The University of Rizal System (URS) through the University Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Office (UPMEO) team successfully defended its Business Continuity Plan (BCP) and ICT Continuity Plan (ICT CP) before a panel composed of experts from the Commission on Higher Education, De La Salle University-Manila, De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde, University of the Philippines and National University, on Nov. 8-10.
URS received this training grant from CHED in 2021 with the commitment that the University will finish all three component phases that include technical training, mentoring, and panel defense. It is worth noting that only 20% of the total number of grantees in the country have completed the 3 phases of the program, and URS is one of these successful HEIs to do so. The URS BCP and ICT CP were presented as benchmark documents before the technical teams of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines and the Philippine Normal University during the panel defense.
Relative to the defense, the UPMEO team attended the required Executive Sessions which include the following topics: Business Continuity, Threats and Impacts, Business Impact Analysis, Business Continuity Planning and Pandemic, Continuity Strategies, ICT Continuity Planning, and Understanding ICT Continuity. Mentoring follows on the third day for those who are willing to craft their own BCP and ICT CP. However, in the case of URS, the UPMEO team was able to present and defend their originally prepared BCP and ICT CP before a panel of experts from CHED and other universities in the country.
After successfully defending the URS BCP and ICT CP, the UPMEO team plans to re-echo the training and help the 10 campuses to come up with their own BCP/ICT CP in accordance with the “mother” document which is the defended plans. The presented BCP and ICT CP for URS are still subject to further improvement and suggestions from the expert panel. After which, the revised BCP and ICT CP will be presented to the URS EXECOM, MAN-COM, and the Board of Regents for consideration and approval. After it was approved, the UPMEO team will start the training and mentoring session on BCP and ICT CP with the 10 campuses. ~URS PMEO
