Strategy
Part of An evidence-led corporate communications strategy for a single decision
Rehearsing a corporate communications correction on synthetic copy
Rehearse approval, pause and correction in a ninety-day corporate communications plan, with synthetic copy, a fictional wrong date and a cyber tabletop.
A correction route that has never been tested is an assumption. In a ninety-day planning cycle, days 51 to 70 rehearse hand-offs and rollback on synthetic copy. The fictional case is Cedar Vale Engineering Ltd, a manufacturer considering consolidation of one customer-support site into another England site. Nothing is sent or implemented.
What to take away
- Rehearse with a synthetic recipient list and a harmless fictional source-copy version.
- Test that only authorised roles can approve, distribute, pause, correct and restore.
- Record expected event, actual observation, tester role, timestamp and evidence location.
- Insert a fictional wrong date and check that every controlled copy can be found and replaced.
- Never send dummy news to journalists or infer audience behaviour from the exercise.
What the rehearsal inherits from days 1 to 15
The rehearsal starts from three things settled in the first fifteen days: the decision statement, the named owners and the employee-process gate. Without them there is nothing to approve and nobody to refuse.
Days 1-15: Admit the decision
- Write one decision statement
- Name English location and options
- List confirmed facts and assumptions
- Separate proposal owner from comms lead
- Map evidenced stakeholder relationships
- Gateemployee process prejudice check
The first gate asks whether communication planning would prejudice an open employee process. The employment reviewer marks pass, fail or unresolved, and an unresolved result stops public-copy approval. The approval test in the rehearsal must respect that stop, even for fictional copy.
Build the rehearsal on synthetic material
Use a synthetic recipient list and a harmless fictional source-copy version. Nothing in the rehearsal reaches a real person, so no audience behaviour can be inferred from it. The aim is to test the route, not the message.
Name the roles before the test starts. The role definitions say who should hold each permission, and the rehearsal checks that the system agrees. Only authorised roles can approve, distribute, pause, correct and restore the copy, and every other role should be refused.
Do not send dummy news to journalists. A rehearsal that reaches real inboxes stops being a rehearsal. If a media step must be tested, practise it with a media response drafted as a non-live fictional artefact.
Log each test the same way
Every test writes the same five items: the expected event, the actual observation, the tester role, the timestamp and the evidence location. The expected event is written before the test, so the observation cannot quietly become the expectation.
| Test | Expected event | What the tester writes down |
|---|---|---|
| An unauthorised role tries to approve | Approval is refused | What the system showed and which role tried |
| An authorised role approves the fictional copy | Approval is recorded against that version | Role and timestamp |
| Distribution to the synthetic list | Only synthetic recipients receive it | Where the distribution record sits |
| Pause after distribution | Further distribution stops | Which channels honoured the pause |
| Restore of an earlier version | The earlier version becomes the controlled copy | Version identifier and evidence location |
Keep the evidence where an independent reviewer can open it. A pass recorded without an evidence location is treated as unresolved, because the reviewer cannot inspect it. The rehearsal produces records, and the records are what the later gates review.
Run the wrong-date drill
Insert a fictional wrong date into the source copy, then correct it as if it had gone out. The drill asks whether the team can find every controlled copy, issue a replacement and retain the correction record.
- Insert the fictional wrong date into the synthetic source copy and distribute it to the synthetic list.
- List every controlled copy, in every channel Cedar Vale controls.
- Issue a replacement and mark the wrong version as superseded.
- Retain the correction record, including who approved it and when.
Mark what Cedar Vale controls and where an independent recipient decides what happens next. A correction reaches the first group; for the second, the record shows only what was offered. The correction route of each channel is where that boundary sits.
Add a cyber tabletop
Run a tabletop in which an unauthorised draft appears externally. The scenario tests who is told, who speaks and who stops further copies, using the fictional draft and no live system. Record the same five items as in every other test.
The NCSC's guidance on communications in a cyber incident advises that organisations draft pre-approved templates for various communication scenarios, including media requests, internal updates and customer notifications. Use it as a planning prompt. It does not certify the exercise or replace Cedar Vale's incident command.
The NCSC's Exercise in a Box page says running cyber security exercises lets an organisation evaluate and practise the skills and decision-making mechanisms it needs to respond to cyber incidents. A paper tabletop applies the same idea to a communications team.
Stop rules and hand-off to the gates
Stop the rehearsal if a source fact changes, an affected group lacks a usable route, a channel cannot correct content or an escalation owner is unavailable. Each stop is a finding, not a failure of the exercise.
The log then goes to the independent gates of the cycle. A pass elsewhere cannot compensate for a failure, so a channel that cannot correct content stays a fail whatever the other gates show. The stop rules apply to fictional copy as they would to a real message.
Passing the rehearsal does not promise a launch. A proceed decision at day 90 authorises only the defined next step, not a site consolidation or public launch. Whether a message is needed at all is a strategy question, set out in the strategy and planning guide.
Before you act
- Prepare a synthetic recipient list and a harmless fictional source copy.
- Test approve, distribute, pause, correct and restore with authorised and unauthorised roles.
- Record expected event, actual observation, tester role, timestamp and evidence location.
- Insert a fictional wrong date and find every controlled copy.
- Keep the correction record.
- Do not send dummy news to journalists.
Common questions
Why rehearse on synthetic copy?
Synthetic copy and a synthetic recipient list mean nothing reaches a real person. No audience behaviour can be inferred, and nobody receives dummy news. The exercise tests the route that approval, distribution and correction would take.
What does the wrong-date drill check?
Whether the team can find every controlled copy, issue a replacement and retain the correction record. It also shows where Cedar Vale's control ends and an independent recipient decides what happens next.
Does the cyber tabletop replace incident command?
No. The NCSC guidance supports planning and coordination in a cyber incident. It does not certify this exercise or replace Cedar Vale's incident command.
