Staying able to act when the control room fails

A control room pools information, assesses reports and coordinates measures. If its site becomes inaccessible through fire, flooding or an evacuation, cameras and other security systems may keep working – while the central workplace for using them is missing. Continuing the control room’s tasks therefore belongs in preparation.

Determine the indispensable tasks

First, it must be determined which tasks have to continue during an interruption: receiving reports, retrieving relevant situational information, making decisions, reaching response personnel and documenting measures. For each task, the tolerable interruption time and a required minimum performance level are to be set. BSI Standard 200-4 offers a process-based framework for business continuity for this. [1]

Not every emergency operation has to reproduce all functions of normal operation. It has to enable the previously prioritised tasks under the expected restrictions.

Prepare the changeover in practice

A designated fallback room alone does not yet create command capability. Responsible people must be able to reach and use it and to access the information they need. Communication channels, decision-making authority and the handover of ongoing cases also have to be regulated.

Fallback operation should deliberately take the dependencies of the affected site into account. A workplace in the next room helps little, for example, if the entire building is evacuated. The BSI addresses fallback sites and also describes the case of crisis management rooms that are themselves affected by the damaging event. [1]

Check mobile solutions against their task

Depending on the requirements, another control room, prepared fallback workplaces or a mobile command post may be considered. Independent power and communications supply can help. Whether the solution is suitable also depends on interfaces, permissions, information protection, staff and time to deploy. A mobile unit does not automatically fully replace a specialised control room.

Test command capability

An exercise should test the changeover, including alerting, information handover, communication and documentation. The time until people are actually able to work should also be recorded. Among other things, the BSI distinguishes alerting exercises, crisis management exercises and technical function tests. [1]

The key question is: who takes over which control room task, with what means and within what time? It applies to events as much as to companies, municipalities and critical infrastructure.

Read more: Who needs which situational information during an operation? on recipients and access, What has to be prepared before an unplanned outage for a temporary replacement solution? on the replacement solution, How is security knowledge preserved at a shift handover? on handover, Which rules on the use and handover of security data should be agreed in advance? on handling data and Security technology that works through power and network failures on technology.

Note: Research status 3 November 2026; the source is taken over with the author’s details and has not been checked against the original text. Applying business continuity management principles to control room tasks is an editorial interpretation; a crisis management room is not the same as a control room. No general legal obligation to provide a mobile replacement control room and no universal recovery time follows from the text. Sector-specific requirements have to be checked separately. General guidance, not legal advice.