The need for a developed Business Continuity Plan222109/...Implementing and using a contingency plan, as the Business Continuity Plan (BCP), can help the organization to understand

JÖNKÖP I NG INT ERNA T I ONAL BU S IN E S S SCHOOL JÖNKÖPING UNIVERSITY

The need for a developed Business Continuity Plan

Paper within Bachelor Thesis in Informatics

Author: Peter Gneist

Robert Kiersz

Omid Osman

Tutor: Jörgen Lindh

Jönköping June 2009

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Abstract

In order for an organization to stay as resilient as possible a Business Continuity Plan

(BCP) can be of importance. Today many advanced technologies are being imple-

mented into organizations which are leading to a higher degree of risks and vulnerabili-

ties. Organizations therefore need to focus on identifying problems in order to work

more efficiently in order to succeed with their business.

The report is using the framework of Business Continuity Planning approach and is em-

phasizing on how to prepare a plan in order to make organizations more resilient. The

research is conducted in a deductive way which includes testing theories and their prop-

ositions against data which have been collected. Therefore the theories found from the

literature were applied on a case and appropriate data was collected to suit our purpose.

Moreover, problems were analyzed and suggestions proposed of how to deal with them.

Many critical organizational components were revealed but the main findings can be

summarized as how organizations can identify and evaluate problems. This is an impor-

tant part of the BCP and is of need when preparing the plan. Other important sugges-

tions which need to be considered when preparing the plan is to; obtain top management

support, assigning a steering committee, a clear communication strategy and a docu-

mentation plan.

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Table of Contents

Abstract ........................................................................................... i

1 Introduction ............................................................................... 1 1.1 Background............................................................................................ 1 1.2 Problem Discussion ............................................................................... 2 1.3 Research Questions .............................................................................. 3 1.4 Purpose ................................................................................................. 3 1.5 Perspective ............................................................................................ 3 1.6 Delimitations .......................................................................................... 3 1.7 Definitions .............................................................................................. 4 1.8 Interested parties ................................................................................... 4

2 Methodology .............................................................................. 5 2.1 Scientific approach ................................................................................ 5 2.2 Research philosophy ............................................................................. 5 2.3 Research approach ............................................................................... 5 2.4 Research strategies ............................................................................... 6 2.5 Time horizon .......................................................................................... 6 2.6 Literature search strategy ...................................................................... 6 2.7 Literature review .................................................................................... 8 2.8 Reliability and validity ............................................................................ 9 2.9 Generalizability .................................................................................... 10 2.10 Objectivity ............................................................................................ 10 2.11 Data collection techniques ................................................................... 11 2.11.1 Defining research ideas ....................................................................... 11 2.11.2 Observation strategy ............................................................................ 11 2.11.3 Interview strategy ................................................................................. 11 2.11.4 Analyzing techniques of interviews ...................................................... 12 2.11.5 Questionnaire strategy ......................................................................... 12 2.11.6 Analyzing techniques of questionnaire ................................................ 13

3 Theoretical Framework ........................................................... 14 3.1 Steps in creating a successful Business Continuity Process ............... 14 3.2 Training ................................................................................................ 15 3.3 Risk Management ................................................................................ 16 3.4 Soft systems methodology ................................................................... 21 3.5 Reflections from the theoretical framework .......................................... 23

4 Empirical findings ................................................................... 24 4.1 Case observation ................................................................................. 24 4.2 Interviews............................................................................................. 24 4.2.1 Interview 1 ........................................................................................... 25 4.2.2 Interview 2 ........................................................................................... 25 4.2.3 Interview 3 ........................................................................................... 26 4.2.4 Interview 4 ........................................................................................... 27

5 Analysis ................................................................................... 29

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5.1 Categorization of problems .................................................................. 30 5.2 Risk Evaluation .................................................................................... 31 5.3 Problem relation analysis ..................................................................... 32 5.4 Suggested components to become resilient ........................................ 35

6 Conclusion ............................................................................... 37 6.1 Fulfilling the purpose ............................................................................ 37 6.2 Future research ................................................................................... 37

References .................................................................................... 38

Appendix ....................................................................................... 40 Appendix 1 ....................................................................................................... 40 Appendix 2 ....................................................................................................... 42 Appendix 3 ....................................................................................................... 44 Appendix 4 ....................................................................................................... 46 Appendix 5 ....................................................................................................... 47 Appendix 6 ....................................................................................................... 52

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1 Introduction

“Business survival depends on the assured continuity of core business activities and

supporting services: business continuity (BC)” (Morwood, 1998)

Today most organizations are exposed to some kind of risks that can damage their busi-

ness in different ways and threaten its survival.

Therefore it can be vital to organize a plan to prevent the risks, to be able to recover

from disasters, and to minimize the damage when a risk occurs as well. The approach of

business continuity management (BCM) will be used in this report to work as a frame-

work. Today more and more organizations are using a BCM approach due to the large

amount of risks existing but at the same time many are not putting enough efforts in

BCM as they should.

The BCM covers numerous of organizational issues. However, this research paper will

mainly focus on the working processes around IT/IS. Since an IT system can be very

complex many organizations fail in identifying existing vulnerabilities. A system related

problem can be devastating for an organization since IT is in many cases closely aligned

with the business. When a system is down for a longer period of time, the business

might stop functioning properly and in the long run this can lead to a major catastrophe.

According to Doughty (2000), statistics indicate that having the IT system down for

more than 5 days would put 90 percent of all organizations out of business within a

year.

Implementing and using a contingency plan, as the Business Continuity Plan (BCP), can

help the organization to understand the risks and vulnerabilities associated with the IT

system and at the same time provide solutions to deal with these issues. Critical compo-

nents in the perspective of IT issues are not only IT components itself but also people,

equipment, location, data and communication networks which can make the plan rather

comprehensive (McCrackan, 2004).

The plan can even, if implemented properly, lead to a more efficient and profitable or-

ganization in the long run (Reuvid, 2006). Impact and risk analysis is a part of the BCP

and an important tool which will be handled in our research.

1.1 Background

The perceived level of threats and risks has increased since the start of the computer era.

This has put the business continuity management processes at a higher level of priority

in order to become more preventive and resilient towards organizational wounds.

“The main purpose of BCM is to ensure that the organization has a response to major

disruptions that threaten its survival” (Reuvid, 2006).

A threat towards the organization can occur from many different sources, everything

from unintentional causes to intentional causes. Therefore a BCM approach takes into

account a large range of aspects which are caused by several different factors. Analyz-

ing the risks and threats can lead to a more cautious way of working with less disrup-

tions and a more resilient organization. Identifying requirements and knowing how to

deal with disruptions can also eliminate inefficient ways of working. Having a BCM

that benefits an organization will assure that there is a more stable business environ-

ment. The BCM is a concept which has been written a lot about in recent years and

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many different authors provided a high number of different ideas which can be useful

for an organization.

Implementing a BCM approach can though require essential changes in the organiza-

tions structure and culture, due to the need of alignment between business processes and

the BCM (McCrackan, 2004). Hence, a BCM approach can be very time consuming and

require lots of resources in order to be implemented in the business. Preparing a busi-

ness continuity approach involves the construction of a Business Continuity Plan

(BCP). The BCP goes through the steps required in order to deal with the issues around

continuity management.

Complex IT infrastructures within businesses can be very vulnerable and have to be

managed very thoroughly to eliminate and deal with its risks. Some organizations or

departments might become extensively damaged when their computers are down. There

is not always room for a system downtime; the business can lose customers to their

competitors while it is down. This in turn can lead to decrease in profits. An example is

the case of Union Bank of Switzerland, when their computers crashed for only several

minutes they experienced losses that could fund their entire network a number of times.

The Executive Vice President of the Bank argues that the bank would collapse in case

the computer systems would be down for more than 2 days (Doughty 2000).

Processes around IT/IS can have many vulnerabilities and risks which might need to be

considered and dealt with. A resilient IT infrastructure is of great importance to stay

competitive. A well formulated guide specified for processes around IT/IS can lead to a

better work efficiency is therefore of huge interest.

1.2 Problem Discussion

Today’s organizations have to compete in an ever growing and faster moving economy.

Generally, managers have to make complex decisions much faster and mistakes can

have huge impacts on an organization’s performance and overall well being.

Due to the fact that more and more critical and value producing business processes are

based on information technology, it is crucial for organizations to ensure a high level of

system reliability and availability. Morwood (1998) argues in the same direction when

he says that business survival is depending on the assured continuity of core business

activities and supporting services.

However, problems with information technology and information systems are just a

matter of time. In order to respond to the occurring problems in the best way, every or-

ganization would need to have a Business Continuity Plan.

Unfortunately, not many organizations are aware of the fact how crucial a business con-

tinuity plan is to their operating business and internal affairs. Botha and von Solms

(2004) state that resources and staff involved in Business Continuity Management is li-

mited, especially when it comes to smaller organizations. Another problem identified by

Weems (1999) is that the business continuity planning project is a non-revenue produc-

ing project and therefore it is not seen as a high priority project for most organizations.

In comparison, Business Continuity Plans ensure that the organization has a plan in

place prior to a disaster occurring. This can help and facilitate a speedy and cost-

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effective recovery of core business activities following a disaster (Morwood, 1999). If a

company does not have any Business Continuity Plans the impacts on the company can

be immense.

1.3 Research Questions

Focusing on the nontechnical side of the organizational IT/IS environment is our main

target to conduct this research.

� How can an organization assess its IT/IS related problems?

� What could be done in order to achieve efficient solutions to IT/IS related prob-

lems?

� How can an organization achieve a resilient way of working in order to be pre-

pared for upcoming IT/IS related problems?

1.4 Purpose

The purpose of this research paper is to show how problems can be assessed and rela-

tionships among these problems can be drawn. This research paper will also focus on

how to improve problem related working processes. Through analyzing the current situ-

ation of one service-oriented organization we intend to provide suggestions of what to

include in a BCP in order to deal effectively with problem and risks.

1.5 Perspective

A perspective statement is necessary for the internal agreement, which is a process of

analyzing and developing different hypotheses and understandings about what involves

in the research area (Goldkuhl, 1998). This study will be focused on system related

problems in a department of a large service-oriented organization located in Sweden.

The problem will study two perspectives, from the managers and the employees

(agents) point of view. The agents’ perspective is assumingly more about the ease of use

and usefulness since they are working with the system on a daily basis. In contrast, the

perspective of the managers can be seen more as a strategizing perspective where the

focus is more on the IT contribution towards the business. Moreover, the manager pers-

pective is influenced by cost issues as well.

Our basis for choosing more than one view is that it will provide us with a better and

comprehensive understanding of the problems at hand and permit us to conduct our re-

search from multiple views, rather than from one actor’s perspective.

1.6 Delimitations

The BCM concept will be the main focus area together with a larger case study. The ap-

proach will be conducted within processes around IT/IS. We will though exclude tech-

nical solutions in relation to the problems in this report.

The case to analyze is a department of a large service-oriented organization located in

Sweden. The focus will be narrowed down to this particular department. The employees

working at this specific department and the internal working processes will be of inter-

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est. Their processes of handling the IT/IS environment will be in the spotlight which

therefore excludes other non-related working tasks.

1.7 Definitions

Agent: Employee who works at the operational level of the organization

Business Continuity Management (BCM): “A holistic management process that identi-

fies potential impacts that threaten an organization and provides a framework for build-

ing resilience and the capability for an effective response that safeguards the interests of

its key stakeholders, reputation, brand and value creating activities.” (Reuvid J. 2006)

Business continuity plan (BCP): “a series of procedures to restore normal operations

following a disaster — with maximum speed and minimal impact on operations. A

comprehensive plan will include essential information and materials for necessary

emergency action.” (Doughty K. 2000)

Resilience: “Defined as the ability to recover quickly from unpleasant or damaging

events.” (McCrackan A. 2004)

Risk: “A risk is an uncertain event or set of circumstances that, should it occur, will

have an effect of the achievement of one or more of the project’s objectives” (APM

PRAM Guide, 2006, p. 17).

Risk Assessment and management: “In the use of any technology, process, or procedure,

someone should determine where unexpected or undesired consequences are likely to

occur”. (Doughty K. 2000)

1.8 Interested parties

This thesis is intended to benefit a number of interested parties. The specific service-

oriented organization we investigate can therefore be considered as the main interest

party because of their direct involvement in our research. Due to this fact they are able

to apply our suggestion and findings at first hand and benefit from them.

Also other organizations that operate in the same field may benefit from this thesis.

Since the organization which we investigate does not have a Business Continuity Plan

we can assume that many other organizations in this sector will be in the same position

as well. Therefore, they could be interested in this paper when they decide to develop

and implement a BCP.

Other interested parties are academics that work with risk management. These research-

ers could find new insights or perspectives on Business Continuity Planning which

could influence their research or future research projects.

Moreover, decision-makers such as project managers, IT managers and IT strategists

can be interested in this paper due to the reason that this research will provide sugges-

tions of what to include in a BCP in order to deal effectively with problem and risks. It

also outlines aspects which are of importance to Business Continuity Planning and

could therefore be applied in their organizations.

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2 Methodology

This chapter of the research paper will deal with methodology and data gathering tech-

niques. Methodology is concerned with the philosophical research approach, reliability

and validity aspects. Whereas, the data gathering techniques will describe how we col-

lect the data and develop the theoretical frame.

2.1 Scientific approach

Qualitative research is the art of involvement and deepening in a particular situation,

which therefore disregards a general objectivity (Potter, 2002). An example of a qualita-

tive research can be a face-to-face interview with one or two persons. On the other hand

the quantitative approach is concerned with the statistics and generalizations. Conduct-

ing a questionnaire for a wide range of people is an example of a quantitative research.

The research for this study will be approached and conducted mainly in a qualitative

manner. The qualitative approach is seen to be the most suitable one in order to deepen

our knowledge and understanding in the field of study. This approach is also helping us

building a rich detailed set of data from the situation which we are investigating and at

the same time to probe the answers to our research questions. People will be inter-

viewed and revealing their perspectives can widen our insights and knowledge.

2.2 Research philosophy

Researchers mostly distinguish between three different research philosophies – positiv-

ism, interpretivism, and realism. Realism argues that the senses are showing us the

truth. According to Saunders et al. (2007) interpretivism states that it is necessary for

the researcher to understand the differences between humans in our roles as social ac-

tors. In contrast, the positivistic philosophy takes the role as a natural scientist. In this

case the researcher prefers to work with an observable social reality and the results can

be seen as law-like generalizations (Saunders et al., 2007).

This research will follow a positivistic approach which is a part of the epistemological

research philosophy. Due to the fact that we have direct access to the organization, this

approach seems the most suitable for us. Since we are getting an understanding and fur-

ther knowledge through investigating one organization in detail, we will be able to draw

generalizations according to our findings and results. This is possible due to the nature

of the organization we are going to investigate, which is very similar to most other

companies in this business sector.

2.3 Research approach

In general, one can distinguish between two different research approaches, deductive

and inductive. The deductive research approach is a testing approach where a theoretical

frame will be built and a hypothesis will be tested against these theories. Whereas the

inductive approach follows the gathering of empirical data and developing a theory

based on the collected data.

In our research we will follow a deductive approach since we ought to use existing theo-

ries from the literature which will be tested by the use of our collected data. This re-

search approach suits our intentions to explain causal relationships between different

variables and their impacts on the organization.

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2.4 Research strategies

There are different research strategies that can help to answer the research question of a

thesis such as experiment, grounded theory, case studies, action research, ethnography,

and surveys.

In this thesis, a case study will be used to gain empirical data from one organization in

order to answer the research questions. Moreover, a survey strategy will be used as well

to investigate the perspective of the employees in that particular organization.

2.5 Time horizon

When undertaking research, there are two possible timeframes to choose from. When

conducting cross-sectional studies the researcher is taking a snapshot, at a particular

point of time, of a particular phenomenon. The second type is called longitudinal stu-

dies. This type of studies is more suitable when it comes to the study of change and de-

velopment over time (Saunders et al., 2007).

This research will follow a cross-sectional approach due to time and resource con-

straints. One major intention of the report is to reveal and find out about the current sit-

uation of the case which we explore in order to give suggestions of beneficial change

later. Therefore, a snapshot of the organization will be analyzed and serve as a base for

the analysis part.

2.6 Literature search strategy

When searching for appropriate literature for a research paper one need to have a clear

literature search strategy which helps to find the most sufficient information within a

field of study. A clear literature search strategy also helps to cover most parts of availa-

ble literature and ensures that one does not miss out on any important publications.

According to Saunders et al. (2007) the literature search strategy can be seen as a

process consisting of four steps. The first step would be to define the parameters of our

search. These parameters can include areas such as language of publication, subject

area, business sector, geographical area, publication period, and literature type.

We defined that the language of the publication we intend to search for should be Eng-

lish or Swedish. This is based on the facts that most research is published in English

language in order to provide it to a bigger audience, and since we are writing our own

research paper in English as well we would save lots of translation efforts. The reason

for including publications written in Swedish was that we are able to access a lot of stu-

dent theses written earlier by Swedish students. This would not only give us the advan-

tage of accessing a wider range of literature.

Since our research paper will be written within the field of informatics, the literature we

will be searching should be within the same field. Moreover, we are looking for litera-

ture that is written within management science – Business Continuity Management. Due

to the fact that we will not only have a look on information system issues but also

strongly focus on workflow and management issues we are in need to obtain literature

from these both areas.

Another parameter of our literature search strategy will be the choice of a business sec-

tor. In our case the business sector we intending to investigate is the service-oriented

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sector. We will collect our empirical data from a service-oriented company; therefore

we are intending to obtain literature and knowledge about previous theories in this area.

This will deepen our understanding and also help us to have a better data collection

strategy in the end which will lead to better outcomes and findings.

There will not be any limits when it comes to the geographical area of our literature

search. Since most research papers, from all over the world, are written in English it

would not contribute to the overall quality of our work if we would only focus on one or

two geographic areas. In our case, focusing on only specific geographical areas would

enormously increase the risk of missing important theses and works within our field of

interest. Therefore, the geographical area of our literature will not be restricted.

Information systems are getting more and more complex. Today’s businesses have to

pay high attention to the integration of business and technology. Therefore, the litera-

ture which will serve as a base for our research paper must be relatively up to date. Lots

of old publications do not pay too much attention on integration and complex informa-

tion systems because these issues have not been really important from the beginning.

However, these aspects became more and more important during the last years. In order

to write a sufficient research paper we need up to date information and knowledge,

therefore we will focus in our literature search strategy on publications that were pub-

lished within the last 15 years.

The type of literature we will intend to search for will mostly be academic articles, thes-

es, and books. This is based on the possibilities we have with accessing different ma-

terial. Since we have the opportunity to use the university library we have access to nu-

merous books within our field of research. Moreover, there are a lot of theses available

written in the boundaries of Jönköping University. The university library also provides

access to several databases which help to find academic articles which can be of good

support for the research paper. However, our access to publications is also restricted.

Some specific material is only available when you pay a subscription fee or buy the

rights to access the material such as conference papers and publications.

The second step in the process of defining the literature search strategy is to explain and

define the key words and search terms we intend to use and how we came up with them.

Saunders et al. (2007) suggests different techniques to generate key words, these in-

clude discussions with colleagues, the project tutor and librarians, initial reading, dic-

tionaries, thesauruses, encyclopedia, handbooks, brainstorming, and relevance trees.

We approach this step through the use of discussions, initial reading, and brainstorming.

Discussions led to the result that we ended up with specific search terms and key words

in order to maximize our chances to find relevant literature for our research paper.

These discussions were within the project group and therefore really supportive in order

to eliminate insufficient key words and focus on the ones we thought will bring the best

search results. The internal discussions were also supportive in order to distribute the

different key words and search terms among the group members, therefore not every

group member used the same terms and it was possible to coordinate the workload in a

better way. Furthermore, we received good feedback on our pre-defined key words dur-

ing tutoring sessions and also got good hints on how to improve the already existing key

words and to find new ones as well.

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Since one group member has read about and handled with Business Continuity Man-

agement before, we had a good understanding in which direction we should develop our

key words and search terms. The technique of brainstorming was mainly used during

discussions in order to develop and refine the pre-defined terms.

Our search terms and key words were:

� Risk Management

� Business Continuity Management

� Business Continuity Planning

� Soft System Methodology

� Resilience

In order to develop a good Business Continuity Plan, one needs to identify the existing

risks and problems. Therefore, risk management is one of our main search terms. It will

ensure that we find literature about how to identify, assess, and handle risks. Business

Continuity Management and Business Continuity Planning are important search terms

in order to find sufficient material about how to develop a Business Continuity Plan and

therefore essential for this research paper. The term resilience is used in order to find

publications about efficient workflows and approaches to strengthen a company’s prob-

lem handling procedures. In turn soft system methodology is a concept which is used to

support problem identification.

Most literature will be tried to identify through the use of several databases. In this case

we mainly use the search tool possibilities of the university library website. Through

different types of search functions one is able to cover a high number of different data-

bases. Databases that have provided us with the most sufficient results were

ABI/Inform, Springer Link, Academic Search Elite, and Business Source Premier.

In this research paper primary and secondary literature is the main kind of literature that

is used. The theoretical framework consists of primary literature such as academic re-

ports, and secondary literature such as books, and journals. This happens due to ease

and convenience of access.

The assessment of the relevance and sufficiency of the literature we found is based on

our own perspective, experience and judgmental values. Since we are three persons in

our research group, with three different points of views and perspectives, the literature

must have been agreed upon by every group member in order to be used within the re-

search paper.

To use the literature found in a sufficient way, recording the literature is an important

aspect. We recorded our literature in the way that we saved all the relevant articles we

found and also made notes about the most important facts within these articles. These

relevant notes became a base for our writings later on.

2.7 Literature review

To describe the context of a phenomenon when research is conducted, a vital part of the

research process consists of critically reviewing the literature. Critical literature review

is the process of a detailed and justified analysis and commentary of the merits and

faults of the literature within a chosen area, which demonstrates familiarity with what is

9

already known about the chosen research topic (Saunders et al., 2007). The sources used

in this research have been processed according to the approach suggested by Saunders

et al. (2007). They suggest thinking of the review as a funnel consisting of seven steps:

1. Initiate the review at a more general level before narrowing down to the specific questions and objectives

2. Make a short overview of the key ideas and themes 3. Summarize, compare, and distinguish the research of the writers 4. Narrow down and emphasize previous work that is relevant to the research 5. Present a detailed description of the findings of the research and show how they

relate to each other

6. Underline aspects where your own research will provide fresh insights 7. Guide the reader into later sections of the report, which investigate these issues

Our literature review is following the guidelines of Saunders et al. We started by search-

ing the most relevant literature that deal with the purpose of our thesis. The literature

that we thought would be the most relevant was summarized and compared in order to

find the most appropriate key ideas and to further develop our understanding of the re-

levant subjects. Hence, Business Continuity Management (BCM), risk management and

soft systems methodology were the most appropriate topics to use as a theoretical

framework. Additionally the concept of training within the guideline of BCP was added.

The BCM is though the most important concept for our research which deals with the

research questions we have specified. Additionally, the risk management approach is

used to further develop a well founded BCM. To identify problems existing within an

organization and in order to develop an even more thorough BCM, we found the impor-

tance of soft system methodology, (SSM). The SSM is used as a framework and guide-

line in order to help us analyze and understand the situation which will be researched

upon. There is a lot of literature about the BCM and risk management concepts and we

therefore carefully chose the literature which is of most help to tackle our purpose and

research questions. This will be conducted by choosing the theory from the most ac-

knowledged and known authors.

We assume that by using the BCM approach we might get new insights of how to use it

as efficiently as possible when applying the concept to our researched case.

2.8 Reliability and validity

Reliability is a concept which is concerned about consistent findings. This means that

different researchers with different techniques will have the same results and findings.

We are trying to achieve a high degree of reliability through interviewing people in key

positions. These people are the local IT manager, the Nordic operating manager, and the

agents. These people will provide us with a comprehensive view on the organization

and on all system related problems. Therefore, we can eliminate biased views on the

working processes and the systems. Moreover, these persons know the organization best

and therefore adding the appropriate level of reliability to our research.

Through the use of different data collection and analyzing techniques, we are trying to

increase the level of reliability as well. Through the use of interviews and questionnaires

we are trying to show a comprehensive and complete picture of all the problems and

10

how to solve them. We also aim to show as clearly as possible how we collected and

analyzed our data in order to make this research paper as reliable as possible.

At the same time through a highly communicative research paper and a clear research

approach we try to achieve a high degree of validity. According to Saunders et al.

(2007) validity is about ensuring that the findings are about what they appear to be

about and if generalizations are possible. In order to achieve a high degree of validity

one has to eliminate as many threats to validity as possible. In order to ensure that the

findings are about what they appear to be about, we are using different data collection

techniques. This will support the development of a comprehensive view of the organiza-

tion. Another important factor for achieving a high degree of validity in our research is

to collect data from different people on different levels of the organization. This will al-

so guarantee that our findings are really about what we think they are about and no mi-

sinterpretations are possible.

We also minimized the threats of validity through making sure that we have a consistent

dialogue to the same people in the organization at all time during the research.

2.9 Generalizability

Generalizability is a concept which is about drawing predictions on recurring expe-

rience and findings. Frequency of occurrence is therefore of value. This means that a

particular phenomenon which is generalizable can be applied on many cases (Colorado

State University Department of English, 2009).

As mentioned before other organizations in this service-oriented business sector are

quite similar to the specific organization we investigate. We believe that this will lead to

possible generalizations of our research. Most call centers work with communica-

tion/contact management systems (CMS), top down approaches, and computer infra-

structures. The external validity is relative high since lots of organizations in this busi-

ness sector can actually use our findings and outcomes and display it on their own or-

ganization in order to improve their BCP or even start to develop one.

2.10 Objectivity

Objectivity is about the avoidance of personal interpretation and instead focusing on as-

sumptions equally agreed upon (Saunders et al., 2007). The concept is therefore the op-

posite of subjectivity which deals with personal interpretations. An objective approach

will avoid the subjective selectivity data gathering which helps making the research

more valid and reliable.

Our report will be of high concern to handle it as objective as possible. The fact that we

are three authors with different perspectives is increasing the value free level of the re-

port. The literature we use is created by many different authors with different theories,

opinions and suggestions which also improve the quality of objectivity.

Moreover we conduct in depth interviews with three different kinds of people in the or-

ganization where they freely air their opinions. This happens in order to give us a com-

prehensive picture of the situation. The data gathered from the conducted interviews can

in turn shape our perspective and secondly our thesis into a more objective direction.

The result from the use of this approach makes the report less bias.

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2.11 Data collection techniques

In this part we will describe how we intended to achieve our research objective. At the

same time an explanation is provided why we choose to use these methods and how

these techniques helped us to write the report.

2.11.1 Defining research ideas

In order to come up with a research idea, rational thinking techniques were mainly used.

First of all, the group tried to find out the areas in which each group member is interest-

ed in. After identifying a couple areas of research, the group looked into old theses and

projects to get a better insight and new ideas within these areas. With the help of addi-

tional literature and electronic databases different topics were discussed in order to

come up with a final topic. Brainstorming, a creative thinking technique, also helped in

identifying the final research topic.

2.11.2 Observation strategy

In order to get a good picture of the organization, its structure, and its processes we used

the observation data gathering technique. This happened due to the reason that one

member of our research group is actually working for this specific company. Therefore,

we had rather free access and good insights into the organization.

Saunders et al. (2007) suggest different types of observation techniques. The differences

between those types are whether the identity of the observer is revealed or concealed

and whether the researcher takes part in the activity or just observes it.

In our case, we used the participant as observer approach. The researcher’s identity was

revealed since he is a regular employee (agent). Therefore, he knows most of the other

employees within the department as well which facilitated easier access and greater wil-

lingness in order to conduct a good questionnaire later on.

Moreover, as a regular employee of this organization he takes part in the activities of the

everyday work. Therefore, he can contribute a lot of knowledge of his own experiences

to this research. The fact that he is working there gives us as a group the advantage to

find the right people easily from which we want to conduct our data gathering activities.

2.11.3 Interview strategy

The main part of the empirical data will be collected through interviews. These inter-

views will be non-standardized. The way of conducting these interviews will be face-to-

face with employees in key roles in that particular organization. The group chose to go

with a semi-structured interview strategy which means that we have a number of pre-

defined questions and themes we want to ask and leave space for other issues and ques-

tions coming up during the interview. This is done, in order to cover our areas of inter-

est and leave space to upcoming and follow up questions which can give us a deeper

knowledge in certain areas.

The persons we will interview are the local IT manager at the local department, and the

Nordic operating manager. These two persons are in key positions for our research. The

local IT manager at the local department can provide us with the most common occur-

ring problems related to the information systems and how they are handled so far.

12

Moreover, he is able to give us a good overview about the work processes and the sys-

tem architecture and hierarchy.

The Nordic operating manager is of great value to our research since she is the connec-

tion between the local department and the headquarter. Moreover, she is attending board

meetings and reporting directly to members of the board. Therefore, she has a lot of

knowledge about the company itself and is mostly involved in strategizing new con-

cepts for the company. Furthermore, she is the system owner of one of the systems in

this organization. This interview will help us to achieve a comprehensive view of the

nature of the organization and the thinking about IT from a headquarter perspective as

well.

2.11.4 Analyzing techniques of interviews

The analysis is based on our notes from the interviews. These notes are ought to be seen

as the layer to create the valuable picture of the analysis. Our interviews will be record-

ed qualitatively and be completely available to the reader as an appendix. The collected

data will be analyzed by using Yin’s (2003) explanation building approach. This is a

deductively based analyzing approach which is in line with the overall deductive ap-

proach of the research paper. Moreover, we can explain the relation between the col-

lected data and the proposed theory which will help us to gain a thorough base for our

analysis section.

2.11.5 Questionnaire strategy

We also intend to gather valuable material by using a questionnaire. This questionnaire

will be distributed to a number of agents working for the organization in order to get an

understanding of their perspective on the existing issues. Since we want to keep the

number of respondents high, we will approach the agents with a self-administered ques-

tionnaire. This will also help us to save time. Due to the fact that we can access the or-

ganization directly, we will hand out the questionnaire to each respondent and collect it

later. Therefore, we are using a delivery and collection questionnaire strategy.

The types of variables we want to collect by using a questionnaire are opinion variables.

Opinion variables record how respondents feel about something or whether they think

or believe that something is true or false (Saunders et al., 2007). This will support our

vision of getting an insight on the employee perspective in this particular organization.

The style of question will be a mixture of open questions and closed questions. Saund-

ers et al. (2007) define open questions as questions that allow respondents to give an-

swers in their own way. In contrast, closed questions provide a number of alternatives

or suggested answers from which the respondent has to choose. This will lead to the fact

that we can ensure that some answer possibilities will not be too limited in order to not

miss out on any important information. The open questions will be used in order to find

out what the biggest problems are in the point of view of the agents. In contrast, closed

questions will ensure that we will just get the information and data we intend to collect.

The way we chose to distribute our questionnaire was non-probability sampling. This

was the most sufficient method to reach the agents due to the fact that not all agents

work at the same time. We hand out the questionnaire to any agent possible since all

cases are equal due to the fact that all agents work with the same systems.

13

In our point of view, the most appropriate sampling technique was purposive sampling.

This means that the researcher uses his judgment to select cases that will best enable

him to answer the research questions and to meet the objectives.

Total number of responses 10

Total response rate = ------------------------------------------------ = ---------------

Total number in sample – ineligible 22 – 0

= 0.45 = 45%

Total number of responses

Active response rate = --------------------------------------------------------------------

Total number in sample – (ineligible + unreachable)

10

= ------------------------ = 0.45 = 45 %

22 – (0 + 0)

The total and actual response rate is about 45%. The reason for this is that we inter-

viewed ten out of 22 agents of the sales department. We achieved a 100% responds rate

from the agents we interviewed. We missed out on 12 agents due to the fact that most of

the agents are part-time employed. Therefore, the chance to meet all agents at the same

time is not given.

However, since all the agents work on identical tasks and with the same equipment the

number of agents interviewed can be seen as representative. Moreover, they all work on

the same level and their position within the company is the same. In our case, ten agents

was a sufficient number in order to identify the main part and most important aspects

and problems related to their work with the information systems of the organization.

2.11.6 Analyzing techniques of questionnaire

The questionnaire is analyzed by using qualitative and quantitative techniques. The re-

sults will be displayed in a bar chart according to how many respondents have men-

tioned particular problems. This will give the reader the advantage of getting a quick

overview of the problems identified by the agents and the most mentioned problems.

Moreover, to display the results in a more detailed way, the answers of the question-

naire are presented in a qualitative way. This is done partly in the analysis section and

the complete results of the questionnaire can be found in appendix 5. Therefore, we can

focus on the most important facts concerning our research without leaving any facts

away from the reader.

14

3 Theoretical Framework

This section will cover important literature and theories already written. Through our

research techniques we choose the following concepts to present: Steps in creating a

successful Business Continuity Process, Training, Risk Management and Soft Systems

Methodology. The displayed concepts will help to analyze our empirical data and draw

the conclusions.

3.1 Steps in creating a successful Business Continuity Process

To establish a Business Continuity Plan there is a guideline to follow developed by Ka-

rakasidis (1997) which consists of eleven components. These components are supposed

to be used in conjunction with a risk management process. Hereby a brief explanation of

the components will be presented:

1. Obtain top management approval and support.

The managers need to support the BCP with the required resources and funds. They also

need to fully understand and approve the plan in order to carry it out.

2. Establish a business continuity planning (BCP) committee.

The committee is supposed to deal with the objectives and scope together with the de-

velopment of the plan, but also to report, test, and maintain the business recovery

processes.

3. Perform business impact analyses.

The business impact analysis (BIA) is about the identification of the potential risks and

how to carry out a preventive plan, together with the most reasonable resources. In order

to perform an efficient impact analyses Wan (2009) suggests the following steps:

� Define assumptions and scope of project for which BIA is being conducted.

� Develop a survey or questionnaire to gather necessary information.

� Identify and notify the appropriate survey recipients.

� Distribute the survey and collect responses.

� Review completed surveys and conduct follow-up interviews with respondents

as needed.

� Modify survey responses based on follow-up interviews.

� Analyze survey data.

� Verify results with respondents.

� Prepare report and findings to senior management.

4. Evaluate critical needs and prioritize business requirements.

This stage is about the evaluation of processes and resources that are of need, in order to

continue the business operations.

15

5. Determine the business continuity strategy and associated recovery process.

This step is about reviewing the components and defining the recover strategy which

can help the organization to restore from a failure.

6. Prepare business continuity strategy and its implementation plan for executive man-

agement approval.

Creating a manual with the necessary information about the strategies which can be

rolled out for any department is of great importance. This will include the tasks, stan-

dards, and responsibilities together with other details in order to recover from a failure.

7. Prepare business recovery plan

With the help from a template all information and data concerning the recovery will be

put into a larger plan.

8. Develop the testing criteria and procedures.

This step can be seen as a plan for a training mechanism and is created to test and un-

derstand how well the recovery plan works.

9. Test the business recovery process and evaluate test results.

A key component is to have meetings regularly before, during, and after the implemen-

tation of the plan in order to evaluate the business continuity plan. In this step the test-

ing of the recovery procedures takes part.

10. Develop/review service level agreement(s) (SLAs).

To reach a balanced service level agreement between two parties, in order to function

synchronously.

11. Update/revise the business recovery procedures and templates.

The continuous maintenance is done in order to prevent that all the procedures have to

become redeveloped. Instead it is more efficient to continuously update the procedures

by responding to changes, keeping the staff updated, and having an ongoing testing of

the plan.

3.2 Training

Morwood (1998) distinguish between two different types of training best suited to busi-

ness continuity training. These types are awareness training and scenario training.

Awareness training intends to give all members of the organization an appropriate level

of understanding of the Business Continuity Plan. This type of training consists of two

sub-division, introductory awareness training and detailed awareness training.

16

Introductory awareness training briefs all members of the organization who will have an

indirect role in the execution of the Business Continuity Plan. In general, a 60 minutes

session about the framework, strategies, and important procedures under the plan should

be enough to inform the staff.

Detailed awareness training, in contrast, is aiming to educate the members of the organ-

ization who will have a direct role in the execution of the business continuity plan.

Morwood (1998) suggests that a half-day session should be sufficient to educate the

staff about all aspects of the Business Continuity Plan. The information covered in this

session is almost the same as in the introductory session, only more detailed. Another

important part of the detailed awareness training is to focus on the precise roles and re-

sponsibilities each staff member will have under the Business Continuity Plan.

In general, awareness training should be conducted for all members of the organization

upon the establishment of the Business Continuity Plan or following significant changes

to it. Moreover, it should be conducted for all newly hired employees and for those

people who have moved into new positions or responsibility areas.

The second type of training is scenario training. Morwood (1998) suggests that this type

of training should be conducted as a follow up of the awareness training. Scenario train-

ing should be conducted at a level as appropriate as possible compared to the crisis or

disaster situation. In Morwood’s approach scenario training includes practical exercises

designed to confirm employees’ understanding of the Business Continuity Plan. Moreo-

ver, it is aimed to raise their skill levels in the execution of the tasks and to identify po-

tential weaknesses and issues relating to further development of the Business Continuity

Plan.

Morwood (1998) divides scenario training into three distinct variants of training - desk-

top exercises, call-out exercises, and operational exercises. Desk-top exercises are taken

place within the office environment and participants are just required to assess and

comment on how they would react to various scenarios. During call-out exercises par-

ticipants are required to contact key staff members with responsibilities under the Busi-

ness Continuity Plan and confirm their availability and recall time. Operational exercis-

es will be practiced with full operational response to the exercise scenario. The Business

Continuity Plan will be physically implemented by the exercise participants. Due to cost

issues, normally, the activation of outside resources is not involved in the training ses-

sions.

3.3 Risk Management

“A risk is a potential problem, a situation that, if it materializes, will adversely affect

the project. Risks that materialize are no longer risks, they are problems”. “All projects

have risks, and all risks are ultimately handled. Some disappear, some develop into

problems that demand attention, and a few escalate into crises that destroy projects and

careers. The goal of risk management is to ensure that risks never fall into the third cat-

egory”. (Hallows, 2005 p.96)

“A risk is a possible unplanned event. It can be positive or negative. In project man-

agement the success of our projects depends on our ability to predict a particular out-

come. Since risks are the unpredictable part of the project, it is important for us to be

17

able to control them as much as possible and make them as predictable as possible.”

(Newell & Marina, 2004 p.174)

Risks can be divided into two categories - known risks and unknown risks. Known risks

are risks that can be identified and unknown risks are those risks that cannot be pre-

dicted at all. A threat or a pure risk can only have a negative possibility as a result. In

contrast an opportunity is a risk that can only have positive outcomes. Business risks are

considered as normal risks of doing business and can both have good and bad outcomes.

Risks occur in all companies, therefore an important aspect of managing and minimiz-

ing risks is known as “Risk Management”. The International Federation of Risk and In-

surance Management Associations (IFRIMA), the international umbrella organization

for risk management associations throughout the world, says that risk management is a

central part of any organization’s strategic management (Reuvid, 2007). Risk manage-

ment is the process of identifying, categorizing, responding to risks strategically, and

managing the risks. This process is also known as enterprise risk management (ERM).

The initial focus in risk management should be on identifying the risks. These risks can

be factors that cause time delays or impede the usual way of working in an organization.

According to Hallows (2005), the most common risks that an organization can encoun-

ter are:

Staff Risks

� Key staff will not be available when needed

� Key skill sets will not be available when needed

� Staff will be lost during the project

Equipment Risks

� Required equipment will not be delivered on time

� Access to hardware will be restricted

� Equipment will fail

Client Risks

� Client resources will not be made available as required

� Client staff will not reach decisions in a timely manner

� Deliverables will not be reviewed according to the schedule

� Knowledgeable client staff will be replaced by those less qualified

Scope Risks

� Requirements for additional effort will surface

� Changes of scope will be deemed to be included in the project

� Scope changes will be introduced without the knowledge of project management

Technology Risks

� The technology will have technical or performance limitations that endanger the

project

� Technology components will not be easily integrated

18

� The technology is new and poorly understood

Delivery Risks

� System response time will not be adequate

� System capacity requirements will exceed available capacity

� The system will fail to meet functional requirements

Physical Risks

� The office will be damaged by fire, flood, or other catastrophe

� A computer virus will infect the development system

� A team member will steal confidential material and make it available to com-

petitors of the client

(Hallows, 2005 p.97)

Analyzing information available from previous cases will be valuable and helpful in

identifying risks in the current organization. A structured review of previous cases

should be done as a part of the identification process. Individuals both inside and out-

side the organization will also be useful for the risk identification process. Risk identifi-

cation process often involves large numbers of individuals, it is therefore recommended

to use different group techniques such as:

Delphi Technique: In the Delphi technique the participants are usually anonymous. By

having anonymous participants, problems such as negative effects of face-to-face dis-

cussions or individuals that dominate the process by using their authority or position are

avoided. In this technique the facilitator asks for input from the participants, in the form

of answers to questionnaires and their comments to these answers. The contributions are

then summarized by the facilitator into a list that is send to each participant. The partici-

pants then add additional thoughts to the summarized list. This process continues until

there are no more thoughts generated. This technique can be conducted using any form

of communication technology such as e-mail or telephone. One of the advantages of the

Delphi technique is that the individuals can participate from many different locations.

Brainstorming Technique: The Brainstorming technique is one of the most common

group dynamics techniques. In the brainstorming technique a group of participants are

summoned to a meeting. The participants are then asked by the facilitator to name any

risk that they can think of, no matter their significance. The risks are then listed by the

facilitator on a board. The main purpose of the brainstorming technique is to create a

kind of chain reaction of identification of risks. For example the ideas generated by one

participant will generate new ideas from another participant. The downside of brains-

torming technique is that the whole process is dependent on an excellent facilitator. If

the process lacks a good facilitator there will be minimum involvement from the partic-

ipants. This downside will even get bigger if there is a big difference in the status of the

participating individuals. An individual who has more authority may dominate the

meeting with his thoughts and ideas.

The second part of the risk management process is dealing with categorizing the risks.

Risk categorization is the process of evaluating the risks that have been identified. The

19

purpose of categorizing the risks is to set up a way of classifying the risks in the order

of their importance. Several statistical methods of defining the degree of risk exists, but

the simplest and most effective method is to depict risks as high, medium or low. The

level of the risk depends on two characteristics; the probability and the impact of the

risk. The probability and the impact of the risk can be evaluated on a scale of one to ten.

When the impact and the probability value are multiplied together the result will

represent the expected severity value of the risk. Figure 3.1 and 3.2 illustrates a method

of determining the degree of a risk.

Figure 3.1 Risk Evaluation Table Figure 3.2 Risk Evaluation Table

Note: Scales are arbitrary http://www.staffordshireprepared.gov.uk/risk/default.htm

http://site.ebrary.com/lib/jonhh/Doc?id=10040405&ppg=34

By categorizing risks one can identify the risks that are the most critical ones and con-

sequently require the most attention.

When the potential risks are identified and ranked one can start to plan how to strategi-

cally respond to those risks. There are a number of strategies available for dealing with

risks. These strategies are; acceptance, avoidance, transfer, and mitigation strategy.

Acceptance: Risks that are not so harmful fall into the domain of acceptance strategy.

This means that risks that are low-ranked should be accepted but not fully ignored. If

the planning efforts for fixing the risk would cost more than the actual cost of fixing it,

then the organization should just fix the risk when it occurs. The acceptance strategy

consists of two types of acceptance; active and passive. An active acceptance is when a

plan is made for what to do if an accepted risk occurs. Normally low-ranked risks tend

to occur more frequently. Therefore it is much more effective to have a plan when these

types of risks occur. In contrast to active acceptance, passive acceptance is when no

plan has been made for when a risk occur. These risks are very small risks that are hard-

ly noticeable. The cost of dealing with the risk without preparation is often lower than

documenting and developing a plan for the risk.

20

Avoidance: This strategy is used when one prevent a risk to be a possibility. The risk is

avoided before an occurance is possible. This is for example done by changing the de-

sign of a product or system so the risk cannot occur.

Transfer: This strategy focuses on giving the responsibility of a risk to someone outside

the organization. This does not mean that the risk disappears it is only the responsibility

of the risk that transferred to someone else. One way to do this is to give the responsi-

bility of the risk to a contractor such as a software vendor. Another alternative which is

possible is to buy insurance for a specific product or system. The cost of the insurance is

often smaller than the cost of the risk.

Mitigation: The mitigation strategy is often used towards medium and high ranked

risks. This strategy focuses on lowering the overall severity of the risks by reducing the

possibility or the impact of the risks. Using this strategy involves transferring out some

money from the contingency budget. The money should then be used in the strategy

plan to mitigate the risks. When the probability or impact of a risk is reduced the ex-

pected value of the risk will be reduced as well. This in turn will result into a reduced

contingency budget.

One of the biggest problems with risks tends to be that they get forgotten in the regular

day to day routines. Managing the risks is the process of monitoring, controlling and

reevaluating the risks that have been identified. From this process it is possible to identi-

fy new potential risks. There are three methods for managing risks: group meetings, sta-

tus reports and manager reflection.

During regular group meetings one should devote a part of each meeting to a risk re-

view wherein the risks are discussed by each group member. This will make the risks

visible and all members will be aware of potential risks. The main purpose of the risk

review is to identify what risks exists and if they have changed. The risk review will al-

so facilitate the process of uncovering new risks and their potential consequences to the

organization. Status reports are also an important part of managing risks. By conti-

nuously reporting risks, the management will be aware of the risks and prepared for bad

news and surprises. Figure 3.3 illustrates how a risk management process can possibly

appear.

21

Figure 3.3 the process of risk management

http://www.ermanz.govt.nz/about/riskmgm-bckground.html

3.4 Soft systems methodology

The soft systems methodology (SSM) is an approach which is used for change man-

agement and problem solving within organizations and has its roots from the systems

theory. It was developed at the University of Lancaster in Britain, by Peter Checkland

and others, with the help from an action research program.

The methodology is helping to understand and analyze organizational problems. SSM is

ought to model processes in the organization but also to include the involved people in

the system together with their social and political environment in order to match the real

world better. A hard systems approach would focus more on simplistic formal business

processes which are rooted in physical science while the soft approach is seen as part of

social and management science (Checkland, 2000).

A soft system methodology approach has in mind that organizations are systems and

systems are complex which might make it difficult to reach a solution to a certain prob-

lem. A narrow and specialized problem solving approach is not what this methodology

is emphasizing on but rather on a wider approach where a lot of parties together with

their environments can be taken into consideration. Therefore, this approach will help in

getting a better insight in the complexity of the problem situations that might exist. The

approach can though be very complex and difficult to conduct since humans with dif-

ferent attitudes, beliefs, and world views are included and the analyst might therefore

need to take many different perspectives into consideration.

When conducting the action from the framework of the methodology the analyst is sup-

posed to work as a participant of the research in order to get the most efficient insights

of the situations. The SSM framework is built up of a guideline with 7 stages which are

recommended to follow in order to understand the organizational problems (Checkland,

22

2000). The stages do not necessarily need to be followed in order but can be used itera-

tively and interchangeably.

The SSM stages revealed:

1. Problem situation: unstructured

This stage is concerned with finding out the problem situation. The problem analyst

takes part of all views from people which are part of the problem situation. Here the

analyst also tries to reveal the processes occurring in the context of the problems.

2. Problem situation: expressed

From the information conducted in stage one this stage will express the information in a

formal way. Drawing a picture diagram of the perceived situation can be a good way of

expressing the state together with problem identification. The drawing can be seen as a

tool for communication used by the analyst to express the perception of the current

state. It can contain things like the people involved, areas of problem, information flow,

and relations.

3. Root definitions of relevant systems

This stage is about from which perspectives the problem solver should see the prob-

lems. Here the analyst together with the problem owner defines the problems and the re-

levant systems. The root definition is therefore also a way of stating what the system is.

By the use of the CATWOE technique the analyst can create a root definition.

CATWOE is a helpful tool to take all aspects of the perspectives that can exist in a sys-

tem; customer, actor, transformation process, weltanschauung, owner and environment.

4. Building conceptual models

From the help of the defined root definitions from previous stage a conceptual model is

created in this stage. The model is supposed to be a diagram with activities that tell what

the system will do, and is meant to describe something relevant to the problem situation.

In this stage a debate is welcomed to shape the model between the actors in order to

create a model related to the real world.

5. Comparing conceptual models with reality

This stage compares the models created in stage four with the drawings from stage two.

Since all illustrations are created with the help from people with different views, this

process can be difficult.

23

6. Assessing feasible and desirable changes

By analyzing the results from stage five the problem solver proposes the desirable

changes needed.

7. Action to improve problem situation

The last stage is dealing with the suggestions of actions in need to solve the desirable

changes.

To keep in mind is that this methodology is building up a framework of how to work in

order to understand certain problems and is not providing any certain guidelines of how

to solve the problems. As told before the seven steps might not necessarily be per-

formed in order but might have to be conducted iteratively and interchangeably to reach

for the most sufficient understanding of a certain problem. Due to that many perspec-

tives are being considered there might be difficulties to reach a consensus when using

this methodology. However, the SSM approach is perhaps one of the most effective

tools in order to reveal the real situation when analyzing an organizational system.

3.5 Reflections from the theoretical framework

The material presented is of great importance to us in order to succeed with our thesis.

All literature is created within the timeframe of 15 years which makes the literature ac-

cordingly to us up to date. In order for us to analyze and identify problems within an or-

ganization we need a frame to work with, therefore the concept of SSM approach is

seen as the most suitable. As well the theory has the ability to help us to gain new in-

sights from the case when following it as a guideline.

A Business Continuity Process is a guideline for how to establish a resilient work envi-

ronment. Risk management and training are in turn parts of the Business Continuity

Plan. Risk management is the process of identifying risks and problems which we will

emphasize conduct from our empirical data in the analysis.

Training is as well a tool within the BCP concept, since training benefits the awareness

of the BCP and how to use it. Therefore the training approach can be a suggestion for

the organization to use when preparing for a BCP.

24

4 Empirical findings

To gather the appropriate data from the case for our purpose we have used the soft sys-

tems methodology as a guideline to help us reveal the organizational situation and its

problems. The empirical findings section will start off with a description of the case.

Continuously the perspectives of important organizational key persons will be presented

with their problem perception. These persons will be the Nordic operating manager, the

local IT manager, and agents. This step is the first part of the guideline from the SSM

approach which is concerned about revealing the problem situation in an unstructured

way (Checkland 2000).

4.1 Case observation

The following case description is conducted by observations. Since one of our group

members is employed at the department, he has the ability to gain useful information for

our case description as stated earlier in the methodology section.

The case of our study is within a department of a service-oriented organization located

in Sweden. The company is one of the biggest retail businesses in Sweden. The main

headquarter is located in Norway where many of the strategic plans and decisions are

executed. The specific department in the organization where the research is conducted is

a call center. Customers from entire Sweden and other Nordic countries contact the call

center for support of a product, to ask questions about the products offered or to pur-

chase a product. The department is divided into three sub areas, sales, after sales and

helpdesk. The sales department works with customers who are interested in purchasing

products. The after sales department supports customers with service related matters.

Lastly the helpdesk is responsible for supporting customers with computer related ques-

tions.

Unfortunately the department experiences many different problems mainly from their

IT/IS and related work processes which affect their organization badly. As it seems to-

day they do not have any Business Continuity Plan in order to deal more efficiently and

resilient with their current problems.

4.2 Interviews

The following interviews are conducted with three different kinds of employees with

different roles at the department; Nordic Operating Manager, local IT Manager and

Agents. Interview number one is conducted with the Nordic Operating Manager and in-

terview two and three with the local IT manager while the fourth and last interview in-

volves the agents. As told in the methodology part our reasons for choosing different

employees with different roles is to gain many perspectives of the situation in order to

make the findings consistent. This is also the first step in the SSM which we use as a

guideline and concerns the identification of the problem situation in a rather unstruc-

tured way. At the same time this data gathering is a part of the BCP which concerns the

business impact analysis.

Hereby we present the most relevant findings from the interview to support our report.

25

4.2.1 Interview 1

The Nordic operating manager has a very important role in the organization where she

has the ability to establish strategic decisions. She attends board meetings at the contact

center in Norway and is positioned just under the Nordic board. At the same time she

works with tasks such as human resources, development, customer expectations and is

additionally the owner of the CRM system.

When it comes to workflow and how business functions are performed in the organiza-

tion the Nordic operating manager means that the business is quite big and complex

which reduces the organization’s flexibility. The business is also very focused on sever-

al key performance indicators and the organization measures productivity in hours

available for the customers.

When it comes to problems in the context of workflow and business functions the first

main problem is that it is difficult to reach the right competence at the right time. Se-

condly she argues that “...there is no system in order to find sufficient information for

achieving quick handling time”.

The Nordic operating manager explained some problems within the IT/IS context that

she perceived; the broadband is sometimes slow, no clear routines, no local backup

plan. Some of their systems are still under development and might take 1-2 more years

before they are fully implemented. And obviously all the problems affect the organiza-

tion badly.

When asking the Nordic operating manager how the errors of system issues are handled,

she explained that they document all their problems in a log and when their information

systems crash or go down the twin servers at the headquarter are switched on. This is

seen as a backup solution. In most cases the employees ask the local IT manager when

an IS/IT related problem occur. If the local IT manager cannot solve the problem, he in

turn calls the headquarter/IT support for assistance.

The department does not have any documented follow up routines for the problems;

they are instead in the local IT manager’s head.

The final question in our interview was to ask what the Nordic operating manager think

a about a local BCP. She replied that she for sure would prefer one. Though at the same

time, she says that they do not have the time to develop a BCP.

4.2.2 Interview 2

Accordingly to the local IT manager a BCP is a preferable plan for the department,

which does not exist though. A plan to handle the load of all the existing problems at

the department is of need.

When dealing with IT/IS problems the local IT manager explains that there is a system

support located at the headquarter where he calls or mails to get assistance to problems

he cannot solve himself. Most problems are with the contact management system and

can be very deep. The responsibility for fault assurance lies at the very top which can

make it hard to solve errors. The manager mentioned that it is difficult to find the right

person for support which is the first main problem. “Help is needed mostly very fast and

the helpdesk is big so it is hard to get to the right guy. Receiving the help depends on

the problem, since different people have different responsibilities.”

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Secondly he mentions that the department does not have any routine of how to report

problems. “The entire chain is in need of a routine. Today when a problem occurs the

employees e-mail me about the problem, come by and ask face to face, just run around,

and sometimes they do nothing, just lazy.” When the agents experience computer prob-

lems they regularly do not solve the problems but wait for feedback from the local IT

manager.

Thirdly he explains that one of the biggest issues is the contact management system

since there are many bugs in the system causing problems. When it comes to the conse-

quences from when the contact management system is down the response was; “Loos-

ing customers, customers lose faith, losing money and not reaching the goals”.

The local IT manager means that they document all problems which cannot be solved

by him in a log. Deeper problems, such as code errors are not documented since only

the system vendors have the rights and the knowledge to handle these problems.

The most time consuming tasks to handle are the computer software and hardware prob-

lems. These can be problems such as: logging problems, crashing problems, hardware

malfunctions. When asking how the communication between him and the vendors

works, he replied that he does not get that much time with them as he would like to.

Normally he only contacts the Nordic IT department and in turn they contact the ven-

dors. There needs to be a standardized way of how to rout and log problems according

to the local IT manager. It is therefore necessary to have education and training for the

employees about routing of problems.

4.2.3 Interview 3

To begin the local IT manager was asked to depict the organizational hierarchy and the

system structure of the company (see appendix 3). Subsequently the manager was asked

if the IT related problems and risks are addressed during the management meetings and

if that was the case, how and how often. The local IT manager explained that the meet-

ings are conducted once a month with a decent structure. During the meetings 30 mi-

nutes are provided for the local IT manager to address issues related to the IT and IS. He

continues to explain that during each meeting a protocol is kept and the progress of the

discussions is checked at the following meeting according to the protocol. He stresses

that he do not have so much authority in the overall organization in contrast to the au-

thority that he has locally. Problems and issues that are beyond his authority are for-

warded to the IT department in Norway, “some of these problems tend to take twice as

much time to solve”.

The interview continued with the local IT manager explaining some unknown problems

that we had identified. These problems were A: “CMS server full every morning, log

files too big”, B: “.NET error messages”, C: “IVR” and D: “back + save” problem.

Problem A is associated with when the contact management server that is located in

Norway gets full with log files, this results that the department cannot receive any in-

coming calls from its customers. “The problem has been known more than three months

and still no actions have been taken to solve it.” The IT department in Norway does not

want to solve the problem; they claim that it is the software vendor who has the respon-

sibility for that. Problem B is related to the contact management .NET framework;

sometimes unexplained error messages appear which leads to a computer crash at the

department. In this case there is a conflict between the IT departments in Norway the

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software vendor as well. Problem C is linked with the interactive voice response (IVR)

issues. IVR is the voice menu of the contact management system. A number