Business Continuity Planning is the process by which ABC University ensures the continued execution of critical operations in the face of adverse events such as natural disasters, technological failures, human error, or terrorism. The goals of the business continuity plan are to minimize losses to ABC University, continue to serve its students, and maintain administrative operations. This is accomplished through the development of plans and procedures to provide secondary options including alternative sites, staffing, resources, interoperable communications, and vital records. FEMA (2013) offered the following statement regarding continuity planning: The lessons we have learned from such catastrophic Events such as Hurricane Sandy on October 29, 2012 and the Boston Marathon bombing on April 15, 2013 demonstrate the need to re-emphasize continuity as a “good business practice” to be incorporated into daily planning, in order to reduce vulnerability and ensure continuity. (Cite CGC 1 P2) ABC University has an obligation to protect and provide for students, faculty, staff and all others on its campus in the event of a major disruption to university operations. These obligations do not stop at the university level. Each Department on campus is also responsible for being able to fulfill its individual obligations. These responsibilities include the ability to provide services to ensure essential functions critical to the functioning of the University. Should an event or disaster occur that disrupts normal operations, each department will be prepared to respond and minimize the impact on the university. Failure to have a comprehensive continuity plan in place could lead to discontinuation of the plan in order to mitigate downtime for future events (Notes W3 P24, CGC1 P N-2).COOP Planning Team Creating a Continuity Plan Operational is too big a task for just one person to accomplish, so it's important to create an effective team that takes responsibility. Team building ensures that most areas are represented in the business continuity project. The project therefore draws on different levels of different skills, increases the level of participation and gets more support. Teams also provide redundancy ensuring that no individual, when needed, becomes a single point of failure. A long-term benefit of the team approach also ensures the availability of experienced personnel to perform the critical tasks assigned and train future team members. In the following sections, the responsibilities of both senior leadership and the team will be discussed.