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DISASTER
RECOVERY
JOURNAL
P. O. Box 510110
St. Louis, MO 63151
(314) 894-0276
Fax: (314) 894-7474
Internet
www.drj.com
E-mail drj@drj.com
PUBLISHER &
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Richard L. Arnold, CBCP
richard@drj.com
SENIOR EDITOR
Janette Ballman
janette@drj.com
MANAGING EDITOR
Jon Seals
jon@drj.com
COPY EDITORS
Richard Sandhofer
richards@drj.com
Pamela
Clifton
pamelaclifton@hotmail.com
ADVERTISING
Robert Arnold
bob@drj.com
_____________
Corporate
President/CEO
Richard L. Arnold, CBCP
richard@drj.com
Vice
President
Robert Arnold
bob@drj.com
CONFERENCE COORDINATOR
Patti Fitzgerald, CBCP
patti@drj.com
CONFERENCE REGISTRAR
Merce Knese
mercedes@drj.com
CIRCULATION
Laura Baugh
laurab@drj.com
INTERNATIONAL
CONTACTS
England: Thom Hetherington
Business Continuity
Phone: 0161-237-1007
thomh@tempus.demon.co.uk
Australia: Anthony J. Harvey
Journal of Business Continuity
Phone: 0011-613-953-0055-8
fax: 0011-613-953-0528
sector@notability.com.au
Japan: Shinji Hosotsubo
Quake Japan Co., Ltd.
Phone: 03-3215-2880
fax: 03-3215-2881
Brazil:
Jose Carlos Ferreira
Disaster Recovery Mercosul
Phone: 55
11 3666-9506
conc2000@uol.com.br
www.drms.com.br
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Questions
Teach As Much As Answers
By DR. THOMAS D. PHELAN
Two questions were
asked of nearly 300 attendees at the DRJ Spring World 2002 breakout
session titled, “How Ground Zero Affected Corporate BCP.”
The first question was, “Name one change in BCP at your organization
since Sept. 11, 2001?” The second was, “If there were one
BCP question you would like answered going forward, what would it be?”
This article will focus on the latter. The questions were grouped into
seven categories:
1. Integration of
corporate entities into the business recovery plan.
2. BCP budget issues.
3. Senior management support for BCP.
4. Preparedness issues.
5. Relocation to alternate sites.
6. Training.
7. Protecting the BCP from Freedom of Information Act requests.
Integration
• How do you integrate department BC plans into a cohesive enterprise
plan?
At some companies, this is a matter of organizational change. At others
it is an issue raised by an IT business continuity planner wanting to
form a team for the world-wide corporation. In still another setting,
it is a matter of getting all departments to be as thorough about BCP
as the BCP coordinator in IT. Some questions focused on creating a strategic
plan with BCP built-in rather than having a decentralized process. The
“under one umbrella” concept included the questions:
• When will we have standardization in plans?
• Where [in the organization] should the BCP function reside?
Budget
There were several questions about how to convince senior management
to increase the budget for BCP. There were also questions that might
be answered through a business impact analysis:
• Will investment required to address gaps be acceptable?
• What percent of the operating budget should a company expect
to budget for BCP?
These are not “one-size-fits-all” issues. In my experience,
a BIA provides the best data for a specific company regarding cost/benefit
analysis. BIA tools are available from a number of DRJ exhibitors.
Senior Management
Support
The questions in this area were in three categories:
1. Getting the attention of senior management.
2. Participation of senior management in exercises and responses.
3. Maintaining their interest as time passes since 9/11.
Most CEOs have delegated the BCP responsibility to the organization’s
BCP professionals. Keep the CEO informed regularly and provide adequate,
advance notice of exercise dates. As part of your process, provide training
to senior management on their emergency response roles. Share summaries
of lessons learned in other organizations that have faced disasters.
Preparedness
The questions below demonstrate the diversity of the DRJ conference
attendees, and PPBI sees added value in diversity.
• How much planning is enough?
• How can I identify what equipment resides on my network to use
as an inventory for a site recovery program?
• What all should be included in our disaster recovery plan?
• How do we do gap assessment?
• How do companies effectively deal with the preservation of paper-based
vital records that are in process?
• Does anyone have an effective NT platform strategy and plan that
have been tested?
• What is the best, most effective DRP template that is both flexible,
yet specific?
Relocation and Alternate Sites
Attendees asked about actual experiences of companies directly affected
by 9/11 events and their alternate site recovery experiences.
• How do you handle employees who are temporarily relocated in
a disaster?
There are several employee issues related to temporary relocation. BCP
professionals should consult with labor and employee relations specialists
when a plan involves relocating or extending the work day of employees.
Transportation, housing and child care issues, to name a few, will surface
immediately.
Training
The questions here might be addressed in training programs:
• How do you get managers past the attitude that it won’t
happen here?
• Why is so little attention given to data telecom redirection
capabilities that exist?
• How can I learn what other companies are doing?
• Is there training available for incident commanders?
Short of customized training at your site, there are countless training
providers whose programs one might access. Excellent training is offered
in the DRJ pre-conference and post-conference time slots. There are
several excellent training vendors who exhibit at DRJ. Community-based
training with emergency responders (fire, police, EMS) is highly recommended
by PPBI.
Freedom of Information Act Requests
There is clearly a concern about levels of cooperation requested by
government agencies dealing with vulnerability assessments, some for
state homeland security departments. BCP professionals should consult
with their organization’s legal counsel about ways to comply with
requests without jeopardizing the security of proprietary information.
Summary
PPBI is appreciative of the attendees’ willingness to share their
questions with us at DRJ. We have contacted many attendees individually
with referrals to sources of information on specific issues raised.
Though our analysis is more sharing than science, we encourage BCP professionals,
at all levels, to participate in open discussions with each other. PPBI
wants to facilitate these discussions through DRJ and the PPBI courses
and presentations we offer. We are just beginning to offer presentations
around the country at your request. Let me leave you with three questions
that invite you to support each other in our work.
• How do you keep more than 100 plans updated and current?
• How do you think of everything (business resumption)?
• [And my favorite] If you were to say to a firm one item they
should have as part of their plan, what would it be?
Answer: A business recovery planning professional.
Dr. Thomas D. Phelan is a board
member and training director for PPBI, and president of Strategic Teaching
Associates. He is also a member of the Disaster Recovery Journal Editorial
Advisory Board, the National DMORT Command, the Onondaga County Fire
Advisory Board, and disaster chair of the Onondaga-Oswego Chapter of
the American Red Cross.
To comment on this article, go
to 1503-ppbi at www.drj.com/feedback.
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