Reviewing & Exercising Your Plan

Annual Reviews

To remain compliant with the University standards, continuity plans must be reviewed annually with Emergency Management. Reviewing your plan annually ensures that information and procedures in your plan stay current and increase the likelihood that your department will be able to continue operations in the event of a disruptive event.

Emergency Management’s standard Annual Review procedures include:

• Notifying your department, lab, or research facility of its upcoming review a month before your plan is actually due for review.
• Suggesting that reviews are attended by all members of your continuity planning team.
• Requiring your unit head to sign off on your continuity plan after the review has been conducted and any necessary changes have been made to your plan.

Continuity Planning Tabletop Exercise

In addition to annual reviews, continuity plans must also be exercised annually to remain compliant with the University standards. A Continuity Planning Tabletop Exercise is used to clarify roles and responsibilities, test continuity plans and procedures, and identify additional business continuity needs that may arise after a disruptive event occurs on campus. To ensure that departments are prepared for such disruptive events, Emergency Management has developed an online Continuity Planning Tabletop Exercise. This exercise poses scenarios to departments that test different sections of their developed continuity plans.

You will be granted access to the Continuity Planning Tabletop Exercise after your review has been conducted. Please contact OEMCP@utdallas.edu if you have any questions.

Other Exercising Options

The Emergency Management strongly encourages departments, labs, and research facilities to test and exercise their continuity plans at least annually. Tests and exercises available to you include, but are not limited to:

• Testing your emergency communication plan.
• Participating in a tabletop discussion with other departments on campus.
• Practicing emergency procedures to ensure the fulfillment of your critical functions during a disaster.

If you are interested in discussing the different testing/exercise options available to you, please contact the Emergency Management at oemcp@utdallas.edu or 972-883-4355. All testing and exercises must be coordinated with Emergency Management.