Rehearse your plan
Testing and rehearsing your plan is one of the fundamental parts of contingency planning. It gives you an opportunity to set the arrangements and principles of the plan in a "safe" environment, without risk to the business.
There are various levels of rehearsal or evaluation which can be used. They will obviously vary with cost and value, however a planning lifecycle should allow for periodic tests of different types.
Table Top Exercise
Test your plan using a "what if?" written scenario. New pieces of information can be added as the scenario unfolds. In the same way that more details become clear in a real incident.
Communications Test
With or without warning, a test message is sent out to everyone at the top of the call cascade lists in the plan(s). An audit can then take place on how well the information was communicated through your organisation.
Full rehearsal
A full rehearsal will show you how well different elements in your plan work together, which may not have become clear when you tested the individual parts. However, this can be an expensive way to test your plan.
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