Business Impact Analysis Report: Assessing Business Function Impacts

This report presents a Business Impact Analysis (BIA), detailing the goals and purpose of assessing the impact of potential crises on various business functions. The analysis evaluates both internal and external communications, DNS, internet connectivity, self-service websites, payroll systems, CRM, network management, marketing, sales, and accounting functions. Each function is assessed for its qualitative business impact (critical, major, minor, or null), and the IT systems, applications, and resources affected are identified. The report also includes the Recovery Time Objective (RTO) for each business function. The BIA is crucial for developing a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) to ensure the protection of company assets, personnel, and the continued functionality of the business, even in the face of adversity.

Running head: BUSINESS IMPACT ANALYSIS
Business Impact Analysis
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1BUSINESS IMPACT ANALYSIS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The report defines the goals and purpose of the Business Impact Analysis (BIA). In the event
of a crisis such as a disaster, a company undertakes a coordinated process to analyse and
evaluate the threats and risks that has caused interruption to a critical business function. This
helps the company to resolve the issue faster.
Various business functions were assessed related to internal and external communications
both voice and email, DNS for internal and external IP, internet connectivity, Self-service
website, payroll system, CRM, network management and tech support, marketing and events,
sales orders, remote branch-office sales order entry, accounting and finance support.
The qualitative business impact value for each of the business functions is evaluated as per
critical, major, minor or null effects.
The IT systems, applications or resources that will be impacted due to the effects on different
business functions are also tabulated in the lab report.

2BUSINESS IMPACT ANALYSIS
Table of Contents
1. Definition of Business Impact Analysis (BIA)......................................................................3
2. Definition of Business Continuity Plan (BCP)......................................................................3
3. Relation between BIA and BCP.............................................................................................3
4. Business Function Table........................................................................................................3
5. References..............................................................................................................................6

3BUSINESS IMPACT ANALYSIS
1. Definition of Business Impact Analysis (BIA)
Business Impact Analysis is an organised process through which a situation is
analysed and evaluated where a crucial business function is interrupted due to any
emergency, accident or natural disaster (Jarvelainen 2013).
2. Definition of Business Continuity Plan (BCP)
The purpose of a Business Continuity Plan is to create a plan of action by identifying
threats and risks confronted by an organisation. This is done to ensure the security of assets
and employees of the company so that they are functional even in the face of any crisis
(Snedaker 2013).
3. Relation between BIA and BCP
In the event of any disaster, a company creates an organised strategy to identify the
threats and risks faced by it that can damage the company assets or employees and interrupt
their functionality. This is known as Business Continuity Plan (BCP) that not only identifies
the issues but also finds possible remedies to ensure the protection of the assets as well as
personnel and continuity of their function (Torabi, Soufi and Sahebjamnia 2014). In case, the
BCP fails to safeguard the interest of the company and a crucial function of the company is
interrupted; the company analyses and evaluates the situation through an organised process to
resolve the issue as soon as possible. This process is known as Business Impact Analysis
(BIA).
4. Business Function Table
Business Functions Qualitative Business
IT systems,
applications and
Recovery Time
Objective (RTO)

4BUSINESS IMPACT ANALYSIS
Impact Value resources affected.
Internal and external
voice communication
with customers in real
time.
Major Applications 1 day
Internal and external
email communication
with customers via
store and forward
messaging.
Minor IT systems and
Applications
1 day
Domain Name Server
(DNS) for internal and
external Internet
protocol (IP)
communications.
Minor IT systems 1 day
Internet connectivity
for email, store, and
forward customer
service.
Major IT systems 1 hour
Self-service website for
customer access to
information and
personal account
information.
Minor
IT systems and
Applications
1 day
e-Commerce site for
online customer
purchases or
scheduling 24x7x365.
Critical IT systems and
Applications
1 hour
Payroll and human
resources for
employees.
Critical Resources 1 day
Real-time customer
service via Web site, e-
mail or telephone
requires customer
relationship
management (CRM).
Major
IT systems and
Resources 1 hour
Network Management
and technical support.
Major
Resources 1 hour
Marketing and events. Major Resources 1 week
Sales orders or
customer/student
registration.
Minor
Applications and
Resources 1 day
Remote branch office
sales-order entry to
headquarters.
Major Resources 1week
Voice and email
communications to
remote branches.
None IT systems and
Applications
1 day
Accounting and
finance support:
Accounts payable,
Accounts Receivable,
etc.
Major
IT systems and
Applications 1 hour

5BUSINESS IMPACT ANALYSIS
Table 1: Business Function Table
Source: (Nielsen and Denmark 2013)

6BUSINESS IMPACT ANALYSIS
5. References
Järveläinen, J., 2013. IT incidents and business impacts: Validating a framework for
continuity management in information systems. International journal of information
management, 33(3), pp.583-590.
Nielsen, P.B. and Denmark, S., 2013. Measuring International Organisation of Enterprises
and Sourcing of Business Functions. In International Statistical Institute: Proceedings of the
2013 World Statistics Congress.
Snedaker, S., 2013. Business continuity and disaster recovery planning for IT professionals.
Newnes.
Torabi, S.A., Soufi, H.R. and Sahebjamnia, N., 2014. A new framework for business impact
analysis in business continuity management (with a case study). Safety Science, 68, pp.309-
323.