What it is and why
A critical process register is a list of the company's processes with an assessment of their importance. It is the input for the business impact analysis (BIA) and the continuity plan (BCP): you cannot protect everything equally, so first determine what the business cannot run without.
Criticality criteria
- How quickly a stoppage of the process hits revenue and customers.
- Whether there are fines and obligations on failure.
- How long the process can be down without irreversible damage.
- Whether there is a workaround (manual) way to run it.
A simple template
| Process | What stops it | Impact in 1 day | Criticality |
|---|---|---|---|
| Order intake | CRM/ERP failure | Lost sales, customer churn | High |
| Shipping/logistics | Loss of route data | Missed deliveries, fines | High |
| Accounting/payments | Accounting system unavailable | Delayed settlements | Medium |
Take 10–15 processes, rate each against the criteria and mark the 3–5 most critical. Start your protection with those.
FAQ
How many processes should the register include?
Usually 10–15 key processes are enough. From these, 3–5 critical ones — that the business cannot run a day without — are selected and protection is focused on them.
How is the register different from a BIA?
The register is a list of processes and their criticality. The BIA goes further: it estimates downtime cost and sets target recovery times (RTO/RPO).
Check your recovery numbers
The assessment shows where business deadlines diverge from what technology can deliver. Those numbers are then produced either by your specialist or by us.
