Dear abhay,
1. Table Top Mock Drill is a planning tool used as first step in developing and testing contingency plans, for emergencies, business recovery, crisis management, mission planning, etc.
It is a suggested methodology used in the US Governments National Incident Management System (NIMS).
Basically, participants selected according to resource criteria in NIMS are gathered together to take a scenario (possible situation) and work through the response to and management of that scenario in a conference room or seminar (classroom) setting. The TTMD follows the process flow of incident managment, and preliminary assessments of needs and of bottle necks are identified. Secondly, it acts as a training tool for the participants to get them used to working with each other, and with dealing with the incident or mission as a team working within the system.
2. Participants are those individuals, organizations, and / or agencies who may be expected to manage the incident or mission. These are selected by the IC (Incident Commander) and Planner.
3. There are several ways to conduct. Most common method is to gather the participants in a room at a specified time, review basics of the NIMS, and present the scenario. Notes are kept of responses to the scenario, of, areas needing improvement, and of lessons learned in conducting the TTMD.
4. The TTMD benefits are in pre-planning and resolving issues prior to an active drill, and in providing training to the participants.
Unfortunately, I do not have my NIMS training examples here at this site. You may want to "Google" the following topics:
- Incident Command System\
- National Incident Management System
- Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
- Scenario - based training, Scenario - based testing
- Crisis Management
Hope that this information helps. . .
Thanks & Besafe
Raghu