DORA Foundation — Lesson 4: Third-Party Risk, Contracts, Registers, Oversight, Information Sharing, and Improvement

Learning Objectives

• Interpret the requirements, principles, roles, and dependencies shaping third-party risk, contracts, registers, oversight, information sharing, and improvement.
• Apply a practical workflow and create a reviewable third-party resilience improvement plan.
• Evaluate the exception where contracts omit exit and data-access provisions and determine proportionate follow-up.

Detailed Topics

• Third-Party Risk applied to the course scenario and expected evidence.
• Contracts applied to the course scenario and expected evidence.
• Registers applied to the course scenario and expected evidence.
• Oversight applied to the course scenario and expected evidence.
• Information Sharing applied to the course scenario and expected evidence.
• and Improvement applied to the course scenario and expected evidence.

Instructor Demonstration

The instructor traces a case involving a financial entity mapping regulatory resilience responsibilities across business, technology, security, continuity, and suppliers. The demonstration links decisions to objective evidence, records the result in third-party resilience improvement plan, and tests the condition where contracts omit exit and data-access provisions.

Hands-On Exercise

Complete a controlled exercise covering Third-Party Risk, Contracts, Registers, Oversight, Information Sharing, and Improvement. Confirm scope and responsibilities, examine the stated exception, reach a supported conclusion, and preserve the outcome in third-party resilience improvement plan.

1. Define the objective, boundaries, stakeholders, criteria, and expected work product.
2. Perform the activity while recording assumptions, observations, evidence, and decisions.
3. Test normal operation, the exception, and an escalation or follow-up condition.
4. Document conclusions, owners, deadlines, verification methods, and review triggers.

Scenario Analysis

• Identify the requirement or control with the strongest influence on the scenario outcome.
• Compare two defensible responses and explain their risk, operational, and evidence trade-offs.
• Decide how the third-party resilience improvement plan should be approved, retained, reviewed, and updated.

Troubleshooting Guidance

Start where expected practice and observed evidence first diverge. Separate a missing record from an ineffective process, distinguish unclear ownership from a control failure, and treat “contracts omit exit and data-access provisions” as a hypothesis until tested against the applicable criteria and intended outcome.

Validation Checklist

• Scope, roles, criteria, stakeholders, dependencies, and intended outcomes are explicit.
• The third-party resilience improvement plan connects conclusions to objective, reviewable support.
• Normal operation, the stated exception, escalation, and follow-up were evaluated.
• Owners, due dates, verification methods, review triggers, and improvement actions are clear.

Lesson Outcome

Learners can apply Third-Party Risk, Contracts, Registers, Oversight, Information Sharing, and Improvement, explain the reasoning used, and defend the result through third-party resilience improvement plan.