BCI - Designing and Delivering Effective Exercises

Design and deliver effective, successful, and practical exercises that truly work

Exercises are the best way to test systems, rehearse plans, and prepare people to respond confidently to real-world situations. As a key component of the validation stage of the Business Continuity Management (BCM) Lifecycle, exercising your BCM programme is often one of the most engaging aspects of our work.

This course provides you with the concepts and practical know-how to plan and deliver effective exercises. You will learn how to respond to incidents, build confidence, and strengthen your organization’s ability to respond efficiently, recover, seize opportunities, and learn from disruptions.

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Course objectives

Upon completion of this course, you will:

• Learn how to develop a comprehensive exercise programme and design targeted exercises
• Deliver and experience the exercises you have developed
• Conduct post-exercise evaluations and document lessons learned

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What you will learn

Organizations that exercise regularly have been shown to demonstrate the highest levels of resilience and recover more quickly following a crisis.

Based on the BCI Good Practice Guidelines – Edition 7.0 and current international standards ISO 22301 and ISO 22398, this two-day course teaches you how to train your teams and test your emergency response and business continuity plans.

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Modules

Module 1 – People vs. Paper: The Value of Exercising: Core exercise concepts: testing vs. exercising, team and equipment capability, exercises within the BCM Lifecycle, validation, and continual improvement.

Module 2 – Exercise Programmes: Validating plans over time, and the purpose and structure of an exercise programme.

Module 3 – The Design and Delivery Team: Required teams and roles, additional support resources, and reporting to top management.

Module 4 – Setting Aims and Objectives: The importance of clear objectives and how they influence evaluation.

Module 5 – Formats and Options: Exploring different exercise formats, their advantages and disadvantages, and the benefits of combining approaches.

Module 6 – Scenario Development: The purpose of the scenario, alignment with objectives, control, and realism.

Module 7 – Logistics: Documentation, Resources and Communication: Required documentation, resource planning, and communication processes.

Module 8 – Delivery: Key stages of exercise delivery and potential challenges.

Module 9 – Risk Management: Identifying potential risks associated with delivering exercises and appropriate mitigation measures.

Module 10 – Evaluation and Reporting: Debriefing, reporting outcomes, lessons identified vs. lessons learned, and continual improvement.

Throughout this workshop, you will receive comprehensive documentation and apply the concepts directly. The course combines theoretical guidance with practical experience in managing a wide range of incident scenarios.

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Who is this course for?

This course is designed for business continuity and resilience professionals responsible for developing and delivering exercises:

• Professionals who want to train their teams and learn how to exercise plans effectively
• Professionals who want to improve their existing plans

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This course includes

• An electronic copy of the BCI Good Practice Guidelines – Edition 7.0 (value: USD 90 / CAD 120)
• BCI course materials (modules)
• Additional documentation and templates from Premier Continuum

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Prerequisites

No previous training is required for the Designing and Delivering Effective Exercises course. However, the following are recommended:

• At least CBCI or an equivalent qualification, with experience working in continuity and resilience within an organization
• Prior knowledge of relevant areas is helpful but not mandatory

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Certificate of attendance

All participants will receive an official certificate of attendance directly from the BCI upon successful completion of the course.

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