Business Continuity Management and Overview of its Implementation in Public Services of Estonia
Name
Eveli Pung
Abstract
BUSINESS CONTINUITY MANAGEMENT AND OVERVIEW OF ITS IMPLEMENTATION IN PUBLIC SERVICES OF ESTONIA
Master’s Thesis
Eveli Pung
SUMMARY
The main purpose of this thesis is to raise awareness regarding business continuity management. Two major goals are providing clear and concise guidelines in Estonian language for implementing business continuity measures and giving an overview of its progress in public services of Estonia.
This thesis begins with giving a general background of business continuity management in Estonia as well as other countries. A short overview of history, trends, statistics, standards, federal regulations and implementation guides is provided. It is followed by a detailed breakdown of actions needed to implement business continuity management. This theoretical part introduces conducting business impact analysis and risk analysis, managing risks, compiling business continuity plans, considering budgets, staffing teams and dealing with crisis communication.
The second part of this thesis focuses on public services in Estonia. Different interviews were carried out with representatives of various public services, including life-critical services, ministries and local governments who coordinate them and officials who regulate business continuity management on a federal level. The conducted interviews enabled compiling overviews of the different aspects of implementing business continuity in public services.
Gathered information showed that public services have not been affected by extensive crisis in the last years. None of the life-critical services have been disrupted for more than a few days. It remains unknown if that is an indication of good risk management or simply good fortune. However, by looking into business continuity measures more thoroughly, it became apparent that there is room for improvement and some challenges still need solutions. Based on the information gathered from those interviews, governmental analysis documents and media, the author proposed nine suggestions to improve business continuity management.
The author of this thesis has already received positive feedback that the interviews carried out raised participants’ awareness and reminded them to prioritize implementing continuity measures.
Graduation Thesis language
Estonian
Graduation Thesis type
Master - Information Technology
Supervisor(s)
Erkki Leego
Defence year
2012