Business impact analysis (BIA)
- Term
- Business impact analysis (BIA)
- Exam
- CISA & CISM
- Definition
Analysis that identifies critical processes, the impact of disruption over time and recovery requirements.
- Explained
The BIA identifies critical processes and measures how disruption impact grows over time, producing recovery priorities, maximum tolerable downtime and recovery objectives. Inputs come from business owners; results drive continuity and recovery strategies.
- In practice
Interviews with process owners show order processing can tolerate only four hours of downtime.
- Often confused with
- Risk assessment
- Exam angle
Business owners provide the input; it sets recovery priorities.
- Related
Recovery time objective (RTO) ยท Maximum tolerable downtime (MTD)