Message Center: Planning Updates

Stay informed with critical BC&R updates, system alerts, upcoming deadlines, and event announcements. Visit weekly for the latest information and planning-related news as it’s made available.

June 13, 2025, Cloud Outages Disrupt Services Nationwide — Reinforcing the Need for Continuity Planning at UIC

On June 12, a major Google Cloud outage disrupted services across multiple platforms, including OpenAI, Shopify, and others. Simultaneously, a widespread internet disruption affected access to several key services such as Spotify, Amazon, and critically, iBox impacting UIC faculty and staff who were unable to access cloud-stored files during the workday.

This incident highlights our growing dependence on cloud-based tools and underscores the urgent need to establish manual workarounds, redundancies, and contingency protocols to ensure continuity of operations during outages.

While we continue to advance our digital infrastructure, events like this are a strong reminder: Resilience depends on preparation.

Stay prepared!

June 10, 2025, EM vs. BC&R Explained

Emergency Management (EM) at UIC is centered on immediate response to events that pose a threat to life, safety, or campus operations. Whether it’s a building flood, active shooter, severe weather, or other disruptive incident, EM leads the coordination of time-sensitive actions designed to stabilize the situation and safeguard people and property. This includes activating the Campus Emergency Operations Center (CEOC), deploying incident command protocols, and supporting first responders, such as Police and Fire, in managing on-the-ground operations. The focus is on urgent decision-making and real-time coordination to minimize harm and restore baseline safety.

Business Continuity & Resilience (BC&R), on the other hand, is about preserving the university’s critical functions over time, before, during, and after a disruption. BC&R planning identifies mission-critical operations (e.g., instruction, clinical care, research continuity, payroll, IT infrastructure, etc.) and develops mitigation strategies to sustain or rapidly restore them in the face of operational interruptions. Using concepts like Business Impact Analysis (BIA), Recovery Time Objectives (RTOs), and alternate work arrangements, BC&R ensures the university remains functional even when conditions are compromised. While EM manages the crisis, BC&R ensures UIC’s critical functions endure and recover, enabling institutional resilience beyond the emergency itself.

June 3, 2025, Understanding Critical Functions: One Size Doesn’t Fit All

We’re addressing a recurring question during the Business Impact Analysis (BIA) and Business Continuity Planning (BCP) process.

How many Critical Functions should a department have?

Answer: There’s no fixed or “correct” number of Critical Functions for a unit or department. Remember, a Critical Function is the core activity or service performed by a unit/department that, if disrupted, would impact your College’s / Major Admin units’ ability to continue operations, deliver essential products, and fulfill its mission at a sufficient level. For some units/departments there may be more Critical Functions based on the size and extent of your operations. Even if your unit or department has only a few Critical Functions, they may serve as vital links in the university’s broader ecosystem, functions that others across UIC rely on to fulfill their own missions. The key is to clearly identify how your daily operations contribute to sustaining UIC’s core mission, academic excellence, and institutional resilience.

Take a look at our BIA Critical Functions example list found in our Practical Examples and Planning References section.

May 21, 2025, Update: NEW Step-by-Step User Manual Presentation - Your Plan Development Companion

As part of our continued support, we’ve added another new resource to help you navigate the Riskonnect portal. Our detailed, screen-by-screen guide walks you through each step, from logging in to answering every question with clarity through helpful visuals. This guide will explain what each question asks and how it contributes to your overall plan development. View it now under the User Manual section or click here. With this new support document, you’ll have the clarity and visual direction needed to efficiently build and refine your continuity plan, step by step.

May 15, 2025 Update: Departmental Planning at the Ground Level for UIC's Resilience Strategy

Now that we’re off and running, we’re diving into departmental planning at the most detailed level to ensure that each unit’s business continuity and disaster recovery strategies are fully optimized. Operational knowledge resides at the ground level, within the day-to-day functions, processes, and faculty/staff who make each department run smoothly. This granular focus allows us to capture those key insights that often go unnoticed but are vital for building a resilient strategy.

Why is this level of detail important? By addressing the unique aspects of each department, we ensure that every piece of UIC’s operational puzzle is aligned and prepared to support the larger EOPG crisis management strategy. These department-specific plans will feed into the university’s broader resilience optimization strategy, enhancing our ability to coordinate, respond, and recover during major crises. Through this detailed, department-level work, we build the foundational readiness that will drive our macro-level crisis management effectiveness across the entire university.

May 14, 2025 Update: UIC's Operational Continuity Sprint - Full Launch Begins

UIC’s 12-Week Sprint to Operational Continuity is officially underway, and we’re charging ahead! With dedicated planner support and an abundance of resources available to you, we’re set to collaboratively build, refine, and finalize our continuity plans.

As the global emphasis on operational resilience grows, we must ask ourselves: Are we fully prepared for when challenges emerge? A key first step is establishing a well-trained crisis management team that ensures our business continuity and disaster recovery plans are consistently maintained and ready for action. This is not a one-time effort, it’s an ongoing process of continuous testing, scenario simulations, and refinements to ensure that our response protocols stay sharp. Additionally, by validating our technology infrastructure through simulated outages, we can identify any weaknesses and ensure that UIC’s systems can sustain operations during any disruption. By prioritizing our people, process, and technology, we can fortify UIC’s resilience and maintain our ability to respond effectively in times of need.