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Guna Selvaduray, Ph.D.
(2000 GUIDE)
To most people, earthquake damage means collapsed buildings and freeway overpasses. These are structures. But even if the structures are not damaged, buildings can be rendered useless by damage to nonstructural components, including architectural features, ceilings, partition walls, HVAC systems, and office or production equipment. After the Northridge earthquake, at least one hospital closed because of nonstructural damage. All patients were evacuated. Even minor earthquakes can cause non
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Jim McGinty
(2000 GUIDE)
Do you have personnel trained to deal with the increasingly prevalent bomb threat? Bomb threats are costing corporations, property managers, building owners and tenants across the country millions of dollars in lost revenue each year. The unnecessary evacuations of properties and lost productivity are often a direct result of not having an adequate plan for dealing with bomb threats. Large metropolitan cities easily face hundreds of bomb threat calls each year. And over 99% of the threats
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Larry Barton
(2000 GUIDE)
One of the greatest frustrations a crisis manager faces is when great decisions are made during a crisis, but a senior manager screams: "All of this is fine, but why doesn’t anyone know about it!?" Crisis communication is an art, and every member of your response team should be a contributing artist. This article examines three building blocks of effective communication: • Who are my stakeholders and who is the audience? • What is my message? • Wha
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Gennie Thompson, Shad Burcham
(2000 GUIDE)
"WTO" was a weeklong gathering in Seattle, Washington, of officials from approximately 150 countries, complicated by demonstrators and disruptions. In retrospect, what can we learn from the WTO experience to assist in preparing for future similar events in our communities? Can we mitigate negative impacts from these events? The destruction of private property and breaking of laws were the objectives of radical groups. An approximate four square mile area of downtown Seattle experi
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James Lee Witt
(2000 GUIDE)
Today we seek not just progress, but a whole new way of thinking about disaster. We seek not just to turn the page of history forward, but to open a new chapter. As we pursue this vision together, our guides are the memories of those who perished in disasters, the anguish of those who survived and, above all, the fighting spirit of those who were determined to rebuild. Now, the same fighting spirit which has spurred disaster victims to forge ahead, has rallied diverse fac
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Pat Moore
(2000 GUIDE)
Disaster recovery, emergency management and continuity planning professionals in both the public and private sectors worldwide continue to face many challenges as they strive to do their jobs in a rapidly changing business and service environment. In recent years our industry has seen downsizing, re-engineering, outsourcing, changes in technology, lack of uniform standards, globalization, worldwide demand for disaster-resistant communities, and constant requirements for ongoing dialogue an
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Cole Emerson
(2000 GUIDE)
For several years companies have invested many millions of dollars preparing for Y2K. Never in the world’s short technical history have so many people invested so much time in fixing a common problem. The total expenditures on "Y2K" may actually exceed the entire financial cost of WWII! This article assesses the residual value of the Y2K effort for business continuity planners. The tremendous effort was needed to correct the problems caused by the so-called "Y2K bug". Without
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Brian Turley
(2000 GUIDE)
The Internet is the fastest and easiest way to obtain information on almost any topic and has become the preferred vehicle for information seekers. Just about everyone who uses a computer uses the Internet. Business people rely on the Internet to keep abreast of the latest news regarding services, products, and publications, as well as topics of personal interest. Given the comfort level of employees and Internet usage, many businesses are incorporating web-based products into their
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John Copenhaver
(2000 GUIDE)
It is 11:00 a.m. in the morning on September 12, 2003, and a Category 4 hurricane named Erika is making landfall in the southeastern U.S. A storm surge of 18 feet brings the waters of the Atlantic Ocean roaring into the coastal town of Anywhere, with 20 foot waves topping this moving wall of water. Sustained winds of 135 miles per hour tear at trees and buildings, turning loose objects into dangerous projectiles. Hurricane Erika will be the largest and strongest hurricane of the 2003 hurri
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Courtesy of FEMA
(2000 GUIDE)
Your employees are your most valuable assets. Helping them to protect their families and property will be your most important step in post-disaster recovery. DEVELOP A FAMILY PLAN The first step is to develop a plan based upon natural disasters that are likely in your region of the country. The plan should include the following: 1. Keep supplies on hand. 2. Have a communications plan. 3. Teach family members how to respond. PREPARING F
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Jim Richards
(2000 GUIDE)
In the 1970s, computer operations and data processing became an integral part of an organization’s ability to function. Business operations could no longer be carried out during a disaster by simply adding staff and equipment. Additionally, the expense of duplicating computer-processing facilities was financially unfeasible. This paved the way for disaster recovery centers that gave corporations the safety net they needed to run at or near capacity and still be prepared for emergencie
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Robert P. Campbell
(2000 GUIDE)
THE ACCELERATING CONVERGENCE OF DISCIPLINES In the last decade, emergency preparedness, crisis management, incident response and other related disciplines heavily influenced the evolution of continuity planning. We saw the tenets of disaster recovery and business resumption broadened to embrace important concepts from each of those disciplines. In the new Millennium, look for more significant changes in the way we do business. One area that is underway, is the accelerat
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Ted Gulley
(2000 GUIDE)
As today’s computing environment becomes more decentralized, the amount of critical data being processed at remote sites and on remote LANs is growing exponentially. The responsibility of backing up the data at these remote sites is becoming a growing challenge for IS managers. KEY CHALLENGES In a distributed computing environment, IS managers need to decide what remote servers require back up and with what frequency. Additionally, it is necessary for managers to
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Darrick Finan
(2000 GUIDE)
In today's era of razor-thin profit margins and ever-increasing global competition, tightly managing costs becomes more important than ever. Network protection is subject to these cost pressures and dwindling budgets. Large firms with full-time applications can lose as much as $108,000 per minute of downtime (Contingency Planning Research, Inc.). In this environment, the challenge of guarding against lost business time and revenue, while maintaining strict budgets, is difficult. The e-revo
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Marvin Howell
(2000 GUIDE)
While many think of storm surges and gale force winds as the most destructive elements of a hurricane, Floyd caused much more damage from in-land flooding. In a small east coast town, hundreds of homes, an AT&T switching station, and a large corporate data center were engulfed with four feet of muddy water when a local river spilled over its banks. Once the flooded buildings were accessible, management of the corporate data center found that the bottom three rows of cartridge rac
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Jon William Toigo
(2000 GUIDE)
With the growing popularity of the Internet and World Wide Web over the last few years, companies have been making significant investments to web-enable their legacy applications so they can be accessed directly by remote employees, business partners and even customers. In the process, they have made several discoveries that are of tremendous importance to traditional contingency planning methodology. Many existing client/server applications are not only difficult to port for web-based dep
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Pat McAnally, Bill DiMartini, George Hakun and Joe Riley
(2000 GUIDE)
Though the benefits of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) are numerous, including improvements in scheduling, idle time, inventory slack, and access to distribution channels, the use of ERP presents significant business continuity issues. Companies don’t want to talk about how vulnerable they are – for obvious reasons. And ERP vendors are in business to talk about how their software works – not about what happens if it isn’t up and running. System integrators are driving
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Pat McAnally, Bill DiMartini, George Hakun, John Lindeman and Robert Parker
(2000 GUIDE)
Information. There’s no debate that it’s been at the core of business for decades. However, with the rise in global competition and the emergence of the Internet sales channel, information is accessed by employees, customers and partners far beyond traditional boundaries and their expectations for instantaneous response continues to skyrocket. Now, information availability is used as a competitive advantage, whether it’s the website being available, financial infor
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Larry Wenzel
(2000 GUIDE)
Loss Control is about staying in business, no matter what. Have you done what you can do at all of your facilities to improve your chances for uninterrupted operations? This article addresses some of these issues, and suggests strategies to make your company the one that bounces back quickly. "It won’t happen to us" has destroyed too many companies; don’t let yours be the next! COMMITMENT The first issue to address is management’s commitment to loss prev
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Pat Moore
(2000 GUIDE)
The very recent horrific flooding situations throughout the United States and the rest of the world exemplify how disastrous extreme water damage can be. Along with the tragic loss of life came almost irreparable physical property damage. DAMAGE ASSESSMENT Until the water recedes, a proper and thorough site/damage assessment cannot be performed. Water and silt, associated with floods, can carry contaminants such as bacteria, heavy metals, pesticides, PCBs and hydrocar
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Lawrie N. Ackerman
(2000 GUIDE)
PICTURE THIS You are the MIS director of a large manufacturer. A fire erupts in your building over a long holiday weekend, leaving your mainframe, networked desktops and other equipment alternately coated with thick, black smoke and a light dusting of soot, mixed with water from the firefighting effort. What’s more, the plant manager tells you most of his machinery and controls have been similarly affected. You stand in the midst of your crippled equipment, facing business int
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Carol Dorris Andersen
(1996 GUIDE)
During disasters, employees sometime become dysfunctional. They are worried about families, have thoughts of inadequacy, or react to seeing an injured co-worker. On a typical workday, under normal work conditions, a company will have approximately 10 - 20% of its labor force under enough work related stress to result in decreased performance, safety hazards, or poor work habits. After a crisis, performance is decreased from 30 - 75% for a period of time. 6 to 12 weeks is considered average.
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Pete Ashen
(1996 GUIDE)
1. List the number and location of all pay phones in and near your facility. This will be very helpful in the event that your phone system crashes. 2. List the number and location of all fax and direct lines into your facility. 3. Develop a list which includes telephone numbers and addresses of the following: Customers Contractors Employees Critical Resources Plumber Electrician Heating/Air-Conditioning Telephon
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Cole Emerson
(1996 GUIDE)
The earthquake measuring 7 on the Japanese scale killed nearly 6,000 people, injured over 16,000 and destroyed over 55,000 buildings in the city. The damage from the earthquake disrupted major transportation routes and facilities, destroyed a majority of the port operations and stopped a majority of business operations for many weeks. The earthquake is now known as The Great Hanshin Earthquake. Many of the deaths and much of the business disruption could have been prevented or at leas
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Judy Bell
(2000 GUIDE)
Following is a list of what to do before, during, and after an earthquake to more effectively use your phone if you are at work when the "BIG ONE" strikes. BEFORE THE DISASTER: Designate a contact point at work for messages if employees will need to let you know their status. Have each employee provide you and their family an out-of-area contact name and number. This may be the only way to reunite employees with their families or let relatives know someone is
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(1996 GUIDE)
In today's expanding world of wireless devices, plans for disaster recovery should include many forms of radio communications. A decade ago, the disaster planner would have had only two-way radio, paging, and maybe the IMTS mobile telephone network to work with. It's a new day! While two-way radio and paging still comprise the backbone of emergency communications, sophisticated wireless data devices are being introduced into the market almost daily. Presently, one can send e-mail and faxes
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Caroline Pratt
(1996 GUIDE)
When disaster strikes our first response must be to save lives and property. Our success is directly related to what we have done prior to the emergency to develop organized and trained teams for an effective first response and continued operational control. The ultimate goal is to recover and continue as individuals and as business or governmental entities. Emergency Response Teams (ERTs) are your "First Responders". "Command and Control" ultimately rests with your Emergency Operations Ce
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Lloyd R. Smith, Jr.
(1996 GUIDE)
On April 19th, 1995, the citizens of Oklahoma were severely impacted by a terrorist bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City. There were 169 dead, several hundred injured, 312 damaged buildings, six collapsed structures, and over 2000 damaged cars. The message was loud and clear…we are all vulnerable to the attack of a terrorist. At 9:02am I was six blocks away. I felt the tremendous blast. I saw the smoke rise above the skyline. I knew there had been a powerfu
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Robert Takemura and Roger M. Taylor
(1996 GUIDE)
There are a great many challenges facing the contingency planning industry in 1996. The disasters of the recent past have forced these issues to the surface and it is up to us as professionals in our field to work together to resolve these challenges. One area that is coming to the forefront of corporate contingency planning is the need to safeguard a company's LAN/WAN and PC based technologies. The proliferation of Client/Server based systems has spread the risk (to a certain extent) away from
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Norm Harris
(1997 GUIDE)
"Who has the responsibility for disaster recovery planning?" When this question is proffered throughout the organization, most often the returning answer will be, "the disaster recovery coordinator". But when seeking information regarding the various approvals required to implement or activate the recovery plan, the response most often received is, "top management". SEEK SUPPORT AT ALL LEVELS Most of us responsible for recovery planning have heard...and have many times said ourselv
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(1997 GUIDE)
The Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, is an independent agency of the federal government, reporting to the President. Since its founding in 1979, FEMA's mission has been to reduce loss of life and property and protect our nation's critical infrastructure from all types of hazards, through a comprehensive, risk-based emergency management program of Mitigation, Preparedness, Response and Recovery. THE PEOPLE OF FEMA There are more than 2,600 full-time employees working at FE
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Ed Golden
(1997 GUIDE)
You can bet on it. Every single day, companies of all sizes are shut down by disasters like fires, power disruptions, or employee sabotage (in fact, more critical data each year is lost to intentional or unintentional human disruptions than to acts of nature). And, these disasters can take by surprise and permanently put out of business any company that doesn't protect and secure back-up data off-site, off-line and out of reach. But you can be prepared. Disaster veterans know that effective
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James L. Witt
(1997 GUIDE)
For too long, our nation's emergency management system has relied almost exclusively on government and volunteer groups to assist communities in preparing for, responding to and recovering from disasters. The time has come for the business community to become a full partner in our nation's emergency management system. The health and safety of our citizens; the vitality and the future of our communities depend on it. WHY BUSINESS SECTOR INVOLVEMENT? One of FEMA's principal stra
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Pat Moore
(1997 GUIDE)
Singular, isolated business or service disruptions as well as large-scale, community-wide disasters have shown us that a well designed and tested enterprise-wide recovery and continuity plan must be in place. Ensuring that an organization's assets, operations, commitments and relationships enterprise-wide are protected is a critical element of staying in business. The frequency and severity with which singular and regional disasters are occurring today prove that planning for the emergency respo
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Kathryn Rospond
(1997 GUIDE)
Your company has spent countless hours, maybe even years, developing what you think is the perfect disaster recovery plan. But one important area may have been overlooked--Insurance. No plan is complete without the funds to implement it. Chances are your operation is not without some type of insurance. The question remains, however, are you adequately insured? Because of a failure on the part of an agent or corporate personnel to fully understand how your business operates (including i
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Ben Taylor, Ron Ginn, and Beth Armstrong
(1998 GUIDE)
The "big picture" for planning and managing emergencies is similar, whether you’re working for business or for government, two sectors which are highly interdependent, no more so than during a disaster. The goal is survival with minimal losses and prompt recovery to normal operations. The needs are mitigation, preparedness, response, recovery and continuity. The key ingredients are top-level commitment, teamwork and thoughtful analysis.
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Joan T. Schaming
(1998 GUIDE)
Most people equate risk management with insurance. If you think about it, that is quite absurd. Is buying insurance the only way to manage risk? Of course not. Insurance is one aspect of risk management, but certainly not the only one. Then there are the operations managers who equate risk management with disaster recovery. This too is only one aspect of managing risk. What concerns me most with this thought process is that these managers are only concentrating on reaction,
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(1998 GUIDE)
ACCESS A Centralized Computerized Enforcement Service System AFRCC Air Force Rescue Coordination Center AG Attorney General AMS American Measuring Systems ANI American Nuclear Insurers APCO Associated Public Safety Communications Officer, Inc. ARAC Atmospheric Release Advisory Capability ARC American Red Cross ARES Amateur Radio Emergency Services ARM Aerial Radiological Monitor ARRL
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John Laye
(1998 GUIDE)
Education and training are different. Training is knowledge specific, and is usually a stand-alone course; education teaches principles, and is usually a program of linked courses. A good maxim is, "An educated person can train him/herself." Which type of course or program best fits your needs depends on where you are in the order of things. Educational programs are designed for managers – people who must analyze complex situations, then develop and manage projects to improve things,
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Curt Edfast and Graeme Jannaway
(1998 GUIDE)
Disaster recovery began in the late seventies as a method of protecting large computer data center installations from unlikely events like earthquakes, hurricanes, etc. By the mid-eighties, "hotsite" service providers and a few disaster recovery consulting firms had become established. They provided companies with a variety of alternatives and recovery services to recover the computer system. By 1990, telecommunications and network recovery were receiving major attention. TODAY, NEW CONC
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Leo A. Wrobel
(1998 GUIDE)
Take this "Cosmo" style survey for technical support managers to tell you about your relationships (in this case, with your client/server system). Hopefully, this approach, while somewhat lighthearted, will make a few valid points about network vulnerability, especially in the client/server environment. RATE YOUR CLIENT/SERVER VULNERABILITY 1. Are you too dependent on your "significant other"? As processing has become more distributive in general, mainline business operatio
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Paul Kirvan
(1998 GUIDE)
Despite their best intentions, many U.S. companies will not be Year 2000 compliant in time for January 1, 2000. Assuming your company has a Y2K effort underway, now is the ideal time to build a Y2K contingency plan. Here are some items you can incorporate into a Y2K contingency plan: 1. Remember that Y2K affects all software-based systems. In addition to IT/IS applications, voice and data network devices and their management systems are at risk as well. It is just as impor
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Tom Campbell and Pat Moore
(1998 GUIDE)
In today’s highly competitive environment, companies are struggling to stay on top by finding ways to both limit expenses and increase profits. No company can afford the loss of property and productivity from destruction caused by fire or natural hazards. Although insurance helps to alleviate some of the costs of such disasters, intangibles—loss of time, customers, goodwill and trained employees—add other costs that generally are not covered by insurance. Equipment damaged
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Timothy J. Smith
(1998 GUIDE)
Floods in the Midwest, Canada and the South…the current threats of El Niño…fire sprinklers in your own facility—most of us could experience significant business disruption from water damage to electrical equipment and switches. Do you know the potential impact on your organization from water damage? The Dilemma… Critical Equipment Located Primarily in Basements! Typical construction has a tendency to put critical but "ugly" items such as electrical c
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Jakob Steinberg and Don Saracco
(1998 GUIDE)
Traditionally, business recovery focused solely on the physical plant, computer systems and telecommunications networks after an event. Now, Human Resource recovery is becoming recognized as an essential element in business continuity. Companies have begun to include mitigation and recovery strategies for the critical element that makes them successful every day—their people! The human component of the disaster plan includes a wide spectrum of issues that should be considered. A few
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Allen J. Pomerantz
(1998 GUIDE)
THE PROBLEM... Stress has reached epidemic proportions in our society today, costing the US economy nearly 100 billion dollars from related illnesses and reduced productivity. In disaster response and recovery, stress is amplified. The short-term repression of these stress factors can result in traumatic stress related problems during or even after the event that caused the stress has subsided. Crisis management courses teach the recognition of the symptoms of stress. An emphasis
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Agnes Huff
(1998 GUIDE)
Designing a team to skillfully communicate and respond in a crisis is one of the most important things you can do to safeguard your company’s reputation and survival. The right crisis team members will ensure that your responses instill public confidence in your company, rather than cause irreparable damage. So where do you start? How do you determine who your team members are, what their responsibilities will be, and how to help them respond in a crisis? Now is the time to decide. I
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Bill Patterson
(1998 GUIDE)
The most important communications strategy in a crisis, particularly in the first few hours, is to be open with the public by being available to the news media. Perception is truth and the media creates the perception following a crisis . For those who would even think of implementing a "no comment" philosophy with the media, I offer this fact: The trade journal, PR News, cites a survey that says 65 percent of the public takes "no comment" as an admission of guilt. Here are the 10 mos
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Brent Woodworth
(1998 GUIDE)
"…10-4, we have a 10-99 situation here please respond…" No, you don’t have to watch reruns of Broadrick Crawford in "Highway Patrol" in order to understand the basic elements of today’s Incident Command System (ICS). You also don’t have to be a company the size of General Motors or an organization as complex as the U.S. Army to benefit from learning the basic elements of ICS. By Brent Woodworth In a recent fire that threatened a large Southern Califor
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Kathy G. Rainey
(1998 GUIDE)
"The wise man built his house upon a rock....the rain and floods came, the winds blew....but the house stood firm, for it was built upon a rock. The foolish man built his house upon the sand......the rain and floods came, the winds blew....and great was the loss!" This parable is about building strong foundations. Likewise, the DISASTER RESOURCE GUIDE is about helping companies, institutions, communities, and families preserve and protect those things that are most important– peopl
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Brian Coates
(1999 GUIDE)
A Fortune 100 company, having completed all Y2K remediation activities, was recently conducting a test at its "state of the art" facility. Suddenly a failure rendered all systems inoperable. After many hours of searching, the problem was found. A single PC in the control room had failed and brought down all systems in the entire building. This left the facility with no access to general infrastructure requirements, including security. The problem was an isolated incident that occurred on a weeke
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Dan Paulk
(0 GUIDE)
Traumatic Event - an experience so powerful that it goes beyond a normal coping mechanisms. Perceived through all senses: sight, sound, touch, smell, taste. Overwhelms the mind: too big to handle. Causes defense mechanisms such as dissociation, denial. The "Faces" of Traumatic Stress People with traumatic stress have normal and expected sets of symptoms. Many reactions are rather predictable and common for most people: Physic
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Jakob Steinberg and Robin Fried Steinberg
(0 GUIDE)
When a catastrophic event impacts an organization, stress permeates the system and the employees who work there. This stress is concentrated in the "war room" where the important efforts to achieve recovery will be concentrated. During a disaster recovery operation, the assumption is that all stress is negative or counterproductive. However, it is not necessarily the case. When disaster strikes, the agency/business that has a comprehensive business continuity and disaster recovery plan read
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Judy Bell
(0 GUIDE)
You are at work, your children are in school, and your elderly mother is at home alone. The earth begins to shake. Quickly, you duck under your desk to protect yourself. The intensity increases, and the first thought that flashes into your mind is, "this is it, the BIG ONE is hitting!" The unthinkable has happened. It has struck during work hours, and you are frantic to find out about your loved ones. How will you reach them? The situation doesn’t have to be an earthquake. A plane
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Judy K. Bell
(0 GUIDE)
1. Who is responsible for ensuring that back-up communications and systems recovery plans are established? 2. What are your existing communications capabilities? A. Voice________________________________________________ B. Data_________________________________________________ C. Image Transmission____________________________________ 3. Take an inventory of your existing back-up communications: A. Radio_________________________________________________
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Judy Bell, CEM
(0 GUIDE)
How effective is the hazard reduction program in your organization? Most groups discover that they haven’t maintained their program after the latest earthquake. Then everyone scrambles to order more securing devices that may or may not actually get installed, depending on the amount of time that lapses between the last shaker, the funding request, and the maintenance crew’s workload. How can you break this cycle? Make your hazard reduction program a part of your ongoing Inj
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Judy Bell
(0 GUIDE)
In today’s business environment, communications and information technology equipment transcend all organizational boundaries. Plans to restore both need to be an integral part of every organization’s business recovery plans. Some businesses believe they cannot afford the time to create recovery plans, then find out later that they cannot continue to operate when disaster does strike. Take the time now to build an effective communications plan. By Judy Bell, CEM Disaster
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Judy Bell
(0 GUIDE)
In past disasters businesses, schools, and public agencies set up temporary operations immediately after a disaster any way and anywhere they could. In the first weeks following the Northridge earthquake, makeshift cardboard signs were used extensively to convey critical information about hours of business and temporary locations. Signs were painted on storefronts to indicate who was open. Boarded windows carried advertisements for glass repair companies as well as lumber and other critical
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Bill Patterson
(0 GUIDE)
Ask most corporate executives about their plans for crisis management and chances are that many of them will say something like, "Sure, we’ve got a crisis plan. Harry, over in public relations, takes care of that." But, just what does Harry really have? Unfortunately, in many cases, it is just an emergency checklist with some phone numbers. What will Harry do when 50 pickets show up outside your company headquarters? What is Harry suppose to do when your top-selling produc
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Bill Patterson
(0 GUIDE)
Chemical companies and others that have chemicals on premises, each year must face up to the ramifications of a new but unwanted female: SARA Title III! The news media and the environmental groups have now discovered how to use your Title III reports. Now, the chemicals are out of the bag, so to speak. Nightly network newscasts, most major newspapers, weekly news magazines and the local media have found out about who is doing what to the environment. They all have instant computer access to
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Bill Patterson
(0 GUIDE)
In today’s business, professional and media climates, expert and articulate spokespersons are in demand. From specific explanations of services, products or policies to general opinions on business, socio-economic forces and government regulations, spokespersons are sought out for answers in their area of expertise. Since all companies face increasingly complex communications challenges, the need for training company managers to meet these challenges becomes more important. Adding
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Bill Patterson
(0 GUIDE)
The modern definition of an executive’s bad day: Arriving for work to find a "60 Minutes" news crew or Sam Donaldson camped out in the lobby. But even a routine call from a local reporter is enough to cause panic in many executives. "What do they want?" "What do I say?" "Why me?," they ask. Increasingly, business news is front page news, no longer relegated to the business section next to the stock tables. Critical stories about product recalls, mergers, downsizing and hostil
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Dan Paulk
(0 GUIDE)
What would be the effect of a "worst case scenario" if it occurred at your work facility (any kind of disaster or calamity)? It is important to try and calculate the "impact value" of a crisis because that will tell you how damaging a "critical incident" will be if there is no crisis intervention the amount of scrutiny the crisis might generate What kind of news coverage might ensue? What kind of agencies might get involved? OSHA?
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Jack Wiles
(0 GUIDE)
Everything is high-tech these days including the minds of the world’s criminal element. If they find an opportunity, they won’t think twice before breaking into your corporate computers and possibly causing you the biggest ‘front page news’ disaster that you could ever imagine. It has already happened to a number of organizations . Do you have the necessary controls in place to prevent this type of disaster? As an auditor, you will be the one responsible for the investig
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Dan Paulk
(0 GUIDE)
These very important meetings provide much needed information, predictability, and a reasonable measure of stress reduction to help prepare the employees for the transition from the crisis impacted work-site to their homes, or for next shift workers just arriving. These meetings should be mandatory . Acknowledge the significance of the incident: Everyone is affected to varying degrees. Even though things may still be chaotic and some details unknown,
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Don Saracco
(2002 GUIDE)
Executive Summary: Never before as a business leader have you faced more people with more passion about the importance of disaster planning. They want you to invest in or give personal support to their efforts. Living, as we are, in the shadow of horrific events that are likely to be repeated there is good reason to listen to their pleas. We have seen how human evil and amoral nature can wreak havoc on humanity, crush businesses and depress the global economy. The damage can go far beyond the me
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Leo A. Wrobel
(0 GUIDE)
Technologists often exhibit an unexpected response when asked by management to produce a disaster recovery plan for an automated system. They get genuinely ticked off . In the mind of a good technologist, this request is often interpreted as a signal that management does not trust them to recover in the event of a disaster. They look at the disaster recovery plan as some kind of a test to prove they know how to do their jobs! Those responsible for technical systems in vir
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Dan Paulk
(0 GUIDE)
You, or someone you care about, has been closely involved with a traumatic event. As a result, you may now be having stress reactions. These reactions and feelings are normal. Traumatic stress reactions may be mild or they may be strong. But they are normal -- others who were affected are having stress reactions, too. "What are the Common Stress Reactions?" You may be feeling tired or exhausted. You may have headaches. It might be hard for you to sleep, and y
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Dan Paulk
(0 GUIDE)
Problem: It is several days or a week after the crisis event, and you continue to notice symptoms such as: Employee displays an unusual disinterest or disregard of work Misses deadlines Increased difficulty in handling assignments Makes unusual mistakes or uses poor judgment as compared to former performance Increased absenteeism or lateness Visibly upset - worried - fearful - preoccupied Demonstrates mood swings Isolates from oth
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Thomas H. Ralph
(1999 GUIDE)
The Medical Examiner/Coroner is responsible for the recovery, identification, and disposition of mass fatality incident victims. One of the sad realities of disasters is that they can result in the loss of human life. Many emergency responders have learned this from their own experience, and they will remember the incident for a long time. Mass fatality disasters are often long remembered by the responders, the community, the state and the nation. Disaster management is important, and
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Michael Carter, PhD
(1999 GUIDE)
A business is like a machine. It is without emotion, task-oriented and incapable of feeling pain. From the time it is built, it is concerned only with efficiently performing its function. If you think this is a disturbing analogy, you are right! What happens when a machine breaks down? Often times, you can simply replace its parts and it will be as good as new. But it is far more difficult to replace people working in a business. When disaster strikes, chances are your employees will not be
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Bill Baker
(1999 GUIDE)
If power goes south in your community on January 1, 2000, how will you tell citizens what direction to turn? If an industrial emergency exists because of a lack of communication or control, how can you notify nearby residents? As the countdown to 2000 continues, many cities, counties and their industries are looking for a reliable communication system that will function on Day 1, 2000 – in the event that every PC, two-way radio, cable TV link, telephone and power outlet goes cold.
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Courtesy of FEMA
(1999 GUIDE)
Disaster can strike quickly and without warning. It can force you to evacuate your neighborhood or confine you to your home. What would you do if basic services – water, gas, electricity or telephones (or all four) – were cut off? Local officials and relief workers will be on the scene after a disaster, but they cannot reach everyone right away. Families can – and do – cope with disaster by preparing in advance and working together as a team. Follow the steps li
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Judy Bell
(1999 GUIDE)
The clock strikes midnight. The next second is 00:01, January 1, 2000. Celebrants around the world ring in the new millennium. Some are partying blissfully. Others are awaiting doom. Only time holds the answer to the mystery that has plagued the world for the last decade. Has the Age of Technology, with its associated man-made glitches, brought everything to a halt? The seconds tick on. The first true-life, full-scale test of the Year 2K dilemma has started. Everyone watches a
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James W. Morentz
(1999 GUIDE)
Crisis managers in West Virginia scan the floor plans of key buildings and enter counter terrorism pre-plans for each of them into their PCs to ensure preparedness for terrorist acts. Emergency personnel use software to manage real-time information about volunteers and donated goods after a tornado rips through Alabama. Decision-makers in local government use software to develop Y2K contingency plans and test them during exercises. The details of each of the scenarios des
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Michael W. Frishberg
(1999 GUIDE)
Organizations spend thousands on contingency plan documentation, yet plan activation is infrequent. How is quality assured? What works best to train those needed for plan fulfillment (emergency or business response teams, etc)? Can training and plan maintenance be accomplished more effectively? Management Exercises Control the Planning Process An exercise development process gets the most out of each exercise. The steps below define a process that controls exercise develop
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Leo J. Hertzog, Jr.
(1999 GUIDE)
Have you taken steps to ensure that cash will keep flowing after a disaster? Does your company rely on any form of print and mail services on a day-to-day basis? Does your company rely on processing, printing, and mailing invoices or statements as a means of income? A retail store must mail its bills. A bank needs to mail its statements. Health care organizations must get checks out to their physicians. Insurers must send out their policies. The list of industries that nee
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A.J. Gonzalez and Scott Ream
(1999 GUIDE)
Imagine this… You are responsible for business recovery planning at your corporate data center. You have a staff of one. Your job is to properly maintain and test the recovery plans for the mainframe and mid-range computer systems. Occasionally, you are invited to provide business recovery consulting to an interested affiliate. However, this is rare, because outside the data center, the need for business recovery planning is not recognized, not a priority, not mandated, or
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Cole Emerson
(2000 GUIDE)
Creativity is not always the basis for planning the recovery of business operations in many companies. At Nestle it was the origin. Like many companies Nestle had to find alternatives for recovering their headquarters business operations. The traditional options were using one of the work area recovery vendors of which there were two at the time. Even with the seats available at the chosen provider, Nestle was faced with the problem that there were not enough seats to meet the needs of the
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Randolph A. Fisher, CBCP
(1999 GUIDE)
Data networking needs have been rapidly expanding as a result of new applications and higher bandwidth requirements. Today’s data networks no longer use a single technology. Rather, they are hybrids using technologies that are being driven to the limit with more users and ever-increasing traffic. At the same time, corporations have come to realize that their proprietary information is a most valuable asset, which provides a distinct competitive advantage. As such, it needs to
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Kevin Koski
(1999 GUIDE)
Okay, here comes one more in the plethora of Titanic analogies the recent film has spawned. That historic tragedy offers a lesson to those of us with an interest in fault tolerance and disaster recovery. It provides a classic example of our tendency to place too much confidence in our ability to prevent a disaster from affecting operations, and not adequately preparing to recover should a disaster break through those preventive measures. Capabilities for effective recovery must be in place
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Warren Scrivani
(1999 GUIDE)
Today’s information technology manager has enough headaches without worrying about power management issues. From maintaining a corporation’s Internet and intranet services to preparing for the Y2K debacle, the corporate IT infrastructure is more complex, more integrated and more important to a company’s bottom line than just a few years ago. This dependence on technology has also exacerbated a problem that IT managers should consider: power quality. As more and more
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Paul J. Eckert
(1999 GUIDE)
The dawn of a new millennium is less than a year away, but many of us are still unprepared for the potential disastrous impact of Y2K. Now is the time to evaluate our readiness. For an accurate picture of where we stand, it is often helpful to look to the past as a point of reference. Hindsight is 20/20 and history is our best teacher. Looking Back The computer industry has gone through significant changes that have evolved at turbo-charged speeds. Just a decade ago, our da
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John Lindeman
(1999 GUIDE)
Among the many paradigm shifts sweeping across corporate America, one of the most dramatic is unfolding in the business continuity industry. It is a recovery option few companies would have considered even three to five years ago – electronic vaulting. Traditionally employed for only the highest-end solutions, electronic vaulting is emerging as a viable option for all environments. The concept of electronic vaulting in the disaster recovery industry is becoming an increasingly
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Raja K. Iyer, PhD, CBCP
(1999 GUIDE)
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) refers to the combination of software tools, hardware resources, and network architecture configured and customized to provide business process-oriented information technology environments for enterprises. ERP software products have enabled organizations to: Improve work flow and business processes Gain enterprise-wide productivity Achieve competitive advantages Enhance inter-organizational alliances and relationships (along suppl
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Lawrie N. Ackerman
(1999 GUIDE)
The steps taken after a disaster can make all the difference between a successful recovery and an unsuccessful attempt. Triage and First Aid performed immediately after a fire, flood or other catastrophe can minimize the impact. The following prescribed treatment applies to PCs, mainframes, networks, phone systems and other electrical and electronic equipment. AFTER THE DISASTER OCCURS… Step One: Turn off and remove electrical power to all equipment as soon
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Virginia L. Kubler
(1999 GUIDE)
Security film, a highly sophisticated, laminated film of polyester and metallized coatings bonded by a unique adhesive system can drastically reduce damage and injury due to natural and manmade disasters. The use of glass as a construction material has grown dramatically. Glass is often the first line of impact, yet it is often ignored in vulnerability assessments by security, safety or risk management personnel. INCREASED GLASS USAGE INCREASES RISK The growth of glas
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Pat Moore
(1999 GUIDE)
After an incident resulting in physical property damage occurs, a proper and thorough site/damage assessment must be performed. The assessment not only determines the extent of the damage, potential recovery time frames and costs, but also ensures the safe and healthful "entry requirements" for personnel going into the damaged environment. In many cases, a thorough site or damage assessment is not possible immediately after the fire has been put out, the water contained, or the environm
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Frank Borden and Robert G. Lee
(1999 GUIDE)
When a major disaster strikes a community, critical resources – emergency services, communications, transportation, and lifeline systems – are often overwhelmed. Neighborhoods and businesses are cut off from outside support. There may be restricted access of emergency response organizations into critically affected areas. Individuals, neighborhoods, schools and businesses may need to rely on their own resources for food, water, first aid, and shelter in the 72 hours immediatel
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Tad Monroe
(1999 GUIDE)
In this age of media scrutiny and rampant litigation, emergency and disaster response professionals all too often operate in a "fish bowl." TV cameras, then the lawyers, follow close behind the rescue personnel. Precise and thorough disaster documentation is essential. "Poor documentation is a significant problem in search and rescue and disaster response. People hurry, get sloppy, or distracted. Later it comes back to hurt us. It is nearly impossible to go back and retrace our steps a
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Dave Krikac
(1999 GUIDE)
Government agencies must alert personnel and communities-at-risk when HAZMAT incidents, chemical releases and inclement weather prompt evacuations. Corporations must notify employees when power outages, security breaks and data disruptions jeopardize business continuity. When seconds count, immediate and precise notification can determine the success or failure of a response operation. Until this decade, the only option of notifying "key" individuals was the manual call tree.
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Melvyn Musson
(0 GUIDE)
More and more companies are developing plans to respond to emergency/disaster situations. Such plans can involve special arrangements for alternative premises, detailed procedures and action plans. All of these strategies are dependent upon the actions of company employees. However, what happens if the area of the disaster includes the employee's homes. If your employees have no disaster preparedness plan for their family and property, this can have the potential negative impact on the viab
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Melvyn Musson
(0 GUIDE)
First there was Disaster Recovery for Data Centers, then Business Continuity for business operations, now more companies are developing recovery plans for manufacturing operations /sites. Is this really a new phenomenon? No, not entirely. Manufacturing companies previously considered business interruption aspects but due to the availability of spare manufacturing capacity, or other capabilities, the disruption impact was not company threatening. The downsizing, re-engineering and
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Chris Floyd
(0 GUIDE)
More and more people are making their homes in woodland settings - in or near forests, rural areas or remote sites. There, homeowners enjoy the beauty of the environment but face the very real danger of wildfire. Wildfires often begin unnoticed. They spread quickly, igniting brush, trees and homes. Reduce your risk by preparing now - before wildfire strikes. Meet with your family to decide what to do and where to go if wildfires threaten your area. Practice Wildfire Safety
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Chris Floyd
(0 GUIDE)
Hurricanes are nature’s most severe storms. High winds, clouds, and rain move around the calm center, the eye of the hurricane. Next to the eye are the strongest winds, which make up the eye wall. These winds swirl around the eye in a counter-clockwise motion at speeds anywhere from 74 to 200 mph. Hurricane Season runs from June 1- November 30, with August, September and October as the busiest months of the season. In the summer and late fall, the air over the ocean warms up considerab
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Chris Floyd
(0 GUIDE)
Thunderstorms are our most common experience of severe weather. The typical thunderstorm is 15 miles in diameter and lasts an average of 30 minutes. Despite their small size, thunderstorms are dangerous. Every thunderstorm produces lightning which kills more people each year than tornadoes. Heavy rain from thunderstorms can lead to flash flooding. Strong winds, hail, and tornadoes are also dangers associated with some thunderstorms. Of the estimated 100,000 thunderstorms that occur eac
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Chris Floyd
(0 GUIDE)
Heat can affect anyone. It is most likely to affect young children, elderly people, and people with health problems. For instance, people with a medical condition that causes poor blood circulation, and those who take medications to get rid of water from the body (diuretics) or for certain skin conditions, may be more susceptible to heat sickness than others. It is important for everyone to be prepared for heat emergencies.
Heat wave is a prolonged period of excessive heat and humidity. The
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Pat Moore
(1996 GUIDE)
The numerous community-wide disasters, as well as singular disasters that municipalities, institutions, businesses and government agencies have suffered in the last dozen or so years have shown us that planning for disaster recovery only is simply not enough. We must also plan beyond the emergency response phase for business and service resumption and continuity. In addition to planning for the recovery of critical information services and applications, we must address equally important issues s
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(1996 GUIDE)
Providers of information services deal with production schedules, service level agreements and other customer obligations on a daily basis. As a provider, you also are concerned with recovery time--you know processing disruptions will occur. However, are your users aware of how long recoveries could take and their business responsibilities in the recovery process? Do they know how long you have for recovery? Will both you and your users find out these answers after a disastrous event? If you do,
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John Copenhaver
(1997 GUIDE)
Much has been said (and written) about the subject of our local, state and Federal Emergency Management Agencies "partnering" with the nation's business sector in the four areas of emergency management---preparedness, mitigation, response and recovery. In fact, the concept of these partnerships seems to make sense to such an extent that the question comes to mind, "Why haven't we been doing this all along?" In the answer to this question lies the key to making this effort work for every communit
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Steven Crimando and Jakob Steinberg
(1997 GUIDE)
Business continuity is about people. People, not machines, recover businesses!
As the industry has opened its doors to experts on the human side of disaster recovery, the initial thrust of professional assistance has come in the form of trauma counseling or "debriefing" services to stabilize the emotional reactions of employees in the aftermath of a disaster. While this is a critical link in the recovery process, it represents only one component of total disaster recovery. This concept is kno
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Cole Emerson
(1997 GUIDE)
Business Continuity Planning has progressed significantly in the past ten years. The area that has not received adequate attention or preparation is the area of manufacturing operations. Ironically, this area is typically the source of the company's income and has received less attention than the business operations. There are numerous reasons for this phenomenon.
The #1 Reason....manufacturing is a difficult area for which to plan.
The complexity, limited options and costs associated with
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Troy Harris
(1997 GUIDE)
Contrary to popular belief, Disaster Recovery Planning for a LAN/WAN environment is not entirely different from that of a mainframe environment. The fundamental objectives of Disaster Recovery Planning are the same regardless of the technologies and platforms that constitute the environment that is being protected. The challenges encountered when developing a recovery plan for a LAN/WAN environment correspond to those encountered when doing the same for a mainframe environment. The primary diffe
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Brian L. Mackay
(1997 GUIDE)
The Internet has grown enormously over the past few years. It seems like only yesterday we were hearing about a huge global network able to link thousands of computers and millions of users into a single"Information Super Highway. The hype of the Internet has more than lived up to its early promises and it is redefining the parameters of crisis management.
The Internet lends itself incredibly well to crisis and event management in both the private and public sectors. The Internet was primaril
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(1998 GUIDE)
CPE, FEMA and NEW YORK PARTNERS in DEVELOPING STATE-WIDE PLANS
New York State is sponsoring the Joint Loss Reduction Partnership Project under the leadership of the State Emergency Management Office (SEMO) and the support of the Contingency Planning Exchange (CPE). The partnership comprises a cross-section of the state’s business leadership, along with key federal, state and local government officials, all of whom are familiar with business disruptions and their potentially devastating conseque
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Rocky Lopes
(1998 GUIDE)
Every year emergencies take their toll on business and industry—in lives and dollars. When a crisis or emergency happens, someone must be in charge! Priorities must be established. There are four core functions that should be operational during Crisis and Emergency Response.
DIRECTION AND CONTROL
The system for managing resources, analyzing information and making decisions is called direction and control. There are two areas of leadership. The Emergency Management Group (EMG) is the team res
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Paul F. Kirvan
(1999 GUIDE)
As the year 2000 draws closer, business continuity professionals around the world must make sure that their companies can survive the date change. They must also ensure their information systems and network services – whether internally or externally provided – can handle the date change. They must ensure that business functions supported by IT are not disrupted.
In short, they have a significant task over the remaining months – possibly the most important one of their careers.
Now is NOT
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(1999 GUIDE)
From preparedness and testing to recovery and restoration, today’s contingency planners face a multitude of challenges that require timely solutions.
Finding information and assistance is easy with Disaster Recovery Journal. This quarterly publication is the premier magazine in the contingency planning industry. Since publication began in 1987, Disaster Recovery Journal has covered the latest trends and services in the industry.
"We feature a wide variety of information of use to contingen
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(1999 GUIDE)
Education or Training?
John Laye, Director Emeritus University of California at Berkeley’s Extension Program, differentiates between education and training. "Education and training are different. Training is knowledge specific, and is often a stand-alone course. Education teaches principles, and is often a program of linked courses."
Certificate/Degree Program or Certification Program?
After surveying numerous leaders in the industry, some distinctions are offered between these two kinds of
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Philip Jan Rothstein
(1999 GUIDE)
NATURAL DISASTER MANAGEMENT
By Natural Disaster Management Limited
This book is a commemorative volume celebrating the achievements of the IDNDR. It documents the united effort of the countries of the world to reduce damage and suffering caused by natural disasters. May 1999.
THE DEFINITIVE HANDBOOK OF BUSINESS CONTINUITY MANAGEMENT
Edited by Andrew Hiles and Peter Barnes
This book is intended as the definitive and authoritative handbook for the business continuity industry. It provid
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Jack Cox
(2001 GUIDE)
Executive Summary:
One lasting impact of the Year 2000 non-event was that it raised awareness of contingency planning across a broad constituency of society. Most businesses benefited in a number of significant ways:
• Increased awareness of business interruption issues
• Better understanding of critical processes, vulnerabilities, and emergency response resources
• Replacement or remediation of outdated technology
• Improved cooperation and collaboration between public and private sect
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Randolph A. Fisher
( GUIDE)
PRIMARY SITE RECOVERY
VIA HIGH SPEED PACKET NETWORK REDIRECTION CAPABILITIES
By Randolph A. Fisher, CBCP
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The importance of data as a corporate asset has grown significantly over the past few years with the explosion of the Internet, E-commerce, and 24 x 7 applications. Many applications require near zero downtime. Just a few years ago, customers were willing to tolerate 24 hours of downtime. Today mos
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Mike Stubbs
(0 GUIDE)
Time to face facts! The advent of the Internet has changed the face of business forever. Gone are the days when business as usual meant keeping the lights on and the local area network up and running. Today’s business depends on maintaining a connection with the outside world or more to the point, your customer’s connection with you.
A quick review of your on-ramp to the information superhighway will likely leave you feeling as secure as a Yugo on the autobahn. What’s long been know
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Geary W. Sikich
(2001 GUIDE)
Incidents don't make appointments. They can, and do, occur under the most unfavorable conditions and circumstances
As the authors of the book "Blur" state, "Connectivity, Speed and Intangible Values are the new driving forces in business today. Traditional business boundaries are blurring as everyone becomes electronically connected."
The traditional rules governing the conduct of business are blurred as businesses are redefined, product become services, services become products a
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Don Saracco
(2001 GUIDE)
A community is only as strong as the people who are part of that community. When a disaster strikes, how fast and how well the community recovers rests in the hands of the people. Most businesses know that they have to have some kind of a business continuity plan to ensure that they can continue to operate after the disaster passes. No matter how comprehensive the program is within an organization, if no one comes to work after the disaster, that organization cannot function. How fast an emp
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Rosemary Davis
(2001 GUIDE)
Why does it continue to be an on-going challenge to convince Executive Management of the value a Business Continuity Professional brings to the organization?
Have we been so busy doing our “job” we have not taken time to document our role in easily understood terms that accurately represent the expertise we provide?
This situation is common whether the BCP function is located in IT, Risk Management, Finance, Internal Audit or reports directly to the CEO. When performance reviews come due o
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Betty A. Kildow
(2001 GUIDE)
My dictionary defines "consultant" as: 1. a person who consults with another or others; 2. an expert who is called on for professional or technical advice or opinions. The Thesaurus lists: Advisor, expert, guide, mentor, counselor.
There are also multitudes of less formal (and less complimentary) definitions; among them, "A consultant is a person who borrows your watch to tell you the time." And then sends you a bill!
Based on more than twenty years as a consultant, thirteen of those s
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Betty A. Kildow
(2001 GUIDE)
After weighing the pros and cons, you determine that it is in your organization's best interests to hire a consultant, and you begin the search for the ideal person to borrow your watch. To prevent a negative experience that can waste time and money and leave a bad taste in everyone's mouth, take steps to avoid setting the project up for possible failure.
It's all about developing a working relationship that produces maximum results.
· Spell out your specific reasons for calling in a consu
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Chris Floyd
( GUIDE)
Heat can affect anyone. It is most likely to affect young children, elderly people, and people with health problems. For instance, people with a medical condition that causes poor blood circulation, and those who take medications to get rid of water from the body (diuretics) or for certain skin conditions, may be more susceptible to heat sickness than others. It is important for everyone to be prepared for heat emergencies.
Heat wave is a prolonged period of excessive heat and humidity. The
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John Newton
(2001 GUIDE)
When incidents occur, organizations are judged not only by what is done, but by how those actions and initiatives are communicated to diverse stakeholders. All too often the image and the reputation of an organization in crisis will be interpreted and assaulted by the media. A “prepared“ organization will have input into the kinds of messages and images portrayed.
Business Continuity Demands Well-Integrated Communications
Last minute add-ons or use of generic communications plans rarely w
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(2001 GUIDE)
Critical Incident Protocol
The Emergency Response Phase
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Coordinating public and private responses to an emergency or critical incident is the culmination of risk assessment, critical incident planning, exercises, and mitigation. The effort put into planning will pay dividends and enhance management of a critical incident when it occurs.
One fire chief said, “I want to see a familiar face when I arrive o
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Brent Woodworth
(2001 GUIDE)
Sunil kept shaking his head from side to side appearing to be in strong disagreement as I reviewed our plans to help distribute food and medical supplies across a 100-kilometer area of destruction. I could not believe he was disagreeing with a plan to help orphaned children and earthquake victims. I started over, only louder and with an increased use of hand movements. What was I doing wrong? How could I communicate more effectively? Why was he shaking his head “No”? Finally, Bob, our human
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Don Saracco
(2001 GUIDE)
Executive Summary:
Human concerns in the field of disaster planning, response and recovery are double edged. As people, we care about the lives and safety of others and want to plan and prepare accordingly. As owners and managers of organizations, we must also recognize the threats that people bring and must again plan and prepare accordingly. In this age of growing dependence on technology, as well as increasing distribution of authority, managers must find the crucial balance between con
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Jon William Toigo
(2001 GUIDE)
Executive Summary:
Older methods and techniques of contingency planning are increasingly challenged both by technological innovation and mounting infrastructure obsolescence. It can be safely assumed that, in 2001 and beyond, numerous crises will occur as a result of rapid technological change. At the same time, business dependency on technology will continue to grow.
Surveys and projections from many sources indicate that, despite a burgeoning economic slowdown, IT budgets will not shrin
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Christopher Dorencz
(2001 GUIDE)
Executive Summary:
This document reviews recent trends in the telecommunications marketplace and their impact on the business continity industry. Significant developments over the past year have changed the telecommunications landscape for the continuity planner. These changes include carrier consolidation, technology advancements, bandwidth commoditization, and the astronomic growth of the Internet. The following takes a look at some of these changes and their potential impact on continuit
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Kennith D. Brock
(2001 GUIDE)
Executive Summary:
Business continuity was not much of an issue 20 years ago: companies were greatly diversified, had numerous products, and smaller production facilities that were scattered mainly across the US with varying levels of presence around the world. That industrial landscape changed, and as organizations became more dependent on single IT systems, single suppliers and just-in-time (JIT) inventories, they also became highly vulnerable to interruption should that single system be d
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Ellis M. Stanley
(2001 GUIDE)
Executive Summary:
Business crises, local emergencies, widespread natural disasters. What do these have in common? Any one of these events, if severe enough, could result in damage to corporate reputation, operational ineffectiveness and possibly injuries and death.
The unpleasant truth is: "Nobody is immune to crises". Ask the Odwalla Juice Company which produced natural, fresh, unpasteurized juices. All was well until 66 people became ill and a 16 month-old child died as a result of dri
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Pat Moore
(2001 GUIDE)
We have seen tremendous change and growth in our industry over the last year. Not only has there been a paradigm shift by forward thinking companies to ‘holistic’ risk management, but there has been a definite movement for the IT infrastructure to become only a portion of the organization-wide recovery plan. Line management is becoming more involved in the business continuity process. In addition, companies are looking internally for alternate site redundancy. We are seeing the creation of bu
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Judy Bell
(2001 GUIDE)
In our youth many of us watched, enthralled and captivated, as the crew of the Starship Enterprise caused time, space, and matter to transform instantly. The futuristic consoles where they worked were filled with keyboards that, when pressed, instantly provided information about anything in the galaxy. Who could have imagined that we would push those magic buttons ourselves, and have instant access to information stored anywhere in the world? Yet, this new and amazing technology is transformi
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Clint Van Zandt
(2001 GUIDE)
As many companies, both in Europe and the United States, are moving towards flatter structures, the profile and pattern of the workforce is changing, too. The increase of mergers in the last few years and corporate downsizing mean that many companies have been letting go a number of their employees. The loss of a job can mean a loss of identity for many people, particularly men who often strongly identify with the traditional role of the breadwinner.
While at one time employers could dismis
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Mary Carrido
(2001 GUIDE)
It was February 28, 2001. I was meeting with Rosie Zorko, the Business Continuity Manager for Frank Russell Company to discuss earthquake preparedness for the home and office. As if on cue the rumbling started, the floors started rolling and the building started swaying. We were in the midst of a 6.8 earthquake!
In June of 2000, Frank Russell Company decided to capitalize on their Y2K planning efforts. MLC and Associates, Inc. was engaged to perform a Business Continuity Audit and subseq
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Chris Floyd
(2001 GUIDE)
During and right after a disaster, any household item that can move, fall, break or cause a fire is a home hazard. At least once each year, inspect your home to find and correct potential hazards.
Identify Hazards
Look for Electrical Hazards
• Replace frayed or cracked extension and appliance cords, loose prongs and plugs.
• Make sure there is only one plug per outlet. Avoid using cube-tabs or overloading outlets. If you must use an extension cord, use a cord that’s rated for the electri
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Donald Theune
(2001 GUIDE)
Although you know yellow means caution, you take the opposite action believing the light will not turn red before you glide through, and believing that a car nearing the intersection from another direction won’t run its light at the same time you’re running yours. Believing, despite the risk, that you can do it and get away with it safely.
Workers often operate under the same misguided belief. The operator who repeatedly reaches into an unguarded machine to clear a jam believes that because
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Luis Ramiro Hernandez
(2001 GUIDE)
In addition to natural and man-made disasters, human errors, and hackers and virus attacks, the continued growth of the Internet and network computing is breeding new categories of peril. Information theft, malicious code, denial of service and access violations threaten companies worldwide. No matter what the source may be, business today cannot afford the interruptions these events cause.
Notably, most companies already have much of the needed risk management expertise in the house to battl
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Cheryl Bieson
(2001 GUIDE)
Where Are We Today?
During the past decade, as organizations migrated their business applications from a mainframe legacy environment to a distributed environment (LAN, WAN, Internet), a higher level of operational risk was introduced. Some of the factors that contribute to this include:
• Business applications have been widely distributed, either on the Internet or across wide area networks.
• Databases required by the business applications are now stored in separate physical locations
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Jon Toigo
(2001 GUIDE)
Companies doing business on the Web are urged to examine their Web hosting, application service provisioning, and b-to-b service provisioning agreements closely. Asking the following questions may save enormous headaches downstream, if and when interruptions occur:
• Does the service contract explicitly assign the responsibility for an outage to the service provider, or is the responsibility "shared" -- among the customer, service provider, and/or the provider’s providers (i.e., third party h
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Jeffrey Peltier
(2001 GUIDE)
Conjure an image of a person deep in thought, and you will most likely recall the universally recognized sculpture by Auguste Rodin, The Thinker. Every aspect of the figure’s pose suggests deep contemplation. Hunched forward, hand to chin, he leans into a position of quiet repose and long thought. Time stops for The Thinker.
Time, however, does not stop for the data professional in today’s non-stop, ever-changing world. Time costs.
To remain competitive, companies must meet the ever-encom
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Ian Higginbotham
(2001 GUIDE)
Introduction
This product is the most common anti-virus solution available today and yet it is the least used. This is probably because many people think the product is not very effective with virus threats. This review will dispel some of those fears and provide valuable insight into using the application.
Installation and Training
Installation can take as little as 5 minutes. Training will take as long as it takes for each individual to read this review.
How the Product Works
The pr
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Rich Hill
(2001 GUIDE)
Are you experiencing unexplained hard or soft failures? Is your computer room between 10 and 20 years old? Do you have a raised floor? Do you have wood-core floor panels? If you answered "YES" to some of the above, you may have zinc whiskers.
Zinc whiskers are a condition that can occur on some wood-core computer room flooring panels. The whiskers grow on the underside of the floor panels. The whiskers are typically 2 microns in diameter and over time, the whiskers can grow to be several
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GE Global Asset ProtectionSM Services
(2001 GUIDE)
Caused by a lightning bolt, the blaze in an Albuquerque, New Mexico semiconductor plant burned for just 10 minutes last March. But far away in Scandinavia, the fire touched off a corporate crisis that shifted the balance of power between two of Europe's biggest electronics companies, both major players in the global electronics industry."1
Some thirty years ago, mainframe users pioneered the field of Disaster Recovery to protect vital information stored in a company’s computer systems. As com
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Michael J. Sutherland
(2001 GUIDE)
In today's streamlined just-in-time production and global service environment, business continuity and disaster recovery planning must encompass process flows, production interdependencies, and special hazards as well as your enterprise's enabling technologies to avoid potentially disastrous, business-crippling consequences.
Business Continuity management is the responsibility of the company’s executive officers. All too often this translates into a global mandate that all locations have a b
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Lawrence Wenzel
(2001 GUIDE)
How to handle business continuity may not be one of those things that appear on the corporate radar screen very clearly. That’s too bad because it may be one of the most important blips when it (unhappily) does show up. It’s a bit mind-numbing when I think of the numbers of people who still need to be convinced of the necessity to take additional steps to try and guarantee the future of their business. But before I get pushed off my soap box, perhaps these folks have been fed a pile of misinfo
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Mark Manint
(2001 GUIDE)
Whether it’s a scheduled shutdown or an emergency outage, plant engineers can save time and money by planning ahead to secure portable rental generator sets to meet their temporary or emergency electric power needs.
Most plant managers consider planning ahead for temporary power to be one of their key responsibilities, but there are others who wait until the last minute to secure the equipment needed when utility-supplied power goes off. And sometimes the last minute can be too late.
Hurr
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Lawrie Ackerman
(2001 GUIDE)
No matter how thorough you think your company's disaster recovery plan might be, it's most likely missing one key ingredient: your people. A company's employees can greatly reduce the impact of a loss by knowing what immediate actions to take in the event of a loss incident. There are many simple things they can do to help safeguard your important assets. Also, it stands to reason that even the most meticulous contingency plan is useless if your staff doesn't know how to implement it. If your pl
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Steven Ganz
(2001 GUIDE)
The following is an excerpt from an article published by the Western States Seismic Policy Council. The ideas in the article are not necessarily the opinions of the Western States Seismic Policy Council, its members or its sponsors.
I am offering constructive, and maybe controversial, ideas designed to create market-driven and government-mandated mitigation incentives.”
A comprehensive package of incentives needs to be developed that will effectively encourage mitigation. Mitigation should
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Martin L. King
(2001 GUIDE)
A disaster can be the result of a fire, a burst pipe, sewage backflow, lightning strike, earth tremors, tornado, flooding or any of a dozen other sources. Whatever the cause, everything stops. Abruptly – but the commitments go on. The things that occupied everyone just before the event are still required. Obviously, this is not the ideal time to start thinking about contingency plans.
So here are some things to consider before it strikes.
1. Pose this question to every department hea
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Kevin Koski
(2001 GUIDE)
Late one afternoon, amid a growing storm, American National Bank processes its demand deposit, credit card and investment data. ANB's Information Services Manager, Frank Shaw, supervises as billions of dollars of transactions flow through the bank's mainframe computer system.
Suddenly, darkness. Minutes later, a tornado tears through ANB's suburban campus, shredding 500 square feet of the data center roof in the process. The mainframe is swamped, rendering useless the main system and all of
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Chris Floyd
( GUIDE)
About the NOAA Weather Radio
By Chris Floyd
Disaster Services Director
Capital Area Chapter
American Red Cross
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NOAA Weather Radio is a service of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the United States Department of Commerce. As the "Voice of the National Weather Service", it provides continuous broadcasts of the latest weather information directly from National Weather Serv
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Chris Floyd
( GUIDE)
Tornadoes can strike anywhere at any time. We should all prepare for the possibility of a tornado by learning the safest places to seek shelter. This applies too more than just homes. Every school should have a plan as well. Here are some guidelines for helping your school prepare for severe weather:
•Develop a plan and have frequent drills.
•Each school should be inspected and tornado shelter areas designated by a registered engineer or architect. Basements offer the best protection. Schoo
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Chris Floyd
( GUIDE)
A tornado is defined as a violently rotating column of air extending from a thunderstorm to the ground. In an average year, 800 tornadoes are reported nationwide, resulting in 80 deaths and over 1500 injuries. Tornadoes can occur anywhere at any time of the year. In the southern states, peak tornado occurrence is in March through May. Tornadoes are also closely associated with hurricanes and often occur during Hurricane Season, June 1st through November 30th. The southern states are also suscept
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Chris Floyd
( GUIDE)
Using a Generator When Disaster Strikes
By Chris Floyd
Disaster Services Director
Capital Area Chapter
American Red Cross
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Purchasing a Generator
If you choose to buy a generator make sure you get one that is listed with the Underwriter's Laboratory (UL) or Factory Mutual (FM).
Look at the labels on lighting, appliances and equipment you plan to connect to the generator to determine the amount
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Gennie Thompson
( GUIDE)
The February 28, 2001 Nisqually (Seattle) Earthquake was a frightening experience for many people in western Washington, but still not the "Big One" we are all still expecting to happen when damages and impacts to life safety will be much more devastating.
FEMA has attributed over $1 Billion dollars in damages to the earthquake and declared a disaster in 22 counties. As it often happens in earthquakes, damages were experienced in numerous areas far from the epicenter. Although the Northwest
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Chris Floyd
( GUIDE)
DEVELOPING A FAMILY DISASTER PLAN
By Chris Floyd
Disaster Services Director
Capital Area Chapter
American Red Cross
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Disaster can strike quickly and without warning. It can force you to evacuate your neighborhood or confine you to your home. Where will your family be when disaster strikes? They could be anywhere - at work, at school or in the car. How will you find each other? Will you know if your
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Chris Floyd
( GUIDE)
A major chemical emergency is an accident which releases a hazardous amount of a chemical into the environment. Accidents can happen underground, on railroad tracks or highways and at manufacturing plants. These accidents sometimes result in a fire or explosion, but many times you cannot see or smell anything unusual.
In the event of a major chemical emergency, you will be notified by authorities. To get your attention, a siren could sound, you may be called by telephone, or emergency person
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Chris Floyd
( GUIDE)
If a hurricane, winter storm or other disaster strikes your community, you might not have access to food, water and electricity for days, even weeks. We all know that water is a survival priority and by taking time now to store an emergency supply, you can provide for your entire family in a disaster situation.
You must have an ample supply of clean water - at least one gallon per person per day. You should store at minimum a two week supply for each member of your family. You will need this
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Chris Floyd
( GUIDE)
During and right after a disaster, any household item that can move, fall, break or cause a fire is a home hazard. At least once each year, inspect your home to find and correct potential hazards.
Identifying Hazards
Check for Electrical Hazards
• Replace frayed or cracked extension and appliance cords, loose prongs and plugs.
• Make sure there is only one plug per outlet. Avoid using cube-tabs or overloading outlets. If you must use an extension cord, use a cord that's rated for th
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Chris Floyd
( GUIDE)
A major chemical emergency is an accident which releases a hazardous amount of a chemical into the environment. Accidents can happen underground, on railroad tracks or highways and at manufacturing plants. These accidents sometimes result in a fire or explosion, but many times you cannot see or smell anything unusual.
In the event of a major chemical emergency, you will be notified by authorities. To get your attention, a siren could sound, you may be called by telephone, or emergency person
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Chris Floyd
( GUIDE)
Natural or other disasters can strike suddenly, at any time and anywhere. Your first priority, of course, would be to protect your family and your property. But it is also important to protect against the financial consequences of a disaster. The key is to begin planning now. One common sense step you can take in preparing for a disaster is to conduct a household inventory by making a list of everything you own. If disaster strikes, this list could help you prove the value of what you owned if t
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Chris Floyd
( GUIDE)
Even with adequate time to prepare for a disaster, you still may suffer significant, unavoidable damage to your property. That's when insurance for renters or homeowners can be a big help. Yet, many people affected by recent disasters have been underinsured- or worse- not insured at all. Make sure the insurance you buy protects against the perils you face.
If You Own a Home...
• Buy, at minimum, full replacement or replacement cost coverage. This means the structure can be replaced up
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Gennie Thompson
( GUIDE)
The February 28, 2001 Nisqually (Seattle) Earthquake was a frightening experience for many people in western Washington, but still not the "Big One" we are all still expecting to happen when damages and impacts to life safety will be much more devastating.
FEMA has attributed over $1 Billion dollars in damages to the earthquake and declared a disaster in 22 counties. As it often happens in earthquakes, damages were experienced in numerous areas far from the epicenter. Although the Northwest
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Geary W. Sikich
( GUIDE)
In the aftermath of the terrorist attack on the United States of America, the traditional rules governing the conduct of business are being obliterated as businesses are beginning to redefine how they will operate. The world was well on its way to blurring the distinction between traditional business and the appearance of widespread eBusiness operations. Products were becoming services, services became products and business lines were changing constantly. As the authors of the book "Blur" state,
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Shad Burcham
( GUIDE)
The Nisqually earthquake hit at 10:54 AM on Wednesday, February 28, 2001. Its magnitude was measured at 6.8 on the Richter Scale, and caused an estimated $ 300 million in damage to both public (government, selected non-profit agencies), and private (individual citizens and businesses) in King County alone. The King County Emergency Operations Center (EOC) is located on Boeing Field (King County International Airport) just south of Seattle's main downtown section. The building is a brick façade o
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Paul Coleman
(2001 GUIDE)
For the first time in the healthcare industry in the United States, business continuity planning and disaster recovery capability will become mandatory for all healthcare organizations. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), passed by the US Congress in 1996, has as part of its phased implementation "Security Guidelines," (referring to information security), which mandate that all healthcare organizations using healthcare data comply with data security and business cont
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Rich Hill
(2001 GUIDE)
If you think zinc whiskers are what happens when the tin man forgets to shave - guess again. Zinc whiskers are real and they could be growing right inside your computer room! Read on to learn what zinc whiskers are, where they come from, and what you can do about them.
WHAT ARE ZINC WHISKERS?
Zinc whiskers are a phenomenon that can occur on some wood-core computer room flooring panels. The whiskers grow on the underside (plenum side) of the floor panels. The whiskers are typically 2 micron
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Paul Coleman
( GUIDE)
For the first time in the healthcare industry in the United States, business continuity planning and disaster recovery capability will become mandatory for all healthcare organizations. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), passed by the US Congress in 1996, has as part of its phased implementation "Security Guidelines," (referring to information security), which mandate that all healthcare organizations using healthcare data comply with data security and business cont
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Geary Sikich
( GUIDE)
We are faced with a growing threat - terrorism. The security of our country's infrastructure is a key concern of the White House. This introductory paper focuses on identifying current issues, introducing key elements for an effective analysis of current trends and issues surrounding the nature of terrorism today and beyond 2000.
Traditional military thought is that the attacker needs more manpower, generally three to five times as much is recommended, to successfully conduct offensive opera
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Geary Sikich
( GUIDE)
Imagine the following scenario. A foreign government, at odds with the U.S. over sanctions imposed on it, targets one of the U.S.'s critical infrastructures; specifically the petrochemical industry. Its goal disruption of the critical infrastructures that drive the American economy. However, there will be no bombs raining down from the sky or explosions caused by saboteurs, no there will be devastation of a different kind.
Using a new breed of warrior, the information warrior, the foreign go
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Doug Henderson
( GUIDE)
Preventing and responding to a Weapon of Mass Destruction (WMD) attack is primarily a government responsibility. Most businesses and other organizations are not in a position to thwart a major terrorist attack. Nevertheless all Americans - individuals, businesses and other organizations - will need to survive and make a contribution to the cause.
Following our initial ideas on the steps businesses and other organizations need to take. The guidelines outlined here would not have been effectiv
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Loren Douglass
(2002 GUIDE)
Executive Summary: The practices and methodologies of business continuity planning have been around for a long time. Organizations have long wrestled with business continuity-related issues, such as supply chain interruptions, product recalls, labor strikes, natural disasters, and technology downtime. What has changed - and profoundly so - is the now widespread recognition of continuity planning as a business requirement.
The changing global economy and recent international events suggest th
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Jim Simmons
(2002 GUIDE)
Executive Summary: Since September 11 of last year, corporate executives, line-of-business managers, and, of course, IT managers have focused more than ever on disaster recovery and business continuity planning. Most of these individuals have long been aware of the importance of planning to protect their information in the event of a systems disruption.
September 11 demonstrated that simply protecting information in a data center is no longer enough to ensure an organization's ability to mai
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Sherwood Johnston
(2002 GUIDE)
Executive Summary: There appears to be one thing that all industry professionals can agree upon: there is no way to secure a building, absolutely 100 percent, without turning it into the next Fort Knox or making it a bunker more suitable for protecting citizens during a time of war than for housing tenants trying to conduct business.
Industry Groups Are Working to Make Buildings Secure.
No one could have fully prepared for the events of September 11, and no building could withstand that ki
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John Copenhaver
(2002 GUIDE)
Executive Summary: At 3:45 AM, your telephone rings and wakes you out of a sound sleep. Your plant manager is calling to tell you that an explosion has occurred at the plant site, and that three of your employees have been killed and two more are missing. He also tells you that a television truck from the local NBC affiliate has just arrived, and he asks for your guidance in dealing with these media representatives. What are you going to do?
Make Informed Decisions
If your business does no
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Jon William Toigo
(2002 GUIDE)
The disasters at the World Trade Center and Pentagon in mid-September, while appalling in terms of their origin and horrific in terms of their human cost, could've been far worse, according to most emergency management experts. If the hijacked aircraft had struck the WTC an hour later, as many as 50,000 occupants and an incalculable number of tourists may have been counted among the missing. Similarly, had the Pentagon not been undergoing significant remodeling around the time that the building
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Kathy Gannon Rainey
(2002 GUIDE)
From the Publisher: The bottom line must be about people. As of September 2001, we know first-hand that the most impressive of buildings can collapse. Over the past few months, we have witnessed the demise of highly esteemed corporations. We are reminded that industry giants, too, can fall.
The biggest lesson of September 11th is that people matter most. We were riveted to our television screens because we knew there was enormous loss of life. The people were from all walks of life-rich and
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Joel Childs
(2002 GUIDE)
The scenarios have become all too common:
• Your company's central data center in Chicago is being evacuated for at least three days due to a nearby hazardous chemical spill, and now you need to expedite backup tapes and computer equipment to a contingency site in Milwaukee ASAP.
• A flood has damaged paper copies of your vital customer files in Atlanta, and you need to ship them quickly and at a constant temperature so your service provider in Fort Worth can salvage the information throug
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Monica Zein, Sally Cohn, & Tracy Broadway
(2002 GUIDE)
It is often thought that Business Continuity Planning is a project with a finite ending. Not so! Creating the Business Continuity Plan is just a part of developing a business recovery program. The process also includes evaluating costs, selecting an alternate site(s), making employees aware of the Plan, updating the Plan and testing the Plan on a regular basis.
Once the support of management is obtained, a company can assign this process to an employee or hire a consulting firm. A mistake of
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Pat McAnally, Laurie Bailey, Deborah Taylor, Chris Jansen, Len Boyer, & Joe Riley
(2002 GUIDE)
Business continuity planning within the financial industry has been around as long as the discipline itself. Banks and brokers recognized early the importance of ensuring and protecting their essential information, which was most often in paper form. Today we are in new and unusual circumstances, where technology has made us both powerful and vulnerable and we can't take anything for granted. Things that were givens even a year ago are not so certain anymore. Today's business continuity plans ne
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Ted Dezabala
(2002 GUIDE)
Lessons Learned
The lessons of recent events should form the basis of any revised management strategies. In many cases, business continuity plans have been severely tested, and the new insights must be factored in-the risks far outweigh the costs. The implications of the changed environment are far-reaching, affecting every aspect of business, from geography, to operations, to systems, to the firm's overall business strategy. Following are some of the key points.
People Issues Were Paramou
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(2002 GUIDE)
Everywhere in today's business environment there are threatening concerns - of natural disasters, of man-made incidents both intentional and accidental, of power outages and telecommunications failures…and scores of other perplexities. To countermand these concerns, one needs a business continuity strategy - an overarching plan based on the ability to anticipate, to assess the measure of an opponent, and to know where threats (both internal and external) lie.
Your best move - the Risk Analys
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Gary E. Stevens
(2002 GUIDE)
The pharmaceutical industry is setting a new threshold for pain. Pricing pressures and competition from patented and generic drugs are being balanced with scientific discoveries and technological change occurring at lightning speed. New products must make it to market faster and conform to strict regulatory and quality standards from major global regulating bodies. Structural changes are taking place as a result of mergers and acquisitions, supply-chain integration, production process improvemen
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Michael T. McDonnell
(2002 GUIDE)
Concerns of a healthcare organization are probably the most unique due to its complex web of interwoven clinical and business processes. These existing interdependencies directly impact a healthcare provider's ability to provide patient service. The systemic flow of critical information is exhaustive and typically requires constant interaction among numerous entities. Any breakdown at any point in this network of interdependencies could cripple a healthcare organization.
Further, there are t
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Rob Quaranto
(2002 GUIDE)
Fierce competition is the name of the game in manufacturing today. The expansion and exploitation of global markets, advances in digital technologies, and process improvement opportunities both domestically and abroad, are increasing the complexity and risks associated with manufacturing products. As manufacturers are forced to respond to these changes, they are becoming more and more dependent on complex information technology systems, single and highly integrated suppliers, the operability of
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Brian J. Zawada
(2002 GUIDE)
From a business continuity perspective, today's utilities face a number of risks that could impact customer service, energy delivery, and financial optimization. Utilities are "rightsizing" to improve operational efficiencies, and merging with and acquiring other utilities in an unprecedented fashion. Compounded with the complexities of today's utilities market is the fact that national utilities have stringent business processes reliability and availability thresholds which must be maintained i
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Roger C. Edgren
(2002 GUIDE)
In the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist strikes and the continuing anthrax scare, an employer's compassionate response to employee's anxieties is critical. No organization is immune to the potential trauma and stress of its staff members. Across the country and around the world, newspaper articles and radio and television broadcasts are full of images of the disaster and its aftereffects.
Traumatic events can impact workforce productivity and can threaten organizations' economic found
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Judy Stringer
(2002 GUIDE)
Disaster recovery plans for critical information have become an understandably higher priority after the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center. Yet, in this post 9-11 paradigm, companies are thinking beyond hard infrastructure backup. Businesses today must anticipate the chain reaction - how a single, dramatic event can create throughout a company, including its impact on personnel.
Some organizations are asking, "What happens if the entire staff of IT workers are lost, as has been the
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John Lindeman
(2002 GUIDE)
While organizations have been creating high availability architectures for back-end distributed environments for years, it's only recently that they've had to turn their attention to architecting high availability solutions for their front-end web environments.
Almost every front-end or customer-touching application today is being architected or is already architected to be Web-facing. For example, in the traditional client/server model, corporate users could have a customer relationship man
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John Q. Walker
(2002 GUIDE)
Securities and security! We know we should invest wisely in both. Many of us devour the monthly financial magazines, which have headlines like "Investing $1000 Now" or "Five High-Flying Stocks." After awhile you see re-peated recom-mendations, like buying quality growth stocks and lowering credit-card debt.
Computer security can be viewed similarly. Here's an overview of four poor and four good investments - approaching security spending like the financial magazines.
Four Poor Investment
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Mark Bassett
(2002 GUIDE)
Please don't tell Ms. Higgins (my 4th grade spelling teacher) that I now tell everyone Business Continuity has 5 R's in it. She just won't buy it, even after you tell her I can prove it.
As we all know, Business Continuity is a continuing, recurring process that can be broken into many pieces. No matter how you slice & dice it, however, 5 key stages are a part of every successful Business Continuity Plan (BCP). These are the 5 R's in Business Continuity that I am referring to:
• Risk Manag
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Scott Baird
(2002 GUIDE)
The building has been evacuated and the flames have been extinguished. Now that the urgency of the fire has died down, it is replaced by the depressing picture of a burned-out, smoldering building. Broken glass and yellow police tape strung across the entrance accentuate the long journey ahead of your organization. Where is the road to recovery? How can you quickly and completely recover from a disaster?
Once the flames are out, you cannot assume that you will be allowed access to your facil
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BOMI Institute
(2002 GUIDE)
Now more than ever, corporate executives are asking, "Is our facility safe? What security measures are in place? Are we prepared for a worst-case scenario disaster? What changes do we need to make? BOMI Institute has outlined numerous key issues every business should consider.
Stage One: Risk Analysis
Step One-Conducting a security survey.
A risk analysis consists of three major steps: noting an organization's assets, defining their value, and identifying potential threats. Those assets
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Lawrie N. Ackerman
(2002 GUIDE)
In the last decade, more companies, municipalities, government agencies and other facilities have recognized the need for disaster recovery or business contingency planning. Sadly, nothing has brought this home like the lessons learned on 9/11.
While many organizations have some type of plan in place, few know how to plan for and recover from the unthinkable: an outright devastation of the workplace. One of the lessons learned over the years-and from Ground Zero-is the amazing resiliency of
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Lori A. Brassell-Cicchini
(2002 GUIDE)
Refineries explode. Chemical plants release toxic gases. Airplanes crash. Pipelines rupture. Trains derail. Storms take out power plants. E. coli infects ground beef. Deranged individuals tamper with products. Tires fail. If your company has not suffered a catastrophe of some kind, your luck could run out at any time. No one can predict when an event may occur that puts your company, your shareholders, your customers, and your community in jeopardy.
As a risk manager, you probably have adequ
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Pat Moore
(2002 GUIDE)
You perform a risk analysis to identify any exposures your organization may have internally and externally due to physical or geographical environments. You prepare a business impact analysis to identify financial and operational impacts resulting from a loss causing costly business interruption. Similarly, you must also stay abreast of domestic and international political climate changes in those areas in which your organization and/or supply chain operates. Unfortunately, as we all know too we
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Regina Phelps
(2002 GUIDE)
Many organizations are prepared for a short-term event…an outage that lasts several hours or possibly a day or two. But what about the event that keeps you out of your building for days, weeks, months? Your organization and staff will be challenged in every possible way. More than likely you will activate your company's Emergency Operations Center (EOC) within the first few hours of a major event. This article explores many issues your company will likely face with the EOC facility and staff.
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Regina Phelps
(2002 GUIDE)
Many organizations are prepared for a short-term event…an outage that lasts several hours or possibly a day or two. But what about the event that keeps you out of your building for days, weeks, months, or possibly forever? Your organization and staff will be challenged in every possible way. The very core of their beings and your business will be rattled. Knowing this and preparing for it in advance is essential.
First of all, what is a sustained operation? It depends on who you speak to! In
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