5 Tips: Tufts University’s Approach to Strengthening Your Business Continuity Plan

"Running a university is all about planning—whether it’s hiring new faculty, managing research projects, or strategizing for fundraising. But does your institution have a business continuity plan ready? A strong continuity plan ensures that your institution can keep moving forward despite disruptions. As Paul Diamond, creator of Kuali Ready and former continuity manager at UC Berkeley, said, “Continuity planning helps you to do tomorrow what you were doing yesterday, no matter what happens today.”

In a recent Kuali webinar, Tufts University shared key insights on enhancing business continuity. Here are five expert tips for fortifying your institution’s continuity plan.

Tip #1: Clearly Define Team Roles and Responsibilities

Building a continuity planning team starts with identifying the right people for the job. Ensure your team has enough full-time staff or faculty to address any issues that arise, and appoint a director—ideally, an emergency management specialist—to guide the group.

Continuity planning teams often spend their time updating and expanding existing plans, collaborating with individual departments, and adapting strategies as your institution grows and changes. Technology, staffing, and external conditions are always evolving, and it’s the job of your team to establish a roadmap that fosters stability across all departments.

Tip #2: Connect with Departments Through Senior Leadership

Effective communication is crucial for a successful business continuity plan. When it’s time to implement continuity planning at the department level, Tufts found it effective to involve senior leaders in initiating that outreach.

“When we first reached out to departments, we went through the senior leaders,” explains Matthew Hart, emergency management specialist at Tufts. “We didn’t reach out directly to the managers responsible for developing the plans; instead, we had the senior leaders ask them to reach out to us.” This strategy positioned continuity planning as a priority from leadership, creating a more collaborative start to departmental engagement.

Tip #3: Offer Training to Support Continuity Plan Success

When continuity planning includes specialized tools or software, like Kuali Ready, it’s essential to provide training for faculty and staff. At Tufts, they encourage attendance at short workshops, introducing the basics of continuity planning and demonstrating how Kuali Ready helps streamline the process.

Start by emphasizing the importance of continuity planning, then cover the tools and technology that bring the plan to life. Keep training sessions brief—about an hour is often sufficient. Let everyone know that emergency management specialists and continuity planners are available to support department-specific implementation, making it easier for each team to get comfortable with the new plan.

Tip #4: Create Healthy Accountability for Departmental Engagement

You may encounter some departments that are highly engaged with the continuity program, while others might be less enthusiastic. Tufts developed a clever way to encourage participation by reporting each department’s plan status to senior leaders annually.

“We share [the plan status of each department] with all of the senior leaders, so that not only can they see how they’re doing, but they’ll also be able to see their peers,” says Hart. This approach fosters a bit of healthy competition among departments and provides senior leaders with insight on how compliance is progressing across the institution. When senior leadership is involved, departments are more likely to engage with continuity planning.

Tip #5: Make Your Plan Actionable and Ready for Activation

Your continuity plan should be more than a document on a shelf—it needs to be actionable. Consider how the plan will unfold during an emergency and make sure each team understands their role. “We see these plans as options for how to cope with certain situations,” says Hart. “If something happens and you need to change the way you’re doing business, how do you communicate with each other?”

Each department’s plan may look different. Some might include specific action steps, while others focus on communication protocols, like who should be notified first or who needs to be involved in a critical discussion. Make sure your emergency management team is available to assist departments in developing practical, reliable plans that will actually work in a crisis.

Establishing a comprehensive business continuity plan for your institution is no small feat, but the right planning and tools can make a world of difference. With support from Kuali’s Ready software, strategic alignment across departments, and ongoing training, your institution can be prepared to handle unforeseen challenges while maintaining continuity and stability. Thoughtful planning today will help you safeguard the future of your institution."

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