CONTINUITY OF OPERATIONS PLAN TEMPLATE - Sedgwick County

2. ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS AND COOP PERSONNELThis essential functions section should include a list of the organization’s essentialfunctions and their recovery time objectives. Essential functions are those organizationalfunctions and activities that must be continued under any and all circumstances. Theycan be driven by law, established by a department head or chief elected official, or berequired to support another department, agency, jurisdiction or private organization.A. Essential Functions and Critical Processes/ServicesSince the basic goal of COOP is to continue performing essential functionsfollowing an emergency or disaster, a critical step in the planning effort is todecide what those functions are and which personnel are responsible forperforming them.It is recommended that essential functions also be classified according to thetimes which they must be performed (recovery time objective – RTO). This timephasedclassification allows organizations to develop appropriate procedures andto schedule the availability of personnel and resources effectively through theduration of the COOP event.The following table lists [insert department or jurisdiction name] essentialfunctions and their RTOs.Essential FunctionsRTOMore detailed information regarding essential functions and supporting criticalprocesses and services, and a methodology to identify that information is locatedin Annex F (Essential Functions). Identification of supporting critical process andservices is a critical step in distinguishing between a function and the specificactivities necessary to support a function.The plan should clarify that information related to essential functions and criticalprocesses and services should be reviewed and updated on an as-needed basis or,at minimum, on an annual basis if there are no major programmatic or customerbasedchanges within the organization.10