Which BCP Step Determines Staff Needed During a Disruption?

SY0-701 By islever Editorial Last updated

Explain resilience and recovery in highly available systems.

Short answer

A Capacity planning determines the number of staff members required to sustain business operations during a disruption.

Question

A company is developing a business continuity strategy and needs to determine how many staff members would be required to sustain the business in the case of a disruption. Which of the following best describes this step?
  1. Capacity planning Correct Answer
  2. Redundancy
  3. Geographic dispersion
  4. Tabletop exercise

Key Takeaways

It tests the distinction between capacity planning and other BCP concepts like redundancy and geographic dispersion; the trap is confusing resource sizing with plan testing or duplicate site strategies.

Capacity planning is the business continuity step that determines how many staff members and other resources are needed to sustain essential operations during a disruption. This page confirms why capacity planning (A) is the correct SY0-701 answer over redundancy, geographic dispersion, and tabletop exercise.

Common mistake: Most learners might pick redundancy or geographic dispersion because both are BCP strategies for disruption; however, redundancy is duplicating resources, not calculating staffing requirements, and geographic dispersion is about site separation, not headcount planning.

Expert Analysis

Why the Answer Is Correct

Capacity planning is the BCP activity that determines the resources—including personnel—needed to maintain essential business functions during a disruption. The question asks how many staff members would be required to sustain the business, which is precisely a capacity planning calculation. As SHADTECH123 explains, capacity planning involves "determining the staffing levels needed to sustain business operations". PAWarriors adds that it ensures the right number of people with the right skills for strategic objectives. Therefore A is the best description of this step.

Why the Other Options Are Wrong

Redundancy (B) means duplicating resources or personnel so that a failure does not stop operations, but it does not calculate how many staff are needed. Geographic dispersion (C) spreads operations across multiple locations to reduce the impact of a site outage, not to size the workforce. Tabletop exercise (D) is a discussion-based test of the continuity plan, not a resource-planning step. None of these options matches the specific task of determining required headcount.

Community Comment Notes

SHADTECH123 notes that capacity planning determines staffing levels needed to sustain business operations during a disruption. PAWarriors says it ensures the right number of people with the right skills for strategic objectives. dbrowndiver agrees that it involves necessary staffing levels and other resources required to sustain business operations. The community consensus aligns with the official answer: capacity planning is the correct step.

Official Reference

https://csrc.nist.gov/pubs/sp/800/34/r1/upd1/final

This link opens the official vendor documentation in a new tab.

Exam Strategy

When a BCP question asks about calculating the number of people or resources needed to keep critical functions running, think capacity planning. Distinguish it from redundancy (duplicate assets), geographic dispersion (alternate sites), and tabletop exercises (plan validation).

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is redundancy not the right answer when calculating staff needed for BCP?

Redundancy duplicates resources or personnel, but it does not calculate how many staff are required to sustain essential functions during a disruption. Capacity planning is the sizing step.

How does capacity planning differ from a tabletop exercise in BCP?

Capacity planning calculates resource and staffing needs for disruption, while a tabletop exercise tests the plan through discussion. That makes tabletop exercise incorrect here.

More SY0-701 FAQ →

Community Votes

A
100%

100% of anonymous learners picked answer A. Votes are pick records left by other test-takers — they are not the verified answer.

Discussion 4 contributions

Compiled from public community threads and reader submissions, lightly edited for clarity. Handles and vote tallies are shown as recorded, and comments reflect the views of individual contributors.

From public community threads 4

  1. SHADTECH123 👍 8 Answered A
    A. Capacity planning Explanation: Capacity planning involves determining the staffing levels needed to sustain business operations during a disruption. This ensures that the organization has sufficient human resources to maintain essential functions and minimize downtime.
  2. PAWarriors 👍 3 Answered A
    Correct answer is A. Capacity Planning is used to ensure the right number of people with the right skills for strategic objectives.
  3. dbrowndiver 👍 2 Answered A
    Capacity planning is the correct answer because it involves determining the necessary staffing levels and other resources required to sustain business operations during a disruption. Capacity planning is a crucial step in ensuring that the business can continue functioning effectively even with reduced personnel or resources.
  4. Zach123654 👍 1 Answered A
    GPT!!!

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