Disruptions are inevitable, not a question of ‘if’ but ‘when’. To effectively prevent, respond to, recover, and learn from them, it’s crucial to understand key business continuity and operational resilience terms. This blog post offers a foundational glossary of terms and their sources to help anyone wanting to learn more about continuity and resilience.

Event Terminology

  • Crisis

    Unstable condition involving an impending abrupt or significant change that requires urgent attention and action to protect life, assets, property or the environment (ISO 22300:2021).

  • Disruption

    Incident, whether anticipated or unanticipated, that causes an unplanned, negative deviation from the expected delivery of products and services according to an organisation’s objectives (ISO22301:2019).

  • Incident

    Event that can be, or could lead to, a disruption, loss, emergency or crisis (ISO22301:2019).

Business Continuity Terminology

  • Business Continuity (BC)

    Capability of an organisation to continue the delivery of products and services within acceptable time frames at a predefined capacity during a disruption (ISO 22301:2019).

  • Business Continuity Management System (BCMS)

    Part of the overall management system that established, implements, operated, monitors, reviews, maintains and improves business continuity (ISO 22300:2021).

  • Business Continuity Plan (BCP)

    Documented information that guides an organisation to respond to a disruption and resume, recover and restore the delivery of products and services consistent with its business continuity objectives (ISO 22301:2019).

  • Business Impact Analysis (BIA)

    Process of analysing the impact over time of a disruption on the organisation (ISO 22301:2019).

  • Exercise

    Process to train for, assess, practise, and improve performance in an organisation (ISO22300:2021).

  • Maximum Tolerable Period of Disruption (MTPD)

    The time it would take for adverse impacts, which can arise as a result of not providing a product/service or performing an activity, to become unacceptable (ISO 22300:2021).

  • Product and Services

    Output or outcome provided by an organisation to interested parties (ISO22300:2021).

  • Recovery Point Objective (RPO)

    Point to which information used by an activity is restored to enable the activity to operate on resumption (ISO22300:2021).

  • Recovery Time Objective (RTO)

    Period of time following an incident within which a product and service or an activity is resumed, or resources are recovered (ISO22300:2021).

  • Test

    Unique and particular type of exercise, which incorporates an expectation of a pass or fail element within the aim or objectives of the exercise being planned (ISO22300:2021).

Operational Resilience Terminology

  • Impact Tolerance (ITOL)

    The maximum tolerable level of disruption for an important business service … as measured by a length of time and any other relevant metrics (PRA Rulebook:2025).

  • Important Business Services (IBS)

    A service provided by a firm, or by another person on behalf of the firm, to another person which, if disrupted, could pose a risk to:

    (1) the stability of the UK financial system; or

    (2) the firm’s safety and soundness ; or

    (3) cause intolerable levels of harm to any one or more of the firm’s clients (combined definition from the PRA Rulebook 2025 and the FCA Operational Resilience Instrument 2021).

  • Intolerable Customer Harm

    Constitutes harm from which customers cannot easily recover, this could mean:

    • Being unable to put a customer back into a correct financial position, post disruption,
    • There have been serious non-financial impacts that cannot be effectively remedied,
    • Ill effects would be felt in the medium/long term by a customer (FCA: PS21/3).

  • Mapping

    Process of identifying and documenting the necessary people, processes, technology, facilities and information required to deliver each important business service (PRA Rulebook 2025).

  • Operational Resilience (OpRes)

    The ability of firms, financial market infrastructures and the financial sector to prevent, adapt and respond to, and recover and learn from operational disruption. (FCA: 2024)

  • Scenario Testing

    Process of testing an organisation’s ability to remain within its impact tolerance for each of its important business services in the event of a severe but plausible disruption to its operations (PRA Rulebook 2025).

  • Self Assessment

    The preparation and regular updating of a document which outlines the organisations operational resilience compliance (PRA Rulebook:2025).

  • Risk to Safety and Soundness

    Reputational, regulatory, financial and legal impacts, which would impact the viability of the organisation (PRA: SS1/21).

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