EMAP stands for Emergency Management Accreditation Program and, per a state directive, all state agencies must have a continuity plan that adheres to EMAP standards. Below are explanations of what to include in the sections required by EMAP. For an addition explanation of EMAP standards, watch the first 20 minutes of this video.
Purpose
The purpose is typically a one to two sentence statement that explains why the plan exists and why continuity of operations is important for your agency to have. It could be as simple as "The purpose of this plan is to support the efforts of [Agency Name] to perform its Essential Functions, even during time of emergency or disaster."
Scope of the Plan
This section describes the applicability of the plan to the agency as a whole including headquarters and subordinate divisions and/or departments both co-located and geographically dispersed. It should include the deliverables of the plan and broadly state the desired outcomes of having a COOP in place. Sample language could be:
This Continuity of Operations Plan describes in general terms how the [Agency Name] intends to respond to events that disrupt its normal operations. Disruptions may be minor or may include instances where normal agency functions and services cannot be performed and may not be performed for an extended period of time. Continuity of Operations planning minimizes the impact of disruption while maximizing resources available to resume normal operations. The Plan does not focus on what may bring the agency down, but on how to get the agency back up and operational. The Plan provides a road map of predetermined actions which will reduce decision making during recovery operations, resume critical services quickly, and enable resumption of normal service at the earliest possible time in the most cost effective manner. The Plan will help in reducing the number and magnitude of decisions that must be made during the period when exposure to error is peak. The Plan will help to establish, organize, and document risk assessments, responsibilities, policies and procedures, and agreements or understandings for [Agency Name].
The ongoing Continuity of Operations planning process will enable the [Agency Name] to identify maximum acceptable downtimes which can be incurred in the performance of each of its mission related functions, and to identify recovery actions accordingly. Functions and/or services which must be restored within 24-48 hours require significantly different recovery actions than those, which can be delayed a number of days or weeks.
Objectives
Objectives clearly identify what the goals of your COOP are. For example:
Ensure the continuous performance of [Agency Name]'s essential functions during all-hazards incidents
Identify and relocate to alternate site(s).
Identify and designate principals and support staff.
Facilitate decision-making for execution of the plan and the subsequent conduct of operations.
Mitigate threats to essential facilities, equipment, records, and other assets.
Authorities and References
Authorities and References refer to the overarching policies and state mandates (e.g. Utah Code and/or statutes) that govern the plan. The State of Utah Continuity Directive, August 1,2012 and the State of Utah Public Safety Code, Title 53 are both authorities that should be listed in your plan as they are applicable to all state agencies. However, you may have agency specific authorities and references as well that will need to be included.
Situation and Assumptions
Ideally, plans should address the full spectrum of situations including potential threats, crises, and emergencies (natural and man-made) as well as what can be assumed will be a result if such a situation occurs. Basically, if A happens then B will likely happen. For example:
The State of Utah and its population are at risk from a variety of threats and potential incidents. A detailed list of identified risks and hazards can be found in the State Hazard Mitigation Plan. Preparedness efforts in the areas of planning, training, exercises, and funding for infrastructure and equipment is ongoing. The occurrence of any of these emergencies may require the activation of extraordinary continuity of operations activities, as detailed in this Continuity of Operations Plan.
An unforeseen incident, such as an earthquake or terrorist attack, may occur with little or no warning and produce maximum casualties and widespread damage. This COOP plan assumes the service capabilities of [Agency Name] will be quickly overwhelmed.
The large number of casualties and/or the significant damage to [Agency Name]'s buildings, structures, and the basic infrastructure will necessitate state and potential federal government assistance to support [Agency Name] in conducting life-saving and life-support efforts.
Please note that it is acceptable for any State of Utah agency to refer to the 2025 State Agency Risk Assessment in lieu of individually identifying each potential threat, crisis, and natural/man-made emergency that could affect your agency.
Functional Roles and Responsibilities
This section describes the roles and responsibilities of internal positions and external agencies during a continuity event. You may use this section to define who will be part of your COOP team and what roles each person/position/agency will take on.
Logistics Support and Resource Requirements
This section describes what resources you will need and how you will obtain those resources. You will need to determine whether you will follow your normal processes and whether different processes may be considered during an emergency. You will want to determine what requirements can be met internally and what external support is needed. If you anticipate needing external support, identifying where that support is going to come from is useful.
Questions to consider (you do not need to address these questions specifically in your plan): What is the minimum staffing, equipment, technology, facilities, and supplies that your organization needs to carry out essential functions? If equipment and supplies are damaged, destroyed, or stolen, how will you replace them? If you need to transport equipment to an alternate work location, how will that be accomplished? Do you have vendors that would be needed during a continuity event?
Here is language you can use:
Staffing, equipment, technology, facilities, and supplies required to perform agency functions are identified in the Key Agency Function Analysis appendices. [Summarize available processes for obtaining resources during a continuity event]
Depending on the situation, if a state agency cannot adequately staff its essential functions, the Division of Human Resource Management (DHRM) can reallocate resources to assist with recruitment to increase staffing. The agency director should send requests for assistance to the state executive branch's Chief Human Resources Officer/Division Director of DHRM.
During a catastrophic event impacting multiple agencies, requests for assistance can be forwarded to the State Emergency Operations Center (SEOC). The primary functions of the SEOC are information management and resource management. Resource requests to the SEOC should be limited to when all other options have been exhausted and additional support is necessary to ensure staff safety or sustain functions that are significant to statewide operations.
Concept of Operations
Concept of Operations outline what your agency will do in the event of an emergency. This section does not need to be step-by-step; rather, it can provide a general sense of what your agency's operations will be should your COOP become activated. DEM has written the following as an example:
Upon the activation of the COOP plan, management and their designated support personnel are to relocate to the nearest functioning Recovery Control Location. Once the team has attained a thorough situational awareness, they can begin assessing available facilities to support the critical, essential, and nonessential functions. Depending on the projected duration of the COOP plan, decisions will be made by management or the Continuity of Operations team to determine which staff will be called back to work and when and where they are to report.
Critical Essential Functions are to be recovered as quickly as possible, as well as reasonable notifications to other agencies, vendors, contractors, and customers as to the accessibility to these services. All efforts are to minimize the distance and inconvenience needed to safely recover critical functions outside of the affected area.
Essential and nonessential functions will then be addressed based on the assumed duration of the disruption, customer service needs, ability for employees to telecommute, and the availability of open space and budget constraints to locate a long-term, temporary facility.
Plan maintenance
It is important to remember your COOP is considered a living document. Therefore, a key element in your plan is to identify how your plan will be maintained and how often it will be updated. The State mandates us to update it annually, but some plans may require more frequent updates due to staff movement, organizational restructure, etc. Here is sample verbiage that may be included in your plan:
This plan will be reviewed and revised on an annual basis by the COOP team, agency management, and critical stakeholders. All updates will be recorded on the Continuity of Operations Plan Update/Review Log. Finally, the updated and approved plan is shared with management, staff, key external partners, and stakeholders.
In addition, this would be a good place in your plan to indicate where your agency's COOP can be found. For example, will your COOP be on your agency's network drive and/or Google Drive? What positions in your agency hold the hard copy of the plan? Do you have an employee intranet where the COOP will be posted? Will a hard copy be kept at your alternate location?
Plan evaluation
Not only do you need to update and maintain your COOP, but you need to test and exercise it. DEM and many other state agencies elect to test their plans in conjunction with the annual Great Utah ShakeOut held every April. If your agency participates in the largest earthquake drill in the state, then you may consider including the following language for this section of your plan:
The COOP plan will be exercised every year during the month of April in conjunction with the Utah ShakeOut exercise. Lessons learned from exercises and real-world events will be integrated into the plan during scheduled revisions.
You may choose to use an Improvement Plan (or something similar) to help you identify and track improvements after an exercise. A Plan Exercise Log is where you can synthesize relevant details of past exercises (to be included in an addendum to your COOP).
Protection/Safeguarding/Recovery of Critical Applications and Data
As our technological capabilities increase, so does the demand to ensure the safety and efficient recovery of our critical applications and data. Therefore, it is essential to include information in your COOP about how your agency intends to protect, safeguard, and recover critical applications and data in the event of an incident. When writing this section of your COOP, it is helpful to meet with your respective Department of Technology Services (DTS) personnel to verify 1) if your data and applications are backed up; 2) if not, what does your agency need to do to ensure it is; 3) if yes, then where (for most agencies it will be Richfield); and, 4) if yes, how long will it take to retrieve your data and applications.
Communication resources
This is a section of your COOP where you have the opportunity to list all ways your agency communicates within the department as well as with critical stakeholders in the event of an incident. While it is no longer required for your COOP to include a call tree, it would be appropriate to site in this section where staff can locate how to communicate for reporting purposes in a disaster. For your reference, here is what DEM wrote:
[Agency Name] must have the resources to communicate to entities which are superior, lateral, subordinate, and internal. For example, this would include the federal government, other states, counties, and its staff. All modes of communications shall be considered including emails, social media, phones, radios, and runners. DTS is responsible to provide email and phone communications resources.
It is also highly encouraged you include an appendix to your plan that outlines how your communication resources will function in your agency as well as an appendix for staff reporting.