Business Continuity Plan

It is the policy of the CSU that each campus has an ongoing program to ensure the continuity of essential functions and operations following a natural disaster or emergency which may threaten the health and safety of the campus community or disrupt its programs and operations (Executive Order 1014). Public safety is always prioritized over business continuity, with ongoing support provided by UPD, Environmental Health and Safety (EH&S) and Facilities.

Some emergencies will necessitate that the campus perform emergency management (short-term) as well as business continuity (longer-term) actions. These will initially be coordinated through the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) Coordinator and the EOC leadership team, followed by the Business Continuity Coordinator and the BCP Campus Stakeholders team.

Incidents requiring a business continuity plan are those that cause significant disruption to the Hayward, Concord or Oakland campus facilities, which affect students, faculty and staff members, or IT infrastructure and services. For example:

  • a major earthquake in the Hayward area
  • a wildfire affecting the Concord campus buildings
  • flooding in San Leandro due to an earthquake or engineering failure at Lake Chabot Dam on the Castro Valley-San Leandro border

Although the incident may not impact the Hayward campus directly, CSUEB faculty, staff and students living in the affected area would be required to deal with damage to their homes, personal property and cars. As a result, commuting to campus would not be their first priority.

 The BCP establishes the basis by which CSUEB will prepare, organize, and respond to a business disruption /continuity incident. It includes the essential elements for:

  • Performing mission critical functions
  • Continuing academic instruction
  • Identifying alternate facilities and/or using telecommuting strategies
  • Authorizing personnel with knowledge to perform the essential functions

Mission Critical Functions

Campus faculty, staff and administrators completed an internal review of mandated and non-mandated functions in April 2014, as part of the “Planning For Distinction” project. Because the functions were force-ranked by importance, the Business Continuity Coordinator relied on the results of this effort when identifying CSUEB mission critical functions.
Among CSUEB’s critical functions are:

  • Providing timely Public Information Office (PIO) communications to the campus community, as well as the news media
  • Continuing course instruction for all students, including online classes
  • Supporting student health: medical, psychological, emotional
  • Processing state and federal student financial aid
  • Providing alternative student housing and meals
  • Ensuring accessibility of student academic records
  • Ensuring financial continuity, including payroll processing, procurement and payments to vendors
  • Providing continuous IT support for critical software and systems

 

BCP Campuswide Stakeholders

In April 2018, the President and the executive team participated in BCP training customized for CSUEB. Campus-wide BCP stakeholders representing Academic Affairs, the Public Information Office (PIO), Student Affairs, Associated Students, the Concord campus and Administration & Finance received BCP training in May and June 2018. BCP Stakeholders have completed BCP templates, which include: business impact analyses, recovery-time objectives, identification of critical IT systems, key personnel, and creation of business recovery strategies. Some templates are undergoing fine-tuning.


Many critical functions were successfully tested as of October 31, 2018. BCP templates, issues and test results have been documented in a Google Team drive, accessible by all BCP Stakeholders and the BCP executive team.

 

What’s Ahead in 2019

  • A permanent Business Continuity Coordinator will be identified
  • Annual BCP testing will be performed
  • Annual BCP Plan maintenance will be performed