While including key suppliers in internal exercises might seem beneficial, the CBCI 7.0 course highlights that external suppliers should be engaged in their own exercises, separate from the organization’s internal exercises. Instead, validation of supply chain continuity is better achieved by requiring suppliers to develop and test their recovery plans independently and sharing outcomes. Contractual obligations such as those embedded in SLAs ensure suppliers maintain their own Business Continuity preparedness, while internal exercises focus on organizational responses to supply chain disruptions. Conducting internal exercises to assess impacts remains essential to understand dependencies and potential vulnerabilities without compromising exercise control.
[Reference: CBCI 7.0 Study Guide, Module 6: Exercising and Validation, pages 130-133., , ]
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