The UC System has added a major new component to its disaster-readiness activities – continuity planning.

Since 2001, Berkeley has stood alone among the UC campuses in its use of the continuity-planning approach to disaster-readiness. That has now changed with the new UC Ready Program that spans all UC campuses and medical centers - plus the Office of the President, the Division of Agriculture & Natural Resources, and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab.

Established in October 2007 by UC Executive Vice President Katherine Lapp, the UC Ready Program establishes at all UC institutions a departmental continuity planning effort modeled on Berkeley's.  Conceived and sponsored by UC Chief Risk Officer Grace Crickette, the new program's aim is to promote "event-readiness" across the UC System.  The UC Ready Program

• establishes a systemwide panel for review and guidance
• provides matching funds for continuity planning staff at each campus, medical center, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
• provides funding to convert Berkeley's web tool – the Berkeley Continuity Planning Tool – into a systemwide tool appropriate for all the members of the UC System.

The new planning tool – called UC Ready – was launched in January, 2009.  The tool was designed by a collaborative team drawn from all the UC locations, led by Paul Dimond, UCB's Manager of Continuity Planning.  Highly customizable to suit each UC location, the tool will be introduced to users at a schedule to be determined by each location.

Further information can be found at http://www.ucop.edu/riskmgt/bcp.html .