SACAA Annual Report 2022_23

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17. BUSINESS CONTINUITY MANAGEMENT In the period under review, the SACAA’s objective was to have consistent processes for all aspects of Business Continuity Management (BCM) and not only resilience in the day-to-day business operations, but also in managing unexpected disruptive events with efficacy. Business disruptions can impact organisations of any size, in any location, from weather to power outages, political unrest, spillages or even pandemics, and therefore the organisation developed Business Continuity Plans (BPCs) to ensure operational resilience, no matter the type of disruption.

the business continuity programme was assessed twice during 2022/23. A critical component of the business continuity programme was to ensure that users remain productive while maintaining the necessary level of safety, security, and access control to corporate resources. This was facilitated by the SACAA’s working environment, including virtual apps and desktops, enabled seamless workforce productivity, giving employees the flexibility to work from anywhere, while keeping applications and information secure. The COVID-19 lockdown forced the SACAA to adopt a hybrid working arrangement that encouraged remote work and virtual meetings. During the year, under review the critical SACAA servers were fully migrated to Microsoft Azure Cloud, enabling real time replication. adequately managed. The Combined Assurance Matrix, which provides an overview of the SACAA’s significant risks, and assurance environment, was reviewed and approved as part of the 2022/23 Combined Assurance Plan by the Audit and Risk Committee of the SACAA Board. The SACAA through its approved Combined Assurance policy supported by the Combined Assurance framework and procedure, maintained the significant strategic, tactical, operational, projects and ethics related risks which formed part of the SACAA combined assurance universe. To enhance the implementation of an effective combined assurance system within the SACAA, the Combined Assurance Committee’s terms of reference were reviewed and approved during the period under review. The Combined Assurance

The SACAA’s business continuity programme demonstrated its maturity, status, and effectiveness on an ongoing basis during 2022/23. The SACAA reviews its Business Impact Analysis (BIAs) and business continuity programme on an annual basis or as circumstances dictate. The effectiveness of 18. COMBINED ASSURANCE In accordance with corporate governance best practice, the SACAA has adopted the King IV™ guidelines to ensure that the organisational Combined Assurance (CA) model incorporates and optimizes assurance activities and functions, as an essential part of effective Corporate Governance. The SACAA Combined Assurance model, which considers the five (5) lines of defence, integrates efforts of internal assurance providers with that of independent and external assurance providers, regarding the significant risk areas affecting the SACAA. In the period under review, the SACAA successfully coordinated the implementation of the approved 2022/23 Combined Assurance Plan and coordinated the efforts of all assurance providers, to ensure that significant risk exposures were

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