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Exercise Program

What is Exercise Program?

A scheduled series of drills, tabletop exercises, and simulations designed to test and improve emergency response and business continuity plans.

Business Continuity

What the standards actually require on exercise program

Requirements naming exercise program across 4 standards, quoted from the control text.

After implementation a program of site-specific exercises including evacuation exercises must be maintained, and every area of the facility must take part in at least one exercise in each 12 months;

as-3745-2010-planning-for-emergencies-in-facilities::7.3-7.7 · Maintain an ongoing exercise program, brief the ECO, debrief and handle a real emergency during a drill →

The organization should establish a test and exercise programme that schedules tests and exercises across the critical ICT services and plans, sets their frequency by criticality and rate of change, progressively increases their scope and realism, assigns resp...

iso-iec-27031-2025::11.2.2 · Test and exercise program →

Every source with a Program 2 or 3 process must exercise its emergency response notification mechanisms at least once each calendar year (responding sources may combine this with field or tabletop exercises) and keep written records of notification exercises f...

epa-risk-management-program-40-cfr-part-68::68.96 · § 68.96 Emergency response exercises →

Conduct Plan Testing, Training, and Exercises (TTE) per NIST SP 800-34 Rev 1 Section 3.6 + Appendix C (TTE Best Practices) + NIST SP 800-84 Guide to Test, Training, and Exercise Programs.

NISTSP34-5 · Plan Testing, Training, and Exercises (TTE) →

Questions people ask about exercise program

What is Exercise Program?
A scheduled series of drills, tabletop exercises, and simulations designed to test and improve emergency response and business continuity plans.
Why is Exercise Program important for compliance?
Exercise Program is a key concept in Business Continuity. Understanding exercise program helps organizations meet regulatory requirements, reduce risk, and demonstrate due diligence during audits. Our compliance platform maps 1,016 frameworks with 316K cross-framework control mappings.
Which compliance frameworks address Exercise Program?
Exercise Program appears in the requirement text of AS 3745-2010 Planning for Emergencies in Facilities, ISO/IEC 27031:2025, EPA Risk Management Program (40 CFR Part 68), NIST Special Publication 800-34 Revision 1, Contingency Planning Guide for Federal Information Systems. Across these standards we have identified 5 controls that name it directly, each linked to the control text on the compliance platform.
Where can I learn more about Exercise Program?
Explore our compliance framework pages to see how exercise program applies across different standards and regulations. Our implementation guides provide step-by-step guidance, and the compliance platform offers AI-powered analysis of how this concept maps across 1,016 frameworks.

See how Exercise Program applies across compliance frameworks

Our platform maps 1,016 frameworks with 316K cross-framework control mappings. Explore how this concept is addressed across standards.

Written and maintained by Gerard Blokdyk, The Art of Service.