Which concept is a plan listing and prioritizing essential services to resume after disruption?

• A. Disaster Recovery Plan
• B. Crisis Communications Plan
• C. Continuity of Operations Plan
• D. Incident Response Plan

Answer: (C)

The essential idea is planning to keep or quickly resume the organization’s mission-critical operations after a disruption by listing those essential services and ordering them by priority. A Continuity of Operations Plan does exactly that: it identifies which functions must continue or be restored first, defines the minimum level of operation needed to support those functions, and outlines how to allocate people, facilities, information, and processes to bring them back online in the proper sequence. It also covers authority, alternate sites, and the resources required to maintain critical activities during and after an disruption, so the organization can sustain its core operations even when normal conditions are disrupted.

This differs from other plans that focus more narrowly. A Disaster Recovery Plan concentrates on restoring IT systems after an incident, a Crisis Communications Plan handles messaging and information flow during a crisis, and an Incident Response Plan focuses on detecting and responding to security incidents. The Continuity of Operations Plan is the one that coordinates across the organization to maintain and restore essential services in priority order.