECOVERY TEAM: A group of individuals responsible for maintaining the business recovery procedures and coordinating the recovery of business functions and processes. SIMILAR TERMS: Disaster Recovery Team

BUSINESS UNIT RECOVERY: The component of Disaster Recovery which deals specifically with the relocation of a key function or department in the event of a disaster, including personnel, essential records, equipment supplies, work space, communication facilities, work station computer processing capability, fax, copy machines, mail services, etc. SIMILAR TERMS: Work Group Recovery.

CALL TREE: A document that graphically depicts the calling responsibilities and the calling order used to contact management, employees, customers, vendors, and other key contacts in the event of an emergency, disaster, or severe outage situation.

CERTIFIED BUSINESS CONTINUITY PROFESSIONAL (CBCP): The Disaster Recovery Institute International (DRI International), a not-for-profit corporation, certifies CBCP's and promotes credibility and professionalism in the business continuity industry. Also offers MBCP (Master Business Continuity Professional) and ABCP (Associate Business Continuity Professional).

CERTIFIED DISASTER RECOVERY PLANNER (CDRP) : CDRP's are certified by the Disaster Recovery Institute, a not-for-profit corporation, which promotes the credibility and professionalism in the DR industry.

CHECKLIST: a) Tool to remind and /or validate that tasks have been completed and resources are available, to report on the status of recovery. b) A list of items (names or tasks etc.) to be checked or consulted.

CHECKLIST EXERCISE: A method used to exercise a completed disaster recovery plan. This type of exercise is used to determine if the information such as phone numbers, manuals, equipment, etc. in the plan is accurate and current.

CHECKLIST TEST : A method used to test a completed disaster recovery plan. This test is used to determine if the information such as phone numbers, manuals, equipment, etc. in the plan is accurate and current.

COLD SITE: An alternate facility that already has in place the environmental infrastructure required to recover critical business functions or information systems, but does not have any pre-installed computer hardware, telecommunications equipment, communication lines, etc. These must be provisioned at time of disaster. Related Terms: Alternate Site, Hot Site, Interim Site, Internal Hot Site, Recovery Site, And Warm Site

COMMAND CENTER: A physical or virtual facility located outside of the affected area used to gather, assess, and disseminate information and to make decisions to effect recovery.

COMMUNICATIONS FAILURE : An unplanned interruption in electronic communication between a terminal and a computer processor, or between processors, as a result of a failure of any of the hardware, software, or telecommunications components comprising the link. (Also refer to Network Outage).

COMMUNICATIONS RECOVERY: The component of Disaster Recovery which deals with the restoration or rerouting of an organization's telecommunication network, or its components, in the event of loss. SIMILAR TERMS: Telecommunications Recovery, Data Communications Recovery

COMPUTER RECOVERY TEAM: A group of individuals responsible for assessing damage to the original system, processing data in the interim, and setting up the new system.

CONSORTIUM AGREEMENT: An agreement made by a group of organizations to share processing facilities and/or office facilities, if one member of the group suffers a disaster. SIMILAR TERMS: Reciprocal Agreement.

CONTACT LIST: A list of team members and/or key players to be contacted including their backups. The list will include the necessary contact information (i.e. home phone, pager, cell, etc.) and in most cases be considered confidential.

CONTINGENCY PLAN: A plan used by an organization or business unit to respond to a specific systems failure or disruption of operations. A contingency plan may use any number of resources including workaround procedures, an alternate work area, a reciprocal agreement, or replacement resources.

CONTINGENCY PLANNING: Process of developing advance arrangements and procedures that enable an organization to respond to an event that could occur by chance or unforeseen circumstances.

CONTINUITY OF OPERATIONS PLAN (COOP): A COOP provides guidance on the system restoration for emergencies, disasters, mobilization, and for maintaining a state of readiness to provide the necessary level of information processing support commensurate with the mission requirements/priorities identified by the respective functional proponent. The Federal Government and its supporting agencies traditionally use this term to describe activities otherwise known as Disaster Recovery, Business Continuity, Business Resumption, or Contingency Planning.

COOPERATIVE HOTSITES : A hot site owned by a group of organizations available to a group member should a disaster strike. ALSO SEE Hot-Site.

CRATE & SHIP: A strategy for providing alternate processing capability in a disaster, via contractual arrangements with an equipment supplier, to ship replacement hardware within a specified time period. SIMILAR TERMS: Guaranteed Replacement, Drop Ship, Quick Ship.

CRISIS: A critical event, which, if not handled in an appropriate manner, may dramatically impact an organization's profitability, reputation, or ability to operate. Or, an occurrence and/or perception that threatens the operations, staff, shareholder value, stakeholders, brand, reputation, trust and/or strategic/business goals of an organization. See: Event and Incident

CRISIS MANAGEMENT: The overall coordination of an organization's response to a crisis, in an effective, timely manner, with the goal of avoiding or minimizing damage to the organization's profitability, reputation, or ability to operate.

CRISIS MANAGEMENT TEAM: A crisis management team will consist of key executives as well as key role players (i.e. media representative, legal counsel, facilities manager, disaster recovery coordinator, etc.) and the appropriate business owners of critical organization functions who are responsible for recovery operations during a crisis.

CRISIS SIMULATION: The process of testing an organization's ability to respond to a crisis in a coordinated, timely, and effective manner by simulating the occurrence of a specific crisis.

CRITICAL FUNCTIONS: Business activities or information that could not be interrupted or unavailable for several business days without significantly jeopardizing operation of the organization.

CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE: Systems whose incapacity or destruction would have a debilitating impact on the economic security of an organization, community, nation, etc

CRITICAL RECORDS: Records or documents that, if damaged or destroyed, would cause considerable inconvenience and/or require replacement or recreation at considerable expense.

ELECTRONIC VAULTING: Electronically forwarding backup data to an offsite server or storage facility. Vaulting eliminates the need for tape shipment and therefore significantly shortens the time required to move the data offsite. Similar terms: vaulting, electronic backup. Associated terms: electronic journaling.

EMERGENCY: An unexpected or impending situation that may cause injury, loss of life, destruction of property, or cause the interference, loss, or disruption of an organization's normal business operations to such an extent that it poses a threat.

EMERGENCY COORDINATOR: The person assigned the role of coordinating the activities of the evacuation of a site and/or building with the statutory and/or emergency services.

EMERGENCY OPERATIONS CENTER (EOC): A site from which response teams/officials (municipal, county, state and federal) exercise direction and control in an emergency or disaster. Associated term: command center.

EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS: The discipline that ensures an organization or community's readiness to respond to an emergency in a coordinated, timely, and effective manner to prevent the loss of life and minimize injury and property damage.

EMERGENCY PROCEDURES: A plan of action to commence immediately to prevent the loss of life and minimize injury and property damage.

EMERGENCY RESPONSE PROCEDURES: The initial response to any event and is focused upon protecting human life and the organization's assets.

EMERGENCY RESPONSE TEAM (ERT): Teams of individuals who have been trained to provide rapid response to all type of emergencies and to provide assistance and act as a contact to responding outside agencies. Associated term: medical emergency response team (MERT).

EMPLOYEE RELIEF CENTER (ERC) : A predetermined location for employees and their families to obtain food, supplies, financial assistance, etc., in the event of a catastrophic disaster.

ENVIRONMENT RESTORATION: Recreation of the critical business operations in an alternate location, including people, equipment and communications capability.

ESCALATION: The process by which event related information is communicated upwards through an organization's Business Continuity and/or risk management reporting process.

ESSENTIAL SERVICE: A service without which a building would be 'disabled'. Often applied to the utilities (water, gas, electricity, etc.) it may also include standby power systems, environmental control systems or communication networks.

EVACUATION: The movement of employees, visitors and contractors from a site and/or building to a safe place (assembly area) in a controlled and monitored manner at time of an event.

EVENT: Any occurrence that may lead to a business continuity incident. See: Crisis and Incident

EXECUTIVE / MANAGEMENT SUCCESSION: A predetermined plan for ensuring the continuity of authority, decision-making, and communication in the event that key members of senior management suddenly become incapacitated, or in the event that a crisis occurs while key members of senior management are unavailable.

EXERCISE: A people focused activity designed to execute business continuity plans and evaluate the individual and/or organization performance against approved standards or objectives. Exercises can be announced or unannounced, and are performed for the purpose of training and conditioning team members, and validating the business continuity plan. Exercise results identify plan gaps and limitations and are used to improve and revise the Business Continuity Plans.Types of exercises include: Table Top Exercise, Simulation Exercise, Operational Exercise, Mock Disaster, Desktop Exercise, Full Rehearsal.

EXERCISE AUDITOR: An appointed role that is assigned to assess whether the exercise aims / objectives are being met and to measure whether activities are occurring at the right time and involve the correct people to facilitate their achievement. The exercise auditor is not responsible for the mechanics of the exercise. This independent role is crucial in the subsequent debriefing.

EXERCISE CONTROLLER: See Exercise Owner

EXERCISE COORDINATOR: They are responsible for the mechanics of running the exercise. The Coordinator must lead the exercise and keep it focused within the predefined scope and objectives of the exercise as well as on the disaster scenario. The Coordinator must be objective and not influence the outcome. They perform the coordination to make sure appropriate exercise participants have been identified and that exercise scripts have been prepared before, utilized during, and updated after the exercise. Similar terms: Exercise Facilitator, Exercise Director.

EXERCISE OBSERVER: An exercise observer has no active role within the exercise but is present for awareness and training purposes. An exercise observer might make recommendations for procedural improvements.

EXERCISE OWNER: An appointed role that has total management oversight and control of the exercise and has the authority to alter the exercise plan. This includes early termination of the exercise for reasons of safety or the aims / objectives of the exercise cannot be met due to an unforeseen or other internal or external influence.

EXERCISE PLAN: A plan designed to periodically evaluate tasks, teams, and procedures that are documented in business continuity plans to ensure the plan's viability. This can include all or part of the BC plan, but should include mission critical components. EXPOSURE: The potential susceptibility to loss; the vulnerability to a particular risk.

EXTENDED OUTAGE : A lengthy, unplanned interruption in system availability due to computer hardware or software problems, or communication failures.

EXTRA EXPENSE: The extra cost necessary to implement a recovery strategy and/or mitigate a loss. An example is the cost to transfer inventory to an alternate location to protect it from further damage, cost of reconfiguring lines, overtime costs, etc. Typically reviewed during BIA and is a consideration during insurance evaluation.

FACILITIES: A location containing the equipment, supplies, voice and data communication lines, to conduct transactions required to conduct business under normal conditions. SIMILAR TERMS: Primary Site, Primary Processing Facility, Primary Office Facility.

FELLOW BUSINESS CONTINUITY INSTITUTE (FBCI): Membership accreditation from the Business Continuity Institute for a senior, professional working practitioner with five years of full-time employment who currently works in the business continuity related profession and a member of the BCI for two years.

FILE BACKUP : The practice of dumping (copying) a file stored on disk or tape to another disk or tape. This is done for protection case the active file gets damaged.

FILE RECOVERY : The restoration of computer files using backup copies.

FILE SERVER : The central repository of shared files and applications in a computer network (LAN).

FILE SHADOWING: The asynchronous duplication of the production database on separate media to ensure data availability, currency and accuracy. File shadowing can be used as a disaster recovery solution if performed remotely, to improve both the recovery time and recovery point objectives. SIMILAR TERMS: Data Replication, Journaling, Disk Mirroring.

FLOOR WARDEN: Person responsible for ensuring that all employees, visitors and contractors evacuate a floor within a specific site. The Floor Warden reports to the Fire Marshall when the designated floor is clear. SIMILAR TERM: Fire Marshal

FORWARD RECOVERY: The process of recovering a database to the point of failure by applying active journal or log data to the current backup files of the database.

FULL RECOVERY TEST : An exercise in which all recovery procedures and strategies are tested (as opposed to a Partial Recovery Test).

FULL REHEARSAL: An exercise that simulates a Business Continuity event where the organization or some of its component parts are suspended until the exercise is completed. See: Exercise

GAP ANALYSIS: A survey whose aim is to identify the differences between BCM/Crisis Management requirements (what the business says it needs at time of an event and what is in place and/or available.

GENERATOR: An independent source of power usually fueled by diesel or natural gas.

HALON: A gas used to extinguish fires effective only in closed areas.

HAZARD OR THREAT IDENTIFICATION: The process of identifying situations or conditions that has the potential to cause injury to people, damage to property, or damage to the environment.

HEALTH AND SAFETY: The process by which the well being of all employees, contractors, visitors and the public is safeguarded. All business continuity plans and planning must be cognizant of H&S statutory and regulatory requirements and legislation. Health and Safety considerations should be reviewed during the Risk assessment.

HIGH AVAILABILITY: Systems or applications requiring a very high level of reliability and availability. High availability systems typically operate 24x7 and usually require built-in redundancy to minimize the risk of downtime due to hardware and/or telecommunication failures.

HIGH PRIORITY TASKS : Activities vital to the operation of the organization. Currently being phased out due to environmental concerns. SIMILAR TERMS: Critical Functions.

HIGH-RISK AREAS: Areas identified during the risk assessment that are highly susceptible to a disaster situation or might be the cause of a significant disaster.

HOTSITE: An alternate facility that already has in place the computer, telecommunications, and environmental infrastructure required to recover critical business functions or information systems. Related Terms: Alternate Site, Cold Site, And Warm Site

HUMAN THREATS: Possible disruptions in operations resulting from human actions. (i.e., disgruntled employee, terrorism, blackmail, job actions, riots, etc.)

IMPACT: The effect, acceptable or unacceptable, of an event on an organization. The types of business impact are usually described as financial and non-financial and are further divided into specific types of impact. See: Business Impact Analysis INCIDENT: An event which is not part of a standard operating business, which may impact or interrupt services, and in some cases, may lead to disaster. See: Crisis and Event

INCIDENT COMMAND SYSTEM (ICS): Combination of facilities, equipment, personnel, procedures, and communications operating within a common organizational structure with responsibility for management of assigned resources to effectively direct and control the response to an incident. Intended to expand, as situation requires larger resources, without requiring new, reorganized command structure. (FEMA Term)

INCIDENT MANAGEMENT: The process by which an organization responds to and controls an incident using Emergency Response Procedures. See: Emergency Response Procedures

INCIDENT MANAGER: Commands the local EOC reporting up to senior management on the recovery progress. Has the authority to invoke the local recovery plan.

INCIDENT RESPONSE: The response of an organization to a disaster or other significant event that may significantly impact the organization, its people, or its ability to function productively. An incident response may include evacuation of a facility, initiating a disaster recovery plan, performing damage assessment, and any other measures necessary to bring an organization to a more stable status.

INFORMATION SECURITY: The securing or safeguarding of all sensitive information, electronic or otherwise, which is owned by an organization. See: BS 7799 and ISO 17799

INFRASTRUCTURE: The underlying foundation, basic framework, or interconnecting structural elements that support an organization.

INTEGRATED EXERCISE: An exercise conducted on multiple interrelated components of a Business Continuity Plan, typically under simulated operating conditions. Examples of interrelated components may include interdependent departments or interfaced systems.

INTEGRATED TEST: See integrated exercise

INTERAGENCY CONTINGENCY PLANNING REGULATION : A regulation written and imposed by the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council concerning the need for financial institutions to maintain a working disaster recovery plan.

INTERIM ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE : An alternate organization structure that will be used during recovery from a disaster. This temporary structure will typically streamline chains of command and increase decision-making autonomy.

INTERIM SITE: A temporary location used to continue performing business functions after vacating a recovery site and before the original or new home site can be occupied. Move to an interim site may be necessary if ongoing stay at the recovery site is not feasible for the period of time needed or if the recovery site is located far from the normal business site that was impacted by the disaster. An interim site move is planned and scheduled in advance to minimize disruption of business processes; equal care must be given to transferring critical functions from the interim site back to the normal business site. See Alternate Site, Cold Site, Hot site, Internal Hot Site, Recovery Site, Warm site

INTERNAL HOTSITE: A fully equipped alternate processing site owned and operated by the organization.

INTERRUPTION: An outage caused by the failure of one or more communications links with entities outside of the local facility.

INVOCATION: The act by which a Business Continuity Management or Crisis Management process is formally started. The term is often used to refer to the act of using a service such as work area recovery as offered by a commercial or third party provider. See: Activation and Declaration

LAN (LOCAL AREA NETWORK): Computing equipment, in close proximity to each other, connected to a server which houses software that can be access by the users. This method does not utilize a public carrier.

LAN RECOVERY : The component of Disaster Recovery which deals specifically with the replacement of LAN equipment in the event of a disaster, and the restoration of essential data and software SIMILAR TERMS: Client/Server Recovery.

LEAD TIME: The time it takes for a supplier to make equipment, services, or supplies available after receiving an order. Business continuity plans should try to minimize lead time by creating service level agreements (SLA) with suppliers or alternate suppliers in advance of a Business Continuity event rather than relying on the suppliers' best efforts. See: Service Level Agreement.

LEASED LINE : Usually synonymous with dedicated line.

LINE REROUTING : A service offered by many regional telephone companies allowing the computer center to quickly reroute the network of dedicated lines to a backup site.

LINE VOLTAGE REGULATORS : Also known as surge protectors. These protectors/regulators distribute electricity evenly.

LOGISTICS/TRANSPORTATION TEAM: A team comprised of various members representing departments associated with supply acquisition and material transportation, responsible for ensuring the most effective acquisition and mobilization of hardware, supplies, and support materials. This team is also responsible for transporting and supporting staff.

LOSS: Unrecoverable resources that are redirected or removed as a result of a Business Continuity event. Such losses may be loss of life, revenue, market share, competitive stature, public image, facilities, or operational capability.

LOSS ADJUSTER: Designated position activated at the time of a Business Continuity event to assist in managing the financial implications of the event and should be involved as part of the management team where possible

LOSS REDUCTION: The technique of instituting mechanisms to lessen the exposure to a particular risk. Loss reduction involves planning for, and reacting to, an event to limit its impact. Examples of loss reduction include sprinkler systems, insurance policies, and evacuation procedures.

LOST TRANSACTION RECOVERY: Recovery of data (paper within the work area and/or system entries) destroyed or lost at the time of the disaster or interruption. Paper documents may need to be requested or re-acquired from original sources. Data for system entries may need to be recreated or reentered

MAINFRAME COMPUTER : A high-end computer processor, with related peripheral devices, capable of supporting large volumes of batch processing, high performance on-line transaction processing systems, and extensive data storage and retrieval. SIMILAR TERMS: Host Computer.

MANUAL PROCEDURES: An alternative method of working following a loss of IT systems. As working practices rely more and more on computerized activities, the ability of an organization to fallback to manual alternatives lessens. However, temporary measures and methods of working can help mitigate the impact of a business continuity event and give staff a feeling of doing something.

MEDIA TRANSPORTATION COVERAGE : An insurance policy designed to cover transportation of items to and from an EDP center, the cost of reconstruction and the tracing of lost items. Coverage is usually extended to transportation and dishonesty or collusion by delivery employees.

MICR EQUIPMENT (Magnetic Ink Character Reader) : Equipment used to imprint machine readable code. Generally, financial institutions use this equipment to prepare paper data for processing, encoding (imprinting) items such as routing and transit numbers, account numbers and dollar amounts.

MISSION-CRITICAL APPLICATION: An application that is essential to the organization's ability to perform necessary business functions. Loss of the mission-critical application would have a negative impact on the business, as well as legal or regulatory impacts.

MOBILE HOT SITE : A large trailer containing backup equipment and peripheral devices delivered to the scene of the disaster. It is then hooked up to existing communication lines.

MOBILE RECOVERY: A mobilized resource purchased or contracted for the purpose of business recovery. The mobile recovery center might include: computers, workstations, telephone, electrical power, etc.

MOCK DISASTER: One method of exercising teams in which participants are challenged to determine the actions they would take in the event of a specific disaster scenario. Mock disasters usually involve all, or most, of the applicable teams. Under the guidance of exercise coordinators, the teams walk through the actions they would take per their plans, or simulate performance of these actions. Teams may be at a single exercise location, or at multiple locations, with communication between teams simulating actual 'disaster mode' communications. A mock disaster will typically operate on a compressed timeframe representing many hours, or even days.

MODEM (Modulator Demodulator Unit) : Device that converts data from analog to digital and back again.