Who hasn’t heard of extended power outages, flooding, hurricanes, tornado events; all part of the news? You have to be aware of the risk to business operations and systems. Right?

Your mainframe group has a disaster recovery hotsite….your facility manager has an emergency facility plan and the facility has so many emergency diesel generators that they could supply the entire NASA operation during a space launch….or so you’ve been told.

You’re set….no problems, no need to think about Business Continuity or Contingency Plans for the operations and systems of your area. Right?

Well, maybe, maybe not.

First, take a look at your desk, what do you see, a dumb terminal or a PC? Second, if you have a dumb terminal, you can pitch this article. Is that it?

Wait! Don’t rush to the garbage can just yet.

Perceptions

Long experience with centralized mainframes has resulted in a routinely held, but badly out-of-date, two-dimensional view of the interaction between the business world and systems. But no need to rush this. To explain how things have changed, let’s examine first a 2-D systems world, then 3-D systems world.

Two Dimensions

The two-dimensional business world, Exhibit A, reflects the way things were before the PCs came to town in force. In this 2-D world, computerize data meant all information transported to the mainframe via data entry. Other than the reports received by business, the worlds of Systems and Business Operations remained apart each having its own distinctive resource base. (See Exhibit A).

Three Dimensions

The impact of some fifteen years of ever-increasing dependence on distributed systems (servers, networks, PCs, business softwares and their communication demands) has given us the more complicated, merging, three-dimensional profile drawn in Exhibit B.

What makes the reality of the 3-D world (Exhibit B) invisible to many is that some level of information interaction with the mainframe remains. This interaction makes it easy to view computing as it was before 1985…the good old days when systems represented just another support for the business process.

Unrecognized, things have changed drastically. Due to the use of PCs, due to distributed processing, many business information systems are designed as a direct part of the business process, or have effectively buried a long-forgotten manual procedure once used for the same critical process in the business loop.

What impact does this have on your business? Consider this:

1. You may not be aware of your dependency on PC based support….but it can mean: No system, no business process.

2. Everything that makes distributed systems work (i.e., servers, networks, applications, PCs, etc.) can put the business process at risk!

3. You can recover your mainframe…you can recover your facility, and your business operations can still be "out-of-business."

3-D Contingency Issues & Exposures

The resource risk becomes more serious as the link between the business and system process grows tighter. The effect is dramatic. As the processes merge, the worlds of business operations and distributed systems become part of the same resource base (as shown in the overlap between Distributed and Facility blocks.)

The Why of Business and System Resource Continuity Plans

Once-upon-a-time in a happy, carefree 2-D world, having a Facility Plan and a Mainframe Disaster Recovery Plan would give reasonable assurance that a not-so-catastrophic emergency could be survived. You could hang-on and muddle through without serious business damage. No pain…no plan…..no problem.

But in a 3-D world using 2-D plans….or NO PLAN, as shown in Exhibit C, the entire Distributed System world is left exposed to chaos. A general emergency (hurricane, flood, etc.) could bring long-days of inaccessible data, sporadic communications, and missing essential functions (manual or system based).

It doesn’t have to be…but is it true for your area? Does it matter?

The Unofficial Business & Systems Continuity Readiness Test

Let’s take a private look with five statements. Mentally circle one answer for each of the following—and please—keep your answers to yourself !

1. My business area is essential to the success of my group.

-yes         -no         -don’t know

2. As far as systems go, my business area looks most like:

-The one in the 2-D diagram        -The one in the 3-D diagram          -don’t know

3. My business area has a readable and usable plan for action that will allow me to protect my business operations and resources.

-yes          -no         -don’t know

4. My business area has a readable and usable plan for action that links me to the my group Facility Emergency Plan.

-yes          -no         -don’t know

5. My business area has a readable and usable plan for action that links me to the my group Mainframe Recovery Plan.

-yes          -no         -don’t know

Okay— how did you do?

You’re set— no problems, no need to think about Business Continuity or Contingency Plans for the operations and systems of your area.

No need to be concerned about resource control and emergencies; right?

You would be happy to show your answers to your boss, or Division Head; right?

No? Okay—there are ways to quietly fix the problem—pretty quick; no need to hide from it. That’s why I write about this stuff.

For the record, test questions 3, 4, and 5 form the basics of everyone’s continuity/contingency readiness needs in a 3-D world. Odds are, if you didn’t like your answers, you have a lot of company. Next year maybe things will be different…very different at least for your answers.

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Last updated-- Jan. 15, 1999.