Office of the Legislative Auditor - Financial Audit Division

The State of Minnesota does not have adequate continuity of operations plans to ensure the timely recovery of critical services and operations in the event of a disruption.

• Most large state agencies have a continuity of operations plan, but many of the plans are out-of-date, lack adequate recovery strategies, and have not been adequately tested.
• The Office of Enterprise Technology has not addressed all of the components of its continuity of operations framework.

We assessed business continuity controls as of November 2007.

A continuity of operations plan is a documented plan used by an organization to respond, recover, resume, and restore people, business processes, and technology from a disruption.  A disruption can result from many events, including disasters like tornadoes, floods, fires, or widespread illnesses.  Other events like computer viruses, computer failures, terrorism, or chemical spills can also cause disruptions in an organization’s operations.  In addition to continuing to provide critical services during major business interruptions, government has the added responsibility of continuing governance itself.