These exercise discussion points can
be delivered to participants in a variety of
methods. For instance, you may require
everyone to bring their computers to the
exercise and deliver discussion points via
one or more of the participants’ e-mail
addresses. You may have a member of the
planning team deliver a fax containing an
exercise discussion point. Or, the facilitator may just verbally add these points
to the discussion. Whatever you choose,
make it fit your audience, and if possible,
make it fun!
Deere & Company, usually known by its brand name John Deere, is located in Moline, Ill.
scenario might simply be a building fire
or a series of events following a severe
weather event. In any case, the scenario
should make it possible to test the section
of the plan you’ve identified and achieve
the objectives developed by the exercise
planning team.
Think about the following criteria
when creating the scenario: Is the scenario
credible? Are participants likely to believe
it to be possible? Is it achievable? Is it
possible to achieve a positive outcome? Is
it simple? Does it include any confusing
technical jargon that your audience won’t
understand? Will it challenge the participants’ knowledge and the plan? Is the
solution too simple? Are the participants
the proper audience for this scenario?
Consider using a past event that either
interrupted your business or had the potential to cause an interruption. As a global
enterprise with business units located in
more than 30 countries, John Deere business units experience a variety of threats
that have the potential to impact operations and cause business interruptions.
We encourage our units to share lessons
learned and create exercises for other units
to test against based on these real scenarios.
Another suggestion is to review your
risk analysis and choose one of the most
probable and likely events to impact your
business. In this case, it is important that
your risk analysis have rankings and that
those rankings are agreeable to every-
one involved. Another option would be
to create a scenario that will highlight a
known deficiency. The strategy here is to
lead others to the point where they realize
the deficiency on their own.
Create an evaluation checklist
Okay, so far you’ve identified a section
of your plan to test, and you’ve identified
some viable objectives to be measured
during the exercise. In order to ensure
these objectives are measured properly,
a checklist can be developed and used
during the exercise to track and report
whether objectives were achieved or not
achieved.
The checklist should include the name
of the person evaluating the exercise, the
objective they are evaluating, the perfor-
mance criteria, and a section for evaluator
comments and notes. A good evaluation
can help your organization:
n Determine whether plans include necessary
steps for successful execution
n Highlight gaps
n Identify deficiencies in training and awareness
n Identify equipment shortfalls
n Stress the need for executive support and/or
input
n Underline the need for continued maintenance
and exercising
Select staff to fulfill exercise roles
There are four basic roles during an
exercise: participant, observer, evaluator,
and facilitator. Each role is important and
requires some pre-planning, education,
and training.
Participant: typically are responsible
for execution of a particular section of the
plan. They are not required to participate
in the development of the exercise plan. In
fact, I recommend against it.
Observer: can be anyone in the organization with a basic understanding of the
business, process, or plan. This person is
responsible for staying engaged during the
exercise and offering very constructive
criticism on any part of the exercise.
Evaluator: responsible for evaluating
