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.
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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).
