Continuity simulator
What is lost while the system is not there.
Pick a process and how long it would be down. The parameters are editable: swap in your own operation's numbers and the calculation redoes itself. The formula is in plain view below, because a number you cannot audit is no use for deciding.
The formula
No black box. This is the whole calculation.
transactions = transactions per hour × hours
idle payroll = people × cost per hour × hours
unprocessed value = transactions × value per transaction
estimated cost = idle payroll + unprocessed value
It deliberately excludes fines, contractual penalties, customer loss and reputational damage. Those exist and are usually larger, but they are not estimated with a four-line formula.
Where the cost comes from
Two components, kept apart: what stops being produced and what keeps being paid.
Against the process objectives
- RTO · recovery time objective
- How many hours this process can be down before the damage stops being an inconvenience and becomes a loss.
- RPO · recovery point objective
- How much work can be lost and redone without making the month-end close impossible.