Business Continuity Plan for Boards
Could every director explain who has authority during a major disruption?
When a major disruption hits, the board needs answers to five questions: who leads the response, what triggers board notification, which functions recover first, who speaks externally, and what record shows board oversight after the event.
NorthSeat's Business Continuity Plan gives boards, CEOs and executive teams a practical governance framework for authority, escalation, communication, recovery priorities and post-incident review.
Informed by ISO 22301, ISO 37000 and Australian governance expectations. Designed for boards that need continuity arrangements they can use, report against and review.
Real-world Triggers
Continuity gaps become visible after a specific event or external question:
- the board receives a BCP update but has no evidence of a recent scenario exercise
- the CEO is unclear which disruptions require immediate board notification
- a cloud, IT, payroll, office or supplier outage affects a critical function
- the organisation has a Cyber Incident Response Plan and a BCP, with no agreed rule for which plan governs authority, timing and communication
- minutes show the BCP was "reviewed," with little record of testing, gaps, vendor reliance or corrective action
- a new Chair, CEO, CFO, auditor, insurer, lender or buyer asks how continuity decisions are made
Many organisations can point to a BCP. The board-level test is whether directors and executives can use it when decisions are being made.
What This Solves
Continuity governance becomes unclear when the board and management apply different assumptions to the same disruption.
The practical problems are:
- no clear distinction between CEO-led response and board oversight
- unclear triggers for board notification, external communication and legal review
- weak prioritisation of critical functions, recovery time objectives and maximum acceptable outages
- directors receiving operational detail instead of decision-relevant information
- reliance on vendors, insurers and cloud platforms without visible continuity evidence
- post-incident reviews relying on management's summary, with no clear record of actions, gaps and follow-up
The Business Continuity Plan makes authority, escalation, communication, recovery priorities and board reporting explicit, so executives can act and directors can oversee at the right level.
A note on cyber
The CIRP deals with technical and incident response. The BCP deals with continuity governance, recovery priorities, authority, communication and board reporting. Each plan governs a different decision set.
Compare the Business Continuity Plan Editions
| Feature / Domain | Essential Snapshot (Free) | Foundation Edition ($4,950 ex GST) | Governance Edition ($21,800 ex GST) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Behavioural governance |  Awareness only |
 Clear roles during a disruption |
Safeguards for politics, bias, and power dynamics |
| Continuity governance | Names the common gaps |
Board-ready continuity framework |
Detailed continuity governance system |
| Board and executive roles | Discussion only |
Clear board / CEO / executive role structure |
Detailed authority, escalation and board reporting architecture |
| Cyber-continuity connection | Awareness only |
Clarifies BCP / CIRP distinction |
Integrated continuity, cyber, vendor and board reporting treatment |
| Crisis escalation | Awareness only |
Practical escalation guidance |
Structured escalation thresholds and response logic |
| Board record quality | Awareness only |
Record and reporting |
Record of enquiry, escalation, decisions and follow-up |
| Virtual implementation support | Up to two hours |
Up to eight hours |
|
| Designed for | Common tension points | A credible board-ready baseline | Boards and executives needing defined authority, escalation, recovery priorities and a documented incident record. |
What Does Your Board Need?
| Situation | Recommended Tier |
|---|---|
| We want to see whether our continuity governance has gaps | Business Continuity Governance Assessment |
| We want to start a conversation about continuity governance | Essential Snapshot |
| Our BCP is outdated or inconsistent. We need a credible, board-ready structure we can implement efficiently. | Foundation Edition |
| We need detailed authority, escalation, communication, recovery priorities, board reporting and post-incident review. | Governance edition |
| We require a custom solution for a large, multi-entity or structurally complex organisation. | Institutional Edition |
How to Engage With NorthSeat
Step 1 - Assess Your Governance
Download the Essential Snapshot
Free download. The most common tension points.
Business Continuity Governance Assessment - $649 ex GST
Designed to identify gaps in your current continuity arrangements and determine what action, if any, is needed.
🔒 Secure payment via Stripe.
Immediate access upon purchase.
Step 2 - Choose Your Framework
Foundation Edition - $4,950 ex GST
An editable Business Continuity Plan and five working schedules covering authority, critical functions, incident records, board reporting and connected documents.
Governance Edition - $21,800 ex GST
An expanded Business Continuity Plan with detailed procedures, working schedules, scenario tools and implementation guidance. Designed for organisations requiring greater depth in continuity governance, incident reporting and recovery planning.
Institutional Edition – Contact Us
Custom design and implementation for large, multi-entity or structurally complex organisations.