Description

A focused course, tailored for you

The FCA Ops Resilience Client Delivery Course

Build the testing protocols, evidence packs, and tolerance metrics that hold up when the supervisor asks for proof.

The IBS mapping documents are complete. The impact tolerances are stated. But when the PRA examiner asks to see the metric calibration rationale, the scenario test evidence, and the third-party dependency validation, the evidence file is a set of Word documents held together by cross-references that only the engagement manager understands.

$199 one-time

Tailored to your situation. Access within 24 hours. 30-day money-back.

Includes a hand-built implementation playbook delivered alongside course access, generated for your specific situation.

Why this course

Operational resilience advisory work has moved from initial compliance to ongoing supervisory scrutiny. The documentation that satisfied the initial policy statement requirements is no longer sufficient. Supervisors now expect firms to demonstrate that tolerances are calibrated, that testing is structured and repeatable, and that recovery capability has been independently verified. For Operations and Risk practitioners advising FCA/PRA-regulated clients, the gap between a compliant evidence file and a defensible one is the core delivery risk. This course closes that gap: not the regulatory framework itself, but the client-facing advisory methodology for building operational resilience programmes that hold up when the scrutiny is real.

What you walk away with

Map and justify IBS scoping in a format that holds up to FCA/PRA challenge without rework.
Design impact tolerance metrics calibrated against historical incident data and defensible under scenario analysis.
Build a structured, repeatable scenario testing programme from selection criteria through scoring rubrics to evidence capture.
Identify, document, and validate third-party recovery commitments against client tolerance requirements.
Assemble a complete regulatory evidence file that survives a skilled person or Section 166 review at short notice.

The 12 modules

Module 1. IBS Identification and Scoping Methodology

Regulators want to see how you determined which services qualify as important business services, not just a list. This module covers the IBS identification methodology used in FCA/PRA-supervised firms, including the financial stability, customer harm, and market integrity tests. You will produce the documented scoping rationale, stakeholder sign-off structure, and the common challenge points supervisors raise about services excluded from scope. Practical templates for each deliverable are included.

Module 2. Impact Tolerance Design and Metric Calibration

Setting a tolerance metric that is both testable and credible to a supervisor requires more than a threshold number. This module covers metric design principles, the difference between output-based and time-based tolerances, how to calibrate tolerances against historical incident data, and how to avoid the three most common design failures that leave tolerance metrics unverifiable. Worked examples from retail banking, insurance, and capital markets IBS profiles are included.

Module 3. Scenario Library Construction and Risk-Based Selection

The scenario set is often where operational resilience assessments break down. Scenarios that are too benign satisfy the documentation requirement but do not surface genuine vulnerabilities. This module covers how to build a scenario library that maps plausibly to your client's threat landscape, spans the required severity spectrum, and is structured so each scenario produces independently assessable evidence. Template scenario cards and a risk-based selection framework are included for immediate use.

Module 4. Recovery Capability Assessment Beyond Document Review

Stated recovery procedures and actual recovery capability are rarely the same thing. This module covers how to conduct a recovery capability assessment that goes beyond document review: structured interviews with operations and technology leads, dependency walk-throughs, and gap-scoring rubrics. You will produce an assessment report format that distinguishes documented recovery from tested recovery from auditor-verified recovery, and communicates the gap to the board in plain language.

Module 5. Third-Party and Outsourcing Dependency Integration

Important business services typically depend on outsourced and sub-outsourced functions whose recovery commitments are rarely visible to the firm's risk team. This module covers how to map third-party dependencies for each IBS, collect and validate vendor recovery commitments, assess concentration risk across the supplier chain, and integrate outsourcing findings into the impact tolerance testing programme. A vendor assessment questionnaire and dependency register template are included.

Module 6. Scenario Testing Protocol and Programme Design

A testing programme that runs once and produces a simple pass or fail result is not sufficient for ongoing supervisory scrutiny. This module covers how to design a testing programme that is structured, repeatable, and defensible: test script development, scoring criteria, evidence capture standards, and the governance process for escalating scenarios that breach tolerance. A test programme calendar calibrated to a typical financial services firm's board and risk committee cycle is included.

Module 7. Regulatory Evidence Packaging and Self-Assessment Structure

The evidence pack a firm presents to its supervisor tells a story. If the story is fragmented across multiple documents with inconsistent terminology and no clear audit trail, it raises more questions than it resolves. This module covers how to structure the complete regulatory evidence file: the self-assessment format, the board attestation, the testing record, and the document management approach that supports a skilled person or Section 166 review.

Module 8. Gap Remediation Planning and Supervisory Communication

When scenario testing reveals that a firm cannot recover within its stated impact tolerance, the remediation plan becomes the deliverable. This module covers how to design a credible, risk-prioritised remediation roadmap: root cause categorisation, remediation option appraisal, implementation timelines, and interim risk treatment. A remediation plan template that satisfies both internal risk governance and the format regulators expect in a response to supervisory findings is included.

Module 9. Board and Risk Committee Reporting on Resilience Status

Senior executives and non-executive directors need to understand operational resilience status without navigating technical detail. This module covers how to produce board-level reporting that is informative, actionable, and compatible with director accountability requirements: dashboard design, tolerance metric presentation, testing outcome narrative, and the connection between resilience status and strategic risk appetite. A board paper template and a non-executive briefing structure are included.

Module 10. Cross-Service Dependency and Contagion Scenario Analysis

Important business services rarely fail in isolation. A shared technology platform, a single operations centre, or a concentrated supplier can take down multiple IBS simultaneously. This module covers how to identify and evidence cross-service dependencies, model contagion scenarios where a single point of failure breaches multiple tolerances at once, and communicate compounding risk to the board. A dependency heat-map template and a contagion scenario analysis framework are included.

Module 11. DORA Alignment for Cross-Jurisdictional Client Programmes

For clients operating in both the UK and the European Union, DORA and the FCA/PRA operational resilience framework run in parallel and overlap in significant ways. This module covers how to identify where requirements diverge, where a single evidence set satisfies both regimes, and where your client needs separate documentation for each jurisdiction. A side-by-side requirement mapping and a dual-regime project plan template are included for firms managing both compliance programmes.

Module 12. Audit-Ready Evidence File Assembly and Handover Protocol

The final deliverable a consultant leaves with a client is the evidence file that must hold up when the regulatory visit arrives without notice. This module covers how to assemble the complete operational resilience evidence pack: index structure, document naming conventions, version control, examiner accessibility, and the final quality review checklist. A file-assembly protocol and a handover guide that a client team can maintain independently after the engagement closes are included.

How this addresses your situation

Specific modules that map to what you said you are dealing with.

Client IBS scoping rationale exists in slide decks but is not documented in a format that survives a supervisory challenge or a handover to a new engagement team.

Impact tolerance metrics were set at inception and have not been re-calibrated against actual incident data or scenario test outcomes since the initial policy statement submission.

Third-party recovery commitments exist somewhere in vendor contracts but have not been mapped to the firm's IBS or validated against the impact tolerances the firm has committed to.

The evidence file is distributed across multiple documents with inconsistent terminology, no version control, and no clear audit trail for the day a supervisor asks to see it.

What you get with this course

12 written modules covering the complete operational resilience advisory lifecycle from IBS scoping through audit-ready evidence file assembly.
Downloadable templates for every module: IBS scoping register, impact tolerance metric framework, scenario library, scenario test scripts, test programme calendar, remediation roadmap, board reporting pack, and evidence file index.
Hand-built implementation playbook delivered alongside course access, compiled specifically for Operations and Risk practitioners advising FCA/PRA-regulated clients.

What you will have in hand by Day 1, Week 1, Month 1

Access provisioned within 24 hours of purchase.

Implementation playbook delivered alongside course access.

12 modules designed for self-paced completion over three to four weeks, with templates usable from module one.

Before and after

Before

The client has IBS mapping documents and stated tolerances, but the tolerance metrics are loosely defined, testing is desk-based only, and the evidence file is a set of Word documents that would not survive a skilled person review.

After

Tolerance metrics are calibrated against historical incident data, the testing programme is structured and repeatable, and the complete evidence file is assembled in a format that reads cleanly for a supervisor and can be maintained by the client team independently.

What happens if you do not address this

Clients whose operational resilience frameworks were designed for initial compliance face increasing supervisory scrutiny now that the initial deadline has passed. Skilled person reviews, supervisory visits, and Section 166 reviews are the consequence of documentation that satisfied the first submission but cannot withstand ongoing challenge. For the advisory firm, the reputational cost of a client failing a PRA follow-up is significant and hard to reverse.

Who it is for

Senior Managers and Managers in professional services Operations and Risk practices who are delivering operational resilience engagements for FCA/PRA-regulated clients. Practitioners who have completed initial IBS mapping and impact tolerance setting but are now navigating scenario testing, evidence packaging, and supervisory challenge. Professionals who need structured delivery methodology, not more regulatory guidance.

Who this is NOT for. Financial crime, credit risk, or market risk practitioners whose regulatory environment does not include FCA/PRA operational resilience requirements. Teams already running mature, tested, and supervisor-validated operational resilience programmes with established evidence file protocols.

How it arrives

Text-based course in the Art of Service learning environment, plus downloadable templates and worked examples for every module, plus the hand-built implementation playbook delivered alongside course access.

Time investment. Three to four weeks at a few hours per week for the full 12 modules. Most practitioners start applying the templates to live engagements from module one.

Why $199 is the right number

Regulatory guidance and FCA/PRA supervisory statements explain what is required but not how to deliver it as a client-facing advisory product. Industry working groups produce sound frameworks but without the implementation sequencing or evidence-packaging detail that a practising consultant needs. This course closes that gap: not the regulatory what, but the client-delivery how, with templates ready to use from day one.

FAQ

Is this relevant to advisory work outside UK financial services?

The framework draws primarily from FCA/PRA requirements and DORA, so it is most directly applicable to firms regulated under those regimes. The testing methodology and evidence-packaging approaches transfer to other regulated sectors, but the regulatory context is UK and EU financial services.

What is in the implementation playbook?

The playbook is a hand-built, role-specific guide compiled alongside course access. It includes the templates from each module, a sequenced project plan for running an IBS review from scoping to evidence file, and worked examples calibrated to typical financial services client engagements.

Is prior operational resilience experience required?

The course is designed for practitioners who have seen at least one operational resilience engagement. It is not an introduction to the FCA/PRA framework itself; it is an advisory delivery methodology for those who already know the framework and need to operationalise it for clients.

30-day money-back guarantee. If after a week of working through the materials this is not what you needed, reply to the receipt email and a full refund is processed. No questions, no forms.

Within 24 hours your account in the learning environment is provisioned and the tailored implementation playbook is delivered alongside it.