Maximum
Acceptable Outage
What is Maximum Acceptable Outage?
The Maximum Acceptable Outage (MAO) is the number of business days the
department can tolerate a disruption to a business activity. The MAO for any
business activity is determined by assessing impact against time.
Business activities
Business activities are processes, procedures and actions that are required to
deliver the department’s objectives. They are outlined in the department’s
strategic plan, operational and regional plans, and other corporate planning
documents.
Impact
The loss of a business activity can IMPACT the department’s:
Objectives
Interrupt achieving the department’s objectives
Service delivery
Interruption in the delivery of services for:
 early childhood education and care
 education
 training and employment
Finances
Lead to financial loss such as:
 revenues
 interest costs and penalties
 extra cost of working
Stakeholders
Affect expectations of stakeholders
Reputation or image
Damage the image and reputation of the department
 Loss of public confidence
 Negative publicity
Legal or regulatory
obligations
Breach legislation or regulations
Page 1
Uncontrolled copy – Refer to the Department of Education, Training and Employment
Policy and Procedure Register at http://ppr.det.qld.gov.au for the most current version.
Maximum
Acceptable Outage
The Impact Rating Reference is a guide for determining whether the
department can tolerate a disruption to a business activity. Assume the worst
case scenario and normal day-to-day resources are not available.
IMPACT Rating Reference
Insignificant
No measurable impact
 Minor business disruption or security threat that causes no
material disruption to departmental services
 No impact on stakeholders
 Incident absorbed by routine management
Minor
 Localised business disruption or security incident
No slowing of business.
Only a small distraction
 Readily contained and absorbed through local unit
management intervention in contingency mode
Moderate
 Moderate business disruption or security incident resulting in
disruption to some of the department’s critical services
Will require action but
business is still largely
on track
 Some inconvenience to stakeholders
Major
 Significant business disruption or security incident resulting
in prolonged disruption to critical services across the
department
Will cause disruption
and require more
resources/time or will
reduce quality
Critical
Will stop key business
deliverable or process
and prevent
achievement of
objectives
 Minimal impact to stakeholders
 Cross management intervention is required and effort in
contingency mode
 Considerable impacts to stakeholders
 Substantial senior executive intervention is required and
effort in contingency mode
 Extreme business disruption or security incident resulting in
indeterminate prolonged suspension of critical services
across the department
 Debilitating impact on stakeholders
 Immediate senior executive and/or ministerial intervention is
required
 May require external assistance
Business activities with a ‘Major’ or ‘Critical’ impact rating will then sorted by
the length of time the department is prepared to operate without that activity.
Page 2
Uncontrolled copy – Refer to the Department of Education, Training and Employment
Policy and Procedure Register at http://ppr.det.qld.gov.au for the most current version.
Maximum
Acceptable Outage
Time
The maximum TIME a business activity can be disrupted before the disruption
is unacceptable to the department is categorised in the following intervals:

1 – 2 business days

3 – 5 business days

6 – 15 business days

More than 16 business days
These time intervals are called the Maximum Acceptable Outage (MAO).
Critical business activity
Delivering essential services in a disruptive event relies on quickly resuming
critical business activities within the maximum acceptable outage timeframe.
A Critical Business Activity
is any activity identified as having
a ‘MAJOR’ or ‘CRITICAL’
impact rating
and
a maximum acceptable outage
(MAO) time of
15 BUSINESS DAYS
OR LESS
All critical business activities are captured in a Business Continuity Plan.
NOTES:

When deciding on an appropriate MAO for a business activity, consider any interdependencies
and how their respective MAO rating may impact (see ‘Interdependencies’ factsheet).

Business activities may only be ‘critical’ during a specific time of year or circumstances.
Page 3
Uncontrolled copy – Refer to the Department of Education, Training and Employment
Policy and Procedure Register at http://ppr.det.qld.gov.au for the most current version.