Dear Miss Enger:

Although having taken a late start for my individual project, I’ve been mainly focusing on the
research for fundamental concepts of Business Continuity plan until the week of July 26th. I will
use the collected information as core parts of upcoming more detailed concepts for next week.

Progress Made:

Thus far my project has been a bit behind the timeline I’ve planned, but I organized the outline
of the guideline and started researches on relevant topics. Most of the information is collected
through online sources such as FEMA website and other organizations that offer BC planning
and emergency management practices, and textbook and other resources that I used for past
Emergency Management courses. Current condition of preparedness of small business in the
U.S. is also obtained from these sources. Especially FEMA website provides broad and sufficient
information necessary to build BC plan including preparation, mitigation, response and recovery
phases. By comparing with tips for BC plan of each source, I’ve picked common items and some
different points that could be applicable to general BC plan guideline.

What I’ve Learned:

Through the research and review of course materials of past Emergency Management courses,
I’ve learned and fortified the knowledge about major concepts of BC planning and emergency
management practices and significant points to be covered. For example, imperative steps for the
guideline such as creating emergency management team, understanding about an organization,
its critical function, environment, assets and so on. Also I found out many common practices of
BC planning in different examples of BC planning tips, and at the same time some different ones
that could be taken into consideration for my project. One thing I realized that it’s important to
keep in mind that the focus of the project is to provide BC planning guideline as a “starting tool”
for small businesses. So although BC plan is supposed to cover a significant amount of
information and broad perspective, this guideline should not contain overwhelming amount of
them to be a starting tool. I will need to simplify as much as possible without spoiling or missing
critical points and overall picture of it.

Setback and Future Plans:

As I mentioned earlier, I’m a little bit behind the schedule and need to speed up the progress of
the project. By next week I will work on research for more detail about smaller pieces of BC
planning and start compiling the information. When compiling the collected information, I will
carefully balance out the amount and quality of the contents. As soon as the information seems to
be sufficient enough for the guideline, I will start polishing it up by shaping the structures and
designs.