Difference between contingency plan and contingency planning

A contingency plan is made for emergency response, backup operations and post-disaster recovery for information systems and IT facilities when an unexpected service interruption takes place. The objective of this plan is to lead to minimal impact upon normal operations service capacity in the event of damage to information systems or facilities in which they're stored. Crisis management is part of the contingency plan in that it describes the measures to be taken to manage unexpected occurrences 
in the operational environment. 

Contingency planning addresses how to keep a company's critical processes running if any disruption happens. It's how a company prepares its staff for emergency situations.  A major element to that preparation is envisioning all of the potential emergencies that could occur. If a scenario would be dire if it occurred, it is worth the time and resources to prepare for its realization. Businesses, governments and other organizations that employ contingency planning consider a range of scenarios that could affect their operations, aiming to be comprehensive in the scope of emergencies that they examine. Overlooking a possible category of emergency in the contingency planning phase can leave an organization poorly prepared when a crisis hits. A helpful analogy to helping visualise the importance of contingency planning is how you would react if your house suddenly caught fire. It might be tempting to think that the obvious answer is to gather all your belongings that can be savaged and make a run for it as fast as possible. However, it's wishful thinking in that it's a prediction based on what you would instinctively do should that happen. 

Nevertheless, an effective contingency planning can't work out on instinctive reaction alone. If anything, it's counterproductive to rely on knee-jerk reflexes alone while throwing caution and reason to the winds. In order to be best prepared when a fire starts, you should think of all the possible steps to be taken to ensure as much safety as possible while minimising material loss. This would include a series of procedures like ensuring that both the fire brigade's number and a handy phone are within reach for contact, placing fire extinguishers at strategic locations and becoming familiarised with operating them and deploying them quickly whenever applicable, placing exit signs in order to coordinate a safe escapade, making sure that emergency stairways are always unobstructed etc. The procedures might seem glaringly obvious from a reasonable standpoint, but in the heat of the moment it's easy to get caught in the conundrum and not do the most reasonable thing. Officially documenting a contingency planning helps prevent chaotic behaviour that might only exacerbate the trouble. Same applies to decreasing the damage done to an organisation's operations and information systems. Contingency planning also goes through a series of similar stages such as identification of critical processes, Business Impact Analysis,  plan development and documentation, training, testing and maintenance and update.   

Common steps for contingency planning. From <http://homeworkhelpexperts.blogspot.com.br/2011/07/steps-of-developing-contingency-plan.html>