Contingency / reversion plans

Purpose:

A plan that provides an outline of decisions and measures to be adopted if previously defined circumstances should occur in relation to a specific activity (e.g. project or service). For example, a building or system may be completed later than planned; take up of a new service is delayed and/or much less than expected, so the previous delivery options have to continue to run in parallel. Contingency/reversion plans relate to a planned change; business continuity plans relate to services and assets that are already operational.

Fitness for purpose checklist:

• Is the plan achievable?
• Is the trigger for instigation of the plan clear?
• Does the plan address the stated situation in a timely, affordable, effective, consistent way?

Suggested content:

• Plan description: brief description of the scope of the activity, planning assumptions, pre-requisites and constraints
• Information concerning the event/incident that is the trigger for implementation of the contingency plan
• Activity Network or overall schedule information
• Information on key (outcomes and/or products) and/or Benefits (dis benefits) expected
• Budgetary information
• Table of resource requirements (to be assigned should the defined circumstances occur). Resource allocation may be dependent on contracts- in this case details of contracts should be included
• Risks and Issues
• Plan owner
• Details of distribution and storage (showing how people will get a copy of the plan so that they can take the appropriate action).

Source information:

• Information of the situation, or risk, that is being responded to. This may be documented in the Risk Register (or Risk Log)
• Knowledge of planning processes (e.g. covering understanding required outcome, skills & resource availability)
• Associated activities (e.g. related project or service plans)
• Organisational policies (e.g. on security, safety, management of risk, procurement/contracts)

Notes:
In the Management of Risk, a Contingency Plan is one answer to the question "What do we do if this risk occurs?" Where a serious risk exists, the Project Owner may require the Project Sponsor to create a Contingency Plan and add the necessary budget for it as a risk allowance - only to be used if the risk occurs. These are not mandatory and their use depends on each project's circumstances.

Further information:
See the briefings on risk management, project management, transition and business continuity.

See also document outlines for risk log and business continuity plan.

For more detailed information on construction projects, see Achieving Excellence Guides 3 and 4: Business Continuity planning guidance.

For more general guidance, see: Management of risk: Guidelines; Management of risk: Guidance for Practitioners; Management of successful projects with PRINCE 2.