According to the COBAC Regulation R-2008/01 requiring credit institutions to prepare a business continuity plan in Cameroon and CEMAC, the following definitions are of utmost importance;
1. Critical actors: actors performing critical operations or providing critical services;
2. Business Impact Analysis: the process of quantitatively and qualitatively assessing and measuring the business impact or loss of business processes in the event of a disruption, in order to identify priorities for business recovery;
3. Business continuity: a state of activity where operations are not interrupted;
4. Recovery time: the target time required to resume a specific business operation after a disaster or interruption;
5. Business continuity management: a comprehensive approach that includes policies, standards and procedures to ensure that specified operations can be maintained or resumed within a reasonable timeframe in the event of a disruption;
6. Physical infrastructure: assets, equipment and services provided by entities other than credit institutions on which the day-to-day activities of economic agents are largely dependent economic agents;
7. Recovery level: the target level of service, relative to a specific business operation, that will be provided after a disaster, interruption or disruption;
8. Recovery Objective: A predetermined objective for recovery of specific business operations and support systems to a fixed service level within a defined disaster recovery timeframe;
9. Critical operation or service: activity, function, process or service, the absence or cessation of which would have substantial consequences for the continuity of the operations of a credit institution or the financial system as a whole;
10. Major operational disruption: a disruption with a high potential impact on a credit institution or the financial system, affecting the physical infrastructure or people to a large extent physical infrastructure or people across a broad geographic area or economically integrated communities;
11. Business Continuity Plan: A detailed written plan of action describing the procedures and systems necessary to continue or restore an organization’s operations in the event of a disaster or interruption;
12. Communication Protocol: communication procedures established and approved in advance by two or more parties internal or external to a credit institution.
These procedures specify the means of transmitting, writing and reading data and the type of information shared between these parties and how it is to be handled depending on its public or non-public nature;
13. Recovery: the restoration of specific business conditions after a disruption to a level sufficient to meet essential work obligations;
14. Resilience: the ability of a credit institution or financial system to absorb the impact of a major operational disruption and to continue or maintain critical operations or services;
15. Operational risk: the risk of loss resulting from the inadequacy or failure of internal processes, people and systems, or external events;
16. Alternative site: workspace and technological equipment kept ready at all times for use in the event of an event requiring the implementation of a credit institution’s business continuity plan of a credit institution when the primary site becomes inoperable.