Students will work on a Research paper to deliver a research paper on any of the

ID: 3679306 • Letter: S

Question

Students will work on a Research paper to deliver a research paper on any of the following topics, please note that you must add value to the area by giving suggestions/proposed solutions:

1. The Virtue of Consolidation and Virtualization

2. Importance of Disaster Recovery Planning

The research paper should be 10 -11 pages (APA Style) in length and include at least 3 bibliographic references from http://search.proquest.com (ProQuest Library only). The paper must include a Cover page, Abstract along with Table of contents & references at the end of the paper.

Explanation / Answer

Introduction

This Disaster Recovery Plan is designed to ensure the continuation of vital business processes in the event that a disaster occurs. This plan will provide an effective solution that can be used to recover all vital business processes within the required time frame using vital records that are stored off-site. This Plan is just one of several plans that will provide procedures to handle emergency situations. These plans can be utilized individually but are designed to support one another. The first plan is the Crisis Management Plan. This plan allows the ability to handle high-level coordination activities surrounding any crisis situation.We will also discuss the development, maintenance and testing of the Disaster Recovery Plan. Lastly , we will

discuss the culture and employee education on Disaster Recovery.

The term “disaster” is relative because disasters can occur in varying degrees

. So, this Plan has considered this issue and incorporates management procedures as well as technical procedures to insure provable recovery capability.

The next key issue to be strongly considered within the strategy for disaster recovery is a recovery strategy for alternate processing (HotSite).

This plan identifies discusses the Hot-Site and the alternatives if the primary

location is not available to provide Disaster Recovery services for the various system environments.

The final issue to be addressed within the Disaster Recovery Strategy is to

insure that every reasonable measure has been taken to identify and mitigate potential risks that exist within the processing environment.

The most successful Disaster Recovery Strategy is one that will

never be implemented; therefore, risk avoidance is a critical element in the disaster recovery process.

A Disaster Recovery Management System can be defined as the on-going

process of planning, developing, testing and implementing DisasterRecovery management procedures and processes to ensure the efficient and effective resumption of vital business functions in the event of an unscheduled

interruption. With the growing dependence on I/S and the Business Process to support business growth and changes associated with their complexities,

compounded with the complexities of changing technology, the following

elements are key to implementing a comprehensive Disaster Recovery Program:

-Critical Application Assessment

-Back-Up Procedures

-Recovery Procedures

-Implementation Procedures

-Test Procedures

-Plan Maintenance

Crisis Management Plan

This Crisis Management Plan is designed to ensure the continuation of vital business processes in the event that an emergency or crisis situation should occur. However, Executives and Senior Management can use the procedures in this plan. Should an emergency situation occurat any of the business locations, the plan should provide an effective method that can be used by

management personnel to control all activities associated with a crisis

situation in a pro-active manner and to lessen the potential negative impact with the media, the public and with shareholders. This plan should be

updated annually and should always be readily available to authorized personnel.

Scope and Objectives of the Crisis Management Plan

The plan should provide information for the pro-active handling of any crisis situation and should include detailed procedure s for the following:

•Executives

•Legal

•Investor Relations

•Corporate Communications

•Corporate Administration

•Marketing and Sales

•Human Resources

•Technology management

What is disaster recovery and why it is important?

Disaster recovery forms a big part of a company’s business continuity plan. While business continuity sets out controls to keep all aspects of business functioning when a disaster hits, disaster recovery primarily focuses on IT and its systems that support business functions in the case of a disaster.

The importance of disaster recovery is becoming more and more of a top agenda point for Chief Executives as we continue to depend on computer systems. With the increasing dependency on IT systems as well as a growth in various disasters reported in the media including 9/11 and the London bombings a gap in the market has been spotted resulting with many disaster recovery related companies available.

Despite the increasing number of public disasters many companies are still not prepared for a disaster. With only about 50% of companies reporting to having a disaster recovery plan in place. Of those companies that do have a plan in place nearly half of these companies have never tested their plan. In these cases it is pointless having a plan in place.

IT systems are critical to the smooth running of a company and this is why it is important to ensure these systems continue to operate efficiently and are not disrupted.

Systems and networks are becoming ever more complex, meaning more and more things can go wrong. Some fifteen years ago if there was a threat to a system, a disaster recovery plan may include powering down the mainframe and other computers. Current systems tend to be too complicated to have such a hands on approach.

It has been reported that many large companies spend between 2% to 4% of their IT budget on disaster recover planning. It is also not unusual for a company to spend up to 25% of their IT budget. The plan is to minimise the risk of significant loss to infrastructure. Lack of preparation can lead to significant monies and time being spent on repair.

As much as a company can minimise risk there are many disasters that cannot be avoided. Disasters can either be classified as natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods and manmade disasters such as infrastructure failure and material spills. A disaster may not be eliminated but can be reduced to a minimum.

The disaster recovery plan is an essential business document it can prevent severe loss of data which can have a serious financial impact which can also result in loss of customer confidence, damaging a company’s reputation.

Having a disaster recovery plan in place can give a company a competitor edge, for if a disaster was unfortunately going to happen. If a natural disaster was to occur then most companies may suffer due to no plan in place. But for those companies that have prepared can continue to provide goods and services to their customers and suppliers and continue “business as usual” potentially gaining new custom also.

A disaster recovery plan should be clear and concise, focusing on key activities/functions required to recover IT services. It should be tested, reviewed and updated on a regular basis. It is vital the plan has an owner to ensures these things happen.

Recovery Phases

Recovery activities will be conducted in a phased approach. The emphasis will be to recover the critical applications effectively and efficiently

. Critical applications will be recovered over a period of time after data center

activation.

Phase I

Move operations to the Disaster Recovery Backup Site and the Emergency

Operations Center. This activity will begin with activation of the Disaster

Recovery Plan. There is a period of up to24 hours allowed for organization and the turnover of the disaster recovery backup site

Phase II

To recover critical business functions, restoration of the critical applications and critical network connectivity. The goal here is to recover the systems and network so that our customers can continue business.

Phase III

Return data processing activities to the primary facilities or another computer facility.

The following conditions, if met, will constitute a successful recovery effort:

•Restore critical applications to the most current date available on backup tapes stored off-site.Updating the systems and databases will take place as the recovery effort progresses.

•It is understood that, due to the emergency or disaster, response times

will probably be slower than normal production situations.

Development of a Disaster Recovery Plan

A. Plan Scope and Objectives

B. Business Recovery Organization (BRO) and Responsibilities (Reco

very Team Concept)

C. Major Plan Components -format and structure

D. Scenario to Execute Plan

E. Escalation, Notification and Plan Activation

F. Vital Records and Off-Site Storage Program

G. Personnel Control Program

H. Data Loss Limitations

I. Plan Administration (general)

Disaster Recovery Education for Employees:

Prepare Your Employees for Data Backup:

You'll need to educate your employees about where to store their files (in a specific directory on their PC that is backed up or on the central server) so that all files are included in the backup.

You'll also want to avoid data loss and downtime by installing anti-virus software and teaching your employees how viruses are spread and

Prepare your Employees for Disaster Recovery:

Involving employees in the disaster recovery effort will also help ensure that recovery procedures are well planned and executed based on your business' need to provide as seamless a recovery as possible. Find out typical processes and turnaround times that your customers have come to expect and plan how you will prioritize recovery efforts.

Make sure all employees know whom to contact in an emergency , and outline what they can do to remain productive during the recovery period. If you're using a service, identify who in the company will contact the service to initiate recovery efforts. Make sure you have the contact information off-site in case of a fire, flood, or other act of nature.

The eight R’s of a successful recovery plan

•Reason for planning

•Recognition

•Reaction

•Recovery

•Restoration

•Return To Normal

•Rest and Relax

•Re-evaluate and Re-document

Conclusion

Every day, businesses are confronted with disasters of varying degrees. Those that have adequately developed, maintained, and exercised

their contingency plans will survive. Yet many corporate executives contin

ue to take the uninhibited operations of their companies for granted.They remain complacent, assuming that the power will always be available, the telephone system will not fail, there will be no fire or earthquake--everything will always be normal. Very few executives plan for their own, much less their organization’s mortality; however, if a business is to survive, or

ganizational “strategic” and “tactical” battle planning is essential. The final

corporate contingency plan is the lifeblood of corporate survival. However, it is only as good as the foundation upon which it was built. The foundation is, of course, the concept.