When an administrative system fails, people still need access to the service. Design a limited alternative route and plan how cases will later return to the system.
In the course case, the application system is unavailable. An online-only form would exclude people without internet access. Design telephone or in-person intake, secure handover for substantive processing and a record of the backlog. When telephone capacity is limited, prioritise and provide another route.
Take away a continuity procedure you have worked through in the case. It sets out responsibilities and the steps for resuming service. Applicable legal requirements require separate review.
What you will work on
Define a core public service and the consequences of its interruption
Justify alternatives and minimum resources for continuity
You walk through the fallback when a participating body is unavailable.
Who it is for
Public administration and local government leaders
Heads of public service departments
Continuity and crisis coordinators
Topics
Public responsibilities and service priorities
Time-dependent consequences and affected groups
Systems, staffing and premises dependencies
Limited service provision and accessibility
Handovers, situation reporting and resumption
Your result
Your continuity procedure describes an accessible alternative route, how to record outstanding cases and how to transfer them when the administrative system resumes.
Prerequisites
Insight into a public service and its organisational interfaces. Anonymised process information or an example case is sufficient; sensitive citizen records are not required.
Format and approach
Planned self-study with 6–8 hours of work, case variations and explanatory self-checks. A separate test is planned.
Use a disruption scenario to assess whether a critical service could resume within its agreed tolerance. Consider when work actually resumes as well as when the system returns.
AI is proposed to sort online applications. How can people without internet access still reach the service, and who makes the substantive decision? Design an administrative workflow that brings together AI support, human processing and access.
Create a first continuity plan for a critical process in your organisation. Define the minimum service needed during a disruption, its dependencies and the steps for recovery. The plan records responsibilities, assumptions and open decisions for discussion with the process owner.