Editing Business continuity planning (section)

===Testing and organizational acceptance===
The 2008 book ''Exercising for Excellence'', published by The [[British Standards Institution]] identified three types of exercises that can be employed when testing business continuity plans.
* '''Tabletop exercises''' - a small number of people concentrate on a specific aspect of a BCP. Another form involves a single representative from each of several teams. 
* '''Medium exercises''' - Several departments, teams or disciplines concentrate on multiple BCP aspects; the scope can range from a few teams from one building to multiple teams operating across dispersed locations. Pre-scripted "surprises" are added.
* '''Complex exercises''' - All aspects of a medium exercise remain, but for maximum realism no-notice activation, actual evacuation and actual invocation of a disaster recovery site is added.

While start and stop times are pre-agreed, the actual duration might be unknown if events are allowed to run their course.