Mission Continuity Planning
Mission continuity planning is a systematic interdisciplinary approach to planning for how the campus will continue to provide critical operations and business functions during and after a disaster. Such planning is a crucial part of the larger integrated UC Santa Cruz Emergency Management program which focuses on mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery planning and activities
Education Continuity is the seamless progression of learning experiences and academic pursuits across different levels of education, from undergraduate to graduate programs and beyond. It emphasizes the coherence and interconnections of educational pathways, ensuring that students can build upon their previous knowledge and skills as they advance through various stages of their academic journey. This continuity is essential for fostering deep learning, skill development, and intellectual growth, ultimately preparing individuals for success in their chosen fields.
Operations Continuity is the ability of an organization to maintain its essential functions and services during disruptive events or emergencies and is heavily reliant on effective business continuity planning. It involves implementing strategies, plans, and systems to ensure uninterrupted operations, minimize downtime, and swiftly recover from disruptions. This includes disaster recovery, redundancy in critical systems, and employee training to ensure readiness and resilience in the face of challenges.
Research Continuity is the uninterrupted continuation of scientific investigation and experimentation over time. It involves maintaining the integrity and progression of research projects despite potential interruptions, such as changes in personnel, funding fluctuations, or unforeseen circumstances. Effective research continuity ensures that valuable insights and discoveries can be consistently built upon, fostering the advancement of knowledge in various fields.
Why do we engage in Continuity Planning?
We continuously face different types and sizes of emergencies that interrupt our normal business operations. Emergencies can vary from earthquakes to fires to power outages to flooding, or a pandemic. They can also be more localized events, like a fallen tree or mud slide, a campus demonstration activity prohibiting us from accessing a road or building. Even the failure of a hard drive, which keeps one employee from doing their work, can affect many who rely on the continuance of the processes performed by that employee.
Your unit plays a unique and essential role in sustaining the University of California’s mission of teaching, research and public service. Departments around campus depend and rely on your continued service and functionality in order to be successful and efficient.
The following resource video helps explain why Business Continuity Planning is so critical to ensuring the mission of UC Santa Cruz and the University of California System as a whole. This video was developed in collaboration by UC Santa Cruz, UC Berkeley, and UC Davis to illustrate the importance of continuity planning and the UC Ready planning tool in the University of California system.