University of Illinois System

Risk Management and Business Continuity Planning

Service Description

Business Continuity Planning (BCP) Services, part of Computer Operations Engineering (COE), supports the Office of Administrative Information Technology Services (AITS) in the performance of duties and responsibilities associated with information technology risk management, continuity of operations/continuity of university business, and audits/assessments as they relate to information technology. The Risk Management and Business Continuity Planning team offers business continuity management and risk advisory services designed to identify and provide guidance on potential events which may impact the delivery of information technology services and provides managers with reasonable assurance via recovery procedures that IT service objectives are being achieved. The team works with State agencies, university departments, and private businesses and non-profits as necessary.

The university plans are reviewed annually by internal and external resources and evaluated against industry standards, state policy, and best practices. Assistance and consultation regarding the use of business impact analysis and BCP documentation are also provided. Additional services provided to university departments include education and training, business continuity/disaster recovery plan consultation, and special projects.

Audits and assessments are conducted as prescribed by legal and regulatory requirements. Findings and recommendations are reported to university management and state agencies.

Hours of Availability

This service is available to customers 24/7, excluding planned outages, maintenance windows and unavoidable events. Maintenance windows are used only when needed for planned changes that have gone through the AITS Change Control Process. In addition to the standard AITS maintenance windows, site-specific and service-specific changes may be coordinated with customers at non-standard times.

Standard maintenance windows are defined as:

  • 6 a.m. to 12 p.m. each Sunday
  • After 5 p.m. every Tuesday and Thursday, unless business needs to make a change during business hours
  • The second Wednesday of the month from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. for patching Microsoft servers
  • 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. three Sundays a year for routine Windows and Linux maintenance

Standard business hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except for University of Illinois holidays.

Customer Responsibilities

Risk Management

  • Prepare a business impact analysis(BIA) assessment form
  • Provide application/business process criteria for BIA assessments
  • Participate in risk analysis and mitigation planning
  • Identify line of business, business process owner, and participants

Business and Disaster Recovery Plans

  • Update the Business Continuity Plan (BCP) periodically
  • Identify agency contact for Business Continuity Planning issues
  • Attend training and awareness events
  • Comply with state and university BCP policies and standards
  • Submit BCP at least annually
  • Notify AITS of BCP personnel changes

Audit Services

  • Assist the auditor with data collection
  • Interface with the audit team as necessary

How Do We Charge?

AITS does not currently charge for this service.