COOP Governance Model

COOP Governance Model

Primary Category: Risk, Compliance & Governance

Secondary Focus: Operational Resilience, Crisis Governance, and Continuity Oversight

Artifact Profile

The Continuity of Operations (COOP) Governance Model is a governance artifact for defining how an organization preserves and restores mission-critical operations during major disruptions. It structures authority, decision rights, priorities, and escalation so continuity is actively governed rather than left to ad hoc crisis response.

Using critical function inventories, recovery objectives, regulatory obligations, and existing crisis, continuity, and disaster recovery structures, the artifact establishes how decisions are made under disruption. Rather than focusing only on technical recovery, it ensures that leadership authority, prioritization, and resource allocation are explicitly defined and executable.

This artifact is built for executives, resilience and risk leaders, compliance teams, and governance bodies who must maintain safety, regulatory adherence, and strategic operations during crises such as infrastructure failure, cyber incidents, or large-scale emergencies.

Three Key Questions This Artifact Helps You Answer

• Which functions must continue or be restored first to protect safety, compliance, and mission outcomes?

• Who has authority to make continuity decisions, allocate resources, and escalate issues during disruption?

• How should recovery priorities, timelines, and communication be governed under crisis conditions?

What This Framework Supports

This artifact supports executives, resilience leaders, compliance teams, and governance bodies seeking:

• Clear authority, decision rights, and escalation paths during major disruptions

• Governed prioritization of mission-critical functions, safety obligations, and regulatory requirements

• Alignment of continuity planning with executive control and organizational accountability

• Reduction of ad hoc crisis response by embedding governance into continuity operations

How It Is Used

The artifact provides a structured continuity governance framework that guides leadership, risk teams, and crisis management groups through:

• Identifying critical functions, recovery objectives, and regulatory or safety obligations

• Defining who has authority to make decisions, allocate resources, and escalate issues during disruption

• Structuring prioritization, timelines, and oversight for continuity and recovery actions

• Integrating crisis management, business continuity, and disaster recovery into a single governance model

This enables organizations to treat continuity as a governed decision system, ensuring that safety, compliance, and mission outcomes are actively managed rather than left to improvised response.

What This Produces

• Defined authority, escalation, and decision rights for continuity scenarios

• Prioritized list of critical operations and recovery objectives

• Governance-aligned continuity structure integrated with crisis management

• Clear rules for resource allocation and executive oversight during disruption

Common Use Cases

• When mission-critical operations must continue during disasters or major disruptions

• When regulatory, contractual, or safety requirements mandate continuity planning

• When testing organizational readiness for cyber incidents, infrastructure failure, or natural disasters

• When aligning technical recovery plans with executive authority and governance

• When clarifying escalation paths and decision rights for crisis response

How This Artifact Is Different

Unlike continuity plans that focus only on technical recovery or documentation, this artifact treats continuity as a governance system. It embeds authority, prioritization, and escalation into executive decision-making so resilience is operational, not theoretical.

Related Framework Areas

This artifact is commonly used alongside other SolveBoard frameworks focused on:

• Risk management, control design, and compliance governance

• Incident response, cyber resilience, and infrastructure recovery

• Portfolio governance, resource allocation, and executive oversight

• Decision communication, accountability systems, and governance reporting

Related Terms

Continuity of operations, COOP planning, business continuity governance, disaster recovery, crisis management, operational resilience, risk governance, emergency response.

Framework Classification

This artifact is part of the SolveBoard library of structured decision and governance frameworks. It is designed as a repeatable continuity governance and executive control framework rather than a technical disaster recovery plan, emergency checklist, or static business continuity document.

Continuity of Operations (COOP) Governance Model: Ensure Operational Continuity

A governance framework for maintaining critical operations during disruptions through defined authority, prioritization, and recovery controls

Definition

The Continuity of Operations (COOP) Governance Model is a structured framework that defines how an organization preserves critical functions during disruptive events. It establishes authority, decision rights, priorities, and escalation paths to ensure that essential operations continue or are restored within acceptable timeframes. Within SolveBoard, this artifact operationalizes continuity as a governance control, integrating resilience, risk management, and executive decision-making.

When to Use

• When mission-critical operations must be maintained during crises or major disruptions

• When regulatory, contractual, or safety obligations require continuity planning

• When validating preparedness for disasters, cyber incidents, or infrastructure failure

• When aligning resilience strategy with executive governance and decision rights

When Not to Use

• For minor operational interruptions with no continuity implications

• When operations can be safely paused without material impact

• When the organization does not have critical services requiring continuity

Common Mistakes

• Documenting continuity plans without defining executive authority and escalation

• Failing to prioritize functions based on mission criticality

• Testing only technical recovery while ignoring governance and decision latency

Purpose of the COOP Governance Model

The purpose of the COOP Governance Model is to ensure that essential operations continue or are rapidly restored during disruptions. It clarifies who has authority to act, which functions are prioritized, how resources are allocated, and how decisions are escalated under crisis conditions. This enables rapid, coordinated response while preserving compliance, safety, and strategic intent.

How to Apply

• Identify mission-critical functions and required recovery time objectives

• Define authority, decision rights, and escalation paths during disruptions

• Establish continuity priorities for people, facilities, systems, and suppliers

• Integrate continuity governance with crisis management and executive oversight

• Test through exercises and stress scenarios to validate readiness

Example Scenario

A critical data center outage disrupts core operations. Using the COOP Governance Model, leadership activates predefined authority, prioritizes essential services, and reallocates resources to recovery teams. Escalation thresholds guide executive decisions on customer communication and regulatory notification. Operations are restored within target timeframes with minimal impact.

Boundaries

This model governs continuity decision-making and prioritization. It does not replace technical disaster recovery, business continuity planning, or incident response procedures, but ensures they are directed by clear executive governance.

What This Artifact Does

Defines authority, priorities, and escalation for maintaining and restoring critical operations during disruptions.

You Provide

(You may provide some, all, or none of the items below. Partial inputs are valid.)

• List of mission-critical functions and services

• Recovery objectives, regulatory obligations, and risk appetite

• Current crisis management, continuity, and disaster recovery structures

• Written descriptions or pasted text

• Links to continuity plans, risk assessments, and response playbooks

• Files, PDFs, spreadsheets, images, and other uploads (always acceptable)

• Context notes

Core Question

How do we govern decisions to maintain and restore critical operations during disruption?

Decision Logic

• If a function is mission-critical → Prioritize continuity and rapid recovery

• If resources are constrained → Allocate based on criticality and risk

• If impact exceeds thresholds → Escalate to executive authority

What the Output Means

• Defined authority and escalation for continuity decisions

• Prioritized list of critical operations and recovery objectives

• Governance-aligned continuity and response structure

Do Not Use When

• Operations have no critical continuity requirements

• Disruptions do not affect safety, compliance, or strategic outcomes

• Decisions are purely tactical and do not require executive governance

You do not need to complete every section below. Provide only the information you have available or wish to provide. The AI will generate output using only the inputs you supply and will not assume or infer missing information.

Section 1 — Mission-Critical Functions and Services

What This Input Represents

The operations, systems, or services that must continue or be restored during disruption.

If You Have Materials, You May Provide (List file names here in your input document):

• Business continuity plans

• Critical service inventories

• Process maps

Guiding Questions:

• Which functions are mission-critical?

• What services must be maintained under all conditions?

• What operational outcomes cannot be allowed to fail?

Section 2 — Recovery Objectives, Regulatory Obligations, and Risk Tolerance

What This Input Represents

The timeframes, compliance requirements, and acceptable risk thresholds for continuity.

If You Have Materials, You May Provide (List file names here in your input document):

• Recovery Time Objectives (RTOs)

• Regulatory requirements

• Risk appetite statements

Guiding Questions:

• What recovery time objectives apply to each critical function?

• What regulatory, contractual, or safety obligations must be met?

• What level of operational risk is acceptable during disruption?

Section 3 — Authority, Decision Rights, and Escalation

What This Input Represents

Who has authority to act and how decisions are elevated under crisis conditions.

If You Have Materials, You May Provide (List file names here in your input document):

• Crisis governance models

• Decision rights matrices

• Escalation frameworks

Guiding Questions:

• Who has authority to activate continuity actions?

• What decisions require executive escalation?

• What triggers escalation during an incident?

Section 4 — Resource Prioritization and Continuity Structures

What This Input Represents

How people, systems, facilities, and suppliers are prioritized and managed during disruption.

If You Have Materials, You May Provide (List file names here in your input document):

• Resource allocation plans

• Disaster recovery structures

• Crisis management playbooks

Guiding Questions:

• How are resources allocated when capacity is constrained?

• Which systems, facilities, or suppliers are prioritized?

• How is continuity governance integrated with crisis management?

Section 5 — Supporting Context, Files, and References

What This Input Represents

Any additional information that may affect continuity governance, such as prior incidents, stress test results, or upcoming regulatory reviews.

You May Include (List file names here in your input document):

• Continuity or disaster recovery plans

• Risk assessments or incident reports

• Crisis management playbooks

• Links to operational dashboards or response systems

• Pasted text or excerpts

Additional Instructions (Optional)

You may add extra instructions to further shape the output, including:

Requesting PDF or other output formats
Limiting page length or response size
Layout preferences (section order, headings, structure, templates)
Specifying tone, style, or format (executive, concise, detailed, formal, etc.)
Output consistency preferences (fixed structure, standardized phrasing, strict formatting)
Prioritization or scoring preferences (how gaps, risks, or actions should be ranked)
Desired mode behavior as outlined in the section below
Any other constraints, rules, or priorities relevant to your use case

If included, the AI will follow these instructions when they do not conflict with the bridge’s execution rules. More specific instructions generally produce more consistent, repeatable, and targeted outputs.

Desired Mode Behavior

Strict Mode

• Maximize determinism and repeatability
• Minimize wording variation, structure changes, and interpretive flexibility
• Do not extend beyond explicit user inputs

Balanced Mode (Default)

• Maintain structure and discipline
• Allow limited analytical judgment where inputs are incomplete
• Do not introduce external assumptions

Exploratory Mode

• Expand hypothesis space and analytical angles
• Surface alternative interpretations and scenario paths
• Still grounded only in user-provided inputs

If no mode is specified, default to Balanced Mode.

What This Enables

Based on your prepared inputs, this artifact will define a governance structure for continuity, prioritize critical operations and recovery objectives, establish authority and escalation rules, and align continuity planning with executive decision-making—ensuring rapid, coordinated response during disruption.

Canonical Input Rule (For All SolveBoard Artifacts)

Documents are optional. Sections may be partially completed or left blank. Structured answers to any subset of guiding questions constitute valid input. The AI will evaluate only provided information and will not infer missing content.

AI Execution Instructions

You are operating in Bridge Execution Mode. Follow these rules exactly. Do not reinterpret, summarize, optimize, or override them. Do not introduce external knowledge, assumptions, or inferred content. Evaluate only user-provided inputs. If required information is missing or ambiguous, flag it rather than guessing. Output must follow the defined Output section exactly.

Users may provide some, all, or none of the input sections. Process only what is explicitly provided. Treat empty sections as intentionally omitted.

Purpose

Apply the COOP Governance Model to define authority, priorities, and escalation for maintaining and restoring critical operations during disruptions.

What This Bridge Answers

How do we govern decisions to maintain and restore critical operations during disruption?

Inputs (All Optional)

• Mission-critical functions and services

• Recovery objectives, regulatory requirements, and risk tolerance

• Crisis management, continuity, and disaster recovery structures

• Files, PDFs, spreadsheets, images, links, or other uploaded material

• Context notes

Note: Output Quality and specificity scale with input completeness. The user has been informed of this via the input sheet.

Processing Rules

A valid COOP Governance Model output must satisfy all of the following:

• Mission-critical functions are explicitly identified

• Authority, escalation, and decision rights are defined

• Continuity priorities and recovery objectives are specified

• Integration with crisis management and executive governance is clear

When inputs are sparse:

• Produce the most complete output possible with available data

• Explicitly flag what's missing and how additional inputs would enhance the analysis

• Do not infer or assume missing information

Execution Steps

• Identify critical operations and recovery requirements

• Define authority, escalation, and resource allocation rules

• Align continuity governance with crisis and executive structures

• Test through exercises and stress scenarios

Output

• COOP governance structure with authority and escalation

• Prioritized continuity objectives and recovery targets

• Governance-aligned continuity operating model

Failure Conditions / Misuse

• Continuity plans exist without clear authority or escalation

• Critical functions are not prioritized

• Exercises do not test governance and decision-making under stress

Mode Behavior (From Input Sheet)

Strict Mode

• Maximize determinism and repeatability
• Minimize wording variation, structure changes, and interpretive flexibility
• Do not extend beyond explicit user inputs

Balanced Mode (Default)

• Maintain structure and discipline
• Allow limited analytical judgment where inputs are incomplete
• Do not introduce external assumptions

Exploratory Mode

• Expand hypothesis space and analytical angles
• Surface alternative interpretations and scenario paths
• Still grounded only in user-provided inputs

If no mode is specified, default to Balanced Mode.

Additional Instruction Governance

User-provided additional instructions must be followed exactly unless they conflict with core Bridge Execution Rules. If a conflict exists, Bridge Execution Rules take priority.

Additional instructions may control format, tone, structure, length, or ordering, but must not introduce inferred content, external knowledge, or speculative assumptions.

If instructions are ambiguous, flag ambiguity rather than guessing.

Additional Instructions Execution Rule

If the user provides instructions in the Additional Instructions field, they are binding execution constraints.

Failure to follow them constitutes a Bridge Execution Failure.

Reminder to AI: If a format is requested (e.g., PDF, DOCX), the final output MUST be delivered in that format.

Artifact Instructions

This guide explains what information the COOP Governance Model artifact requires and how to prepare your inputs.

How to Prepare Your Input Document (Required Format)

Create a new Word (or similar) document.
Copy all text from the Input Sheet tab into the document.
Save it — this is now your Input Document.
Answer the guiding questions directly in the Input Document and reference any supporting files there.
Save the completed Input Document (Word, PDF, etc.).
Copy all text from the Bridge AI Prompt tab and paste it into the prompt field.
Attach the completed Input Document and any referenced files when submitting the prompt.

No Supporting Files? No Problem.

You can proceed without uploading any supporting documents, spreadsheets, dashboards, reports, or other attachments.

The Input Document is still required, but it may contain only plain-text answers to the guiding questions.

Written responses alone are sufficient for the AI to generate output.

Supporting files, links, and pasted materials are always optional.

Missing Inputs Are OK

You do not need to complete every section.
You do not need supporting files.

The AI will still run. It will:

Use only the inputs you provide
Skip or flag missing sections
Never fail due to incomplete information

Output quality scales with input depth — but execution never breaks.

Submitting Files

If you upload files, list each file name under the relevant “If You Have Materials” section in your Input Document. This ensures each file is clearly tied to its intended use.

What to Expect From This AI Bridge

This bridge generates a structured, high-value starting point, not a guaranteed final deliverable. Output quality improves as inputs become clearer, deeper, and more complete.

This artifact supports iteration. Users are encouraged to refine inputs, test variations, and rerun the bridge to improve results.

The AI organizes complexity and accelerates insight — but final judgment and decisions remain with the user.

In Short

Stronger inputs → stronger outputs
Iteration improves results
Cross-artifact testing can reveal new perspectives
This artifact enables progress, not perfection