BCM lite operators

  • Release version: Australia
  • Updated March 12, 2026
  • 4 minutes to read
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    Summary of BCM lite operators

    The Business Continuity Management (BCM) application offers flexible user licensing based on operator roles, distinguishing between lite operators and full operators. Lite operators have limited permissions focused on responding to and approving specific tasks rather than full administrative control. They are primarily involved in responding to business impact analyses (BIA), approving assigned records, and participating in recovery tasks.

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    BCM lite operator classification and roles

    Lite operators are users assigned roles that allow them to:

    • Respond to BIA plans as contributors
    • Approve or reject assigned approval records

    To enable these capabilities, lite operators must have the appropriate role and be added as approvers on records. Approval rights for lite operators depend on the approval configurator generating the approval record; if not, only specific roles like BIA/plan owner or BCM admin can approve.

    The BCM lite operator role (snbcmlite.liteoperator) aggregates several roles providing read, contribute, and task participation capabilities, including:

    • snbcmcontributor and snbia.biacontributor: respond to BIAs when tagged as contributors
    • snbcm.coreviewer, snbcmviewer, snbcp.planviewer, snbia.biaviewer: view BIAs, plans, exercises, events in read-only mode
    • snbcm.recoveryteammember and snrecovery.eventmember: receive and respond to assigned recovery tasks during exercises or events
    • sncrisisebn.viewer: view emergency notifications read-only

    Roles that provide full administrative or managerial privileges (e.g., BIA admin, plan manager, event manager) cannot be assigned to lite operators to maintain flexible licensing.

    Activities and limitations of BCM lite operators

    Lite operators can perform these key activities with some limitations:

    • Business Impact Analysis (BIA): Respond to and update assigned BIA records; approve or reject assigned approval records but cannot approve the entire BIA.
    • Business Continuity Planning (BCP): View and download published plans; approve or reject assigned approval records but cannot approve the entire BCP.
    • Business Continuity Exercises and Crisis Events: View details, participate in assigned recovery tasks, and approve or reject assigned records. They cannot approve the entire exercise or crisis event.
    • Recovery Tasks: Receive, update status, and report progress on recovery tasks assigned during exercises or crisis events.
    • Emergency Notifications: View and participate in workflow for emergency notification templates.

    This role structure ensures lite operators can actively contribute and approve specific tasks without full control, preserving licensing flexibility and operational security.

    The Business Continuity Management application provides flexible user licensing terms. The terms are based on whether your operator has read-only access or can complete certain types of tasks.

    Overview of the lite operator classification

    The Business Continuity Management roles that classify as lite operators are users who are responsible for the tasks:
    • Respond to the business impact analysis (BIA) plans when they are added as the contributors to the business impact analysis.
    • Approve the assigned approval record from the record in the Lists view or My tasks page.

    To enable lite operators to respond to tasks, you must assign them with the appropriate role for the activity and add them to the record as an approver. When this criteria is met, the lite operator can approve or reject a record and provide workflow notes.

    For detailed information that describes how to configure BCP or BIA plan templates, see Configure the business continuity plan template and Configure BIA templates with legacy assessment.

    For information about all roles that are installed with the activation of the Business Continuity Management application, see Components installed with Business Continuity Management.

    • Lite operators can approve records only if the approval record is generated by the approval configurator.
    • If the approval configurator criteria is not met, the system displays Approve and Reject buttons on the BIA or BCP.
    • When approvals are shown via the Approve header UI action, specific operator roles (BIA/plan owner or BCM admin) can approve the BIA or BCP respectively.

    BCM lite operator role

    The BCM lite operator role (sn_bcm_lite.lite_operator) contains the roles listed in the table.

    Table 1. BCM lite operator role classification
    Role Description Additional Information
    sn_bcm_contributor Enables the user to respond to BIAs in which they are tagged as a contributor. The BIA owner must add the user as a contributor to the BIA.
    sn_bcm.core_viewer Enables the user to view the BIA, plans, exercises, and events in the workspace UI.
    sn_bia.bia_contributor Enables the user to respond to BIAs in which they are tagged as a contributor. The BIA owner must add the user as a contributor to the BIA.
    sn_bcm.recovery_team_member Enables the user to receive and respond to the assigned recovery tasks.
    sn_bcm_viewer Enables the user to view all records in the BCM application.
    sn_bcp.plan_viewer Enables the user to view the plans in a read-only format.
    sn_bia.bia_viewer Enables the user to view the BIA responses in a read-only format.
    sn_recovery.event_viewer Enables the user to view an exercise or event in a read-only format. The read-only information is needed so that the recovery event member has the context of the entire exercise though the user can only respond to assigned tasks.
    sn_crisis_ebn.viewer Enables the user to view emergency notifications in a read-only format.
    sn_recovery.event_member Enables the user to receive and respond to the assigned recovery tasks during an exercise or event. Recovery tasks must be assigned to the recovery team member.

    BCM roles that you can't assign to your lite operators

    Operator roles can't be assigned to lite operators. If you assign a role to a user, it counts the user as an operator and you no longer have a flexible licensing model.

    You can't assign these roles to your lite operators:
    • sn_bia.bia_admin
    • sn_bia.bia_manager
    • sn_bia.bia_planner
    • sn_bcp.plan_admin
    • sn_bcp.plan_manager
    • sn_recovery.event_manager
    • sn_recovery.event_user
    • sn_crisis_ebn.admin
    • sn_crisis_ebn.user
    For additional information on role assignments, see the GRC Business User Role [KB0864247] article in the Now Support Knowledge Base.
    Note:
    You must log in to Now Support to view the articles.

    Lite operator activities and limitations

    The 'BCM lite operator activities and limitations' table describes the lite operator activities and limitations.

    Table 2. BCM lite operator activities and limitations
    Activity Description Create Read Update Approve
    Business impact analysis (BIA)
    • Respond to the BIA analysis.
    • View a completed analysis.
    • Participate in the BIA workflow.
    • Review the BIA record assigned to you and then approve or reject the assigned record.
    		 Yes A BCM lite operator can update the assigned record. When a BIA is submitted for approval, it is sent to multiple users. A BCM lite operator can approve the assigned record but they cannot approve the entire BIA.
    Business continuity planning (BCP)
    • View and download the published continuity and disaster recovery plans.
    • Review and approve or reject the assigned record.
    		 Yes A BCM lite operator can approve the assigned record but they cannot approve the entire BCP.
    Business continuity exercises
    • View the exercise details.
    • Participate in the recovery tasks.
    • Participate in the exercise results workflow.
    • Review and approve or reject the assigned record.
    		 Yes A BCM lite operator can approve the assigned record but they cannot approve the entire exercise.
    Crisis events
    • Report and view the crisis details.
    • Participate in the recovery tasks.
    • Participate in the exercise results workflow.
    • Review and approve or reject an analysis.
    		 Yes A BCM lite operator can approve the assigned record but they cannot approve the crisis event.
    Update recovery tasks status
    • Receive the recovery tasks from the exercises and crisis events.
    • Report the progress and status back to your event coordinator.
    		 Yes Yes Yes
    Emergency notification template
    • View the emergency notifications.
    • Participate in the workflow.
    		 Yes Yes