Crisis Response Coordinator
SmartSuite for the Crisis Response Coordinator
The Crisis Response Coordinator manages incident communications, task assignments and response workflows during a crisis. They route tasks, keep the central communications log current and record timeline updates and completion so the crisis lead has an accurate picture.
Reports to:
What you own
The Crisis Response Coordinator manages incident communications, task assignments and response workflows during a crisis.
- Assign and track crisis response tasks
- Maintain the central incident communications log
- Record timeline updates, decisions and completion
- Coordinate notifications to teams and stakeholders
- Support exercises and post-incident documentation
- Keep contact lists and call-out arrangements current
At a glance
The GRC processes this role owns, touches and depends on.
Owns
accountable for the process
Touches
contributes or approves
Depends on
consumes its output
How the GRC processes connect
Three lines of defence set the frame; the chain shows where each process hands off to the next. Colours follow the Crisis Response Coordinator: navy is owned, blue is touched, grey is depended on.
- First lineThe business and its control ownersRun the processes, own the controls, fix the issues
- Second lineRisk, compliance and the domain programmesSet the frameworks, assess, monitor and advise
- Third lineInternal auditIndependent assurance to the board and audit committee
Reporting lines
Who this role reports to, who reports to them, and the peers they work with most.
Reports to
Crisis Management Lead
See the roleDirect reports
Works closely with
Business Continuity Manager
See the roleCommunications Director
See the roleFacilities Director
See the roleHow SmartSuite supports the Crisis Response Coordinator
The Crisis Response Coordinator keeps the response moving and the record straight, and answers to the Crisis Management Lead for an accurate picture while the event is live. SmartSuite issues the tasks, logs the communications and timestamps every update, so the picture you hand over is the one the review and the regulator rely on.
Run tasks and communications during the event
When the Crisis Management Lead declares, the playbook's task list in Crisis Management is issued automatically with owners and due times, and you reassign from the same board as people become available.
Operational Resilience suiteNotifications to response teams, sites and stakeholders go out through defined communication paths from the incident record, so the same message reaches everyone and the send itself is logged.
Operational Resilience suiteDecisions are recorded as they are made, with the decision-maker, the time and the information available, so the record the review relies on is built during the event rather than reconstructed.
Operational Resilience suiteKeep the lead, continuity, communications and facilities aligned
Task status, open communications and the latest timeline entries sit on one dashboard, so the Crisis Management Lead directs from your record rather than interrupting you for an update.
Operational Resilience suiteSafety checks and site actions assigned to the Facilities Director appear in the same task list, with completion evidence attached, so site status is visible to the response team without a separate call.
Operational Resilience suiteCall-out lists and contact details are maintained as records with owners and review reminders, so the list the playbook uses at activation has been checked recently rather than assumed to be right.
Operational Resilience suiteProduce a record that satisfies the review and the regulator
Where the 36-hour bank notification rule, DORA's staged reporting or GDPR's 72-hour window applies, the timestamped timeline shows when the event was detected, escalated and notified.
Operational Resilience suiteExercises run through the same task, notification and log workflows as a live event, so the drill tests your coordination process and its outcomes are recorded for the Business Continuity Manager.
Operational Resilience suiteRole-based permissions and activity logs control who can see and edit the incident record, so sensitive details stay with the response team while the record remains auditable afterwards.
Operational Resilience suiteOperational resilience. Provides crisis playbooks, notifications and communication logs so coordinators assign tasks and keep incident communications centralized.
Issues and actions. Logs timeline updates and completion so nothing assigned during the event is lost afterwards.
Reporting. Produces the event record for post-incident review.
Products this role uses most
Industry reference
ISO 22361:2022 and the BCI Good Practice Guidelines describe the coordination function: a maintained incident log, task tracking, notification lists and the decision record that supports the post-incident review. NIMS and the Incident Command System give the roles and reporting lines.
Timelines are regulated. In financial services, the 36-hour bank incident notification rule, DORA's staged major-incident reporting and SEC disclosure deadlines all depend on an accurate timeline; GDPR's 72-hour breach notification and HIPAA's 60-day rule do the same for privacy incidents; public bodies report under FISMA and agency continuity plans.
Related roles
Crisis Management Lead
See the roleExplore Further
Guides and definitions from the GRC Knowledge Center and the What-is glossary, chosen for this role.
Frequently asked questions
The Crisis Response Coordinator runs the mechanics of the response so the Crisis Management Lead can direct it: assigning and tracking crisis response tasks, maintaining the central incident communications log, recording timeline updates, decisions and completion, and coordinating notifications to teams and stakeholders. Between events they keep contact lists and call-out arrangements current and support exercises and post-incident documentation. ISO 22361 and the BCI Good Practice Guidelines describe exactly this function: a maintained log, task tracking and a decision record.
Crisis Management provides the playbooks, notifications and communication logs the coordinator works from, so tasks are assigned from the playbook rather than improvised and every message to teams and stakeholders is logged centrally. The Communications Director, the Business Continuity Manager and the Facilities Director see their assignments and the current log in the same place, which means the coordinator is not relaying the same update by phone, chat and email and then trying to remember who was told what.
Each timeline update, decision and completed task is logged in SmartSuite as it happens, so nothing assigned during the event is lost afterwards. The coordinator records when a task was assigned, to whom, when it was completed and what was decided along the way, and the Crisis Management Lead sees the live picture rather than a verbal summary. That record is what the regulated clocks depend on, from bank incident notification and DORA major-incident reporting to the 72-hour GDPR breach notification.
SmartSuite produces the event record for the post-incident review from the timeline, the communications log and the task history, so the Crisis Response Coordinator hands the Crisis Management Lead a complete account rather than assembling one from memory and chat exports. The review then works from what actually happened and when: which notifications went out, which tasks ran late and which decisions were taken on incomplete information. Incident Management and Operational Resilience hold the linked incident and continuity records for the same event.
The contact lists, call-out arrangements and notification groups need to be current in SmartSuite before an event, along with the playbooks the tasks are assigned from. The coordinator usually owns that upkeep, so loading the existing crisis plan's rosters and task lists is the starting point. A scheduled exercise is the best first run: it tests the notifications, shows the team where to find their tasks and produces a practice event record the coordinator can review with the Crisis Management Lead.