What Makes a Good COOP Plan? Common Mistakes and How to Fix Them

Continuity of Operations Plans (COOP) are essential for maintaining mission-critical functions during disruption. Whether it's a cyberattack, natural disaster, or utility failure, a strong COOP plan ensures your organization can pivot quickly, protect its assets, and keep people safe.

But not all COOP plans are created equal. Many are outdated, overly complex, or disconnected from the real-world challenges they’re supposed to address. When the time comes to activate them, they fail—not because of a lack of intent, but because of poor design and lack of testing.

So, what makes a good COOP plan? And where do most organizations go wrong?

Common COOP Pitfalls We See—and How to Fix Them

1. It’s Written, But Not Known

Many plans live in a binder—or buried in a shared drive—known to only a handful of staff. In a crisis, confusion reigns because decision-makers don’t know the plan exists or how to execute it.

✅ Fix: Build institutional awareness. Every leader and department should understand their roles, responsibilities, and triggers for action. Train on the plan—not just once a year, but regularly.

2. It’s Too Vague or Overly Technical

Some plans lack actionable steps (“Ensure continuity of IT systems”) while others get bogged down in technical jargon that doesn’t help during a real emergency.

✅ Fix: Focus on clarity and usability. Your COOP plan should be a practical playbook, not a policy document. Write for real-world action—simple, clear, and tailored to the user.

3. It Ignores Cross-Department Dependencies

Plans that are developed in silos often miss the domino effect a disruption can cause. For example, if HR can’t access payroll systems, finance and employee trust both take a hit.

✅ Fix: Conduct a Business Impact Analysis (BIA) to map out interdependencies. Understand what must stay operational, what can pause, and how one failure affects the rest of the system.

4. It Doesn’t Account for People

Organizations focus on recovering servers and securing buildings but forget their most critical asset: the workforce. If staff don’t know where to report, how to communicate, or feel unsafe, continuity fails.

✅ Fix: Include workforce protection, communications, and flexible work strategies. Address family care, mental health, remote access, and chain of command.

5. It’s Never Been Tested

A COOP plan that hasn’t been exercised is nothing more than a theory. And theories tend to fall apart under real pressure.

✅ Fix: Regularly conduct COOP exercises—tabletop, functional, or full-scale—and update the plan based on real observations. Include leadership, IT, communications, and facilities in your drills.

How Celtic Edge Builds Better COOP Plans

At Celtic Edge, we don’t write plans for the shelf—we create operational documents that are customized, practical, and ready to be executed under stress.

Our COOP support includes:

• Facilitated Business Impact Analyses (BIA)

• Stakeholder engagement and functional assessments

• Tailored COOP plan development by former emergency managers and continuity experts

• Realistic exercises to validate plans

• After-action reviews and improvement planning

We’ve helped clients across government, healthcare, maritime, and higher education understand not just what to plan for—but how to ensure those plans work in real time.

Final Thought

A COOP plan is more than a requirement—it’s a lifeline. But only if it’s built on real-world insights, regularly tested, and known across your organization.

At Celtic Edge, we help clients turn continuity plans into action plans—because when disruption strikes, your people need clarity, not confusion. Let us help you build a COOP plan that doesn’t just meet standards—it works when you need it most.