Purpose
The purpose of a contingency plan is to allow an organization to return to its daily operations as quickly as possible after an unforeseen event. The contingency plan protects resources, minimizes customer inconvenience and identifies key staff, assigning specific responsibilities in the context of the recovery. For example, human resources may develop employee evacuation plans; support employee benefits programs, such as health care or worker’s compensation; or hire temporary workers as needed. Contingency plans are both organization-wide and department-specific. For example, information services departments typically have a disaster recovery plan to protect, restore and use company data, including computer hardware, software and instructional manuals.