Disaster Recovery Plan - Report Example

Overview The current global state of affairs, calamities and catastrophes are widespread events. Fatalities, Billions worth of properties and disturbance to the society and economy are the consequences of such events. These frequent accidents and catastrophes results in economic, social and environmental losses which end up destroying lives and property across wide geographical regions. Various nations come up with policies and procedures to mitigate barriers linked to disasters and calamities. The categories of calamities and tragedies are different but all result in the disruptions of daily individual and business and cause difficulties that are destructive. Before developing a disaster recovery plan, there are some definite factors that have to be put into consideration ahead of any risk evaluation. They include: Event: What can occur? Probability: What are the possibilities that the risk could occur? Impact: What are the likely results of the risk, if it is to occur? Mitigation: how can probability be lessened? Contingency: How can impact be lessened and at what rate? Reduction = mitigation x contingency Exposure = risk – reduction Once the above have been identified, the outcome is what is termed as risk exposure. Risk exposure is the sum total of risk that is inescapable. Some businesses relate the term exposure to liability, threat, or severity. This helps business forecasters and policy makers to detect if the designed activities would occur. These fundamentals can be implemented consecutively to establish if the threat of execution is inferior to or higher than the threat. If the business decides to progress with plans, then its exposure is termed as assumed risk. The next course of action will be to describe the business project. For example, if one is responsible for computer systems that provide the business with critical data to both clients and internal company officials. If the server that supplies data is out of date and calls substitution, then the risk will be categorized according to severity of disruption to business operations. This is a circumstance whereby impact and risked either as low, medium or high. Following such an event, it is first advisable to consult with the individuals involved in the project. The questions that can be asked could entail, what would happen, how to assist in prevention of future occurrences and the necessary actions to be implemented. After collecting all the views of team members, the group leader of the project would go ahead to assess them and differentiate the good from bad. This is followed by application of the good policies in regard to mitigation measures in the disaster recovery plan. (Davids and Newcomb, 2006). Disaster Management plans are fundamental for various business motives. Firstly, they are helpful in identifying possible and existent risks within the business environment. They also assist in the evaluation of response and preventive processes within the organization. These assist, in the placement and determination of disaster management measures. Disaster management policies assist in the identifying means of improving the time of reacting to risks and developing measures, criterions and policies that can be utilized in preventive and intervention of risks. Objectives This report investigates the effects of implementing a disaster recovery plan and system to automotive paint supplies I.T infrastructure. The consequences as well as the advantages are discussed. Disaster Recovery systems have come up due to the ever-increasing nature of IT threats that face businesses. The characteristics and rate of recurrence of threats have forced businesses to reorganize their mitigation policies. This is done to ensure continuity of operations, if they are affected. These systems have also been improved and made possible by the development of Internet and local area networks within institutions and businesses. The major threats that have been recognized include: human, technical and natural threats. Human threats encompass activities such as hacking of information technology infrastructure. Technical threats include issues such as server breakdowns whereby natural threats include natural disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes among others. The source and the resultant consequences of these threats are clarified. Discussion also covers the various ways of managing them are examined. Diverse strategies are drawn for avoiding, monitoring and reducing these effects to more controllable levels so as to guarantee continuity of operations. The report concludes with the notion that the expenditure of implementation is small in comparison to the menace of negative impacts brought about by not doing so. Situation Type of Disaster/Strategy Description/Solution/Explanation Nature and Crisis that could affect Automotive Paint Supplies Man Made Disaster This category of disaster is linked to actions of man or human incapability and may possibly result because of human intent, negligence, an error or a failure of a system. This means that manmade disasters are those that occur because of human hazards without putting in place adequate emergency management measures. Moreover, manmade disasters can further be divided into two parts, which are technological and sociological disasters (Allyn, 1993). Sociological disasters are associated with human negative behaviors towards other people, organizations or ideologies. Examples of sociological disasters are civil disorder, terrorism, war and crime. An actual example of sociological disaster is the 9/11 bomb attack in United States of America. On the other hand, technological disasters are associated with advancement of human needs and development or equipment and accessories that fulfill their personal and societal needs. Some examples of technological disasters are industrial hazards, structural collapse, hazardous materials and transportation. An example of technological disaster that has occurred is the Chernobyl Nuclear Explosion in 1986 (Greenberg, 2006). Natural Disaster Natural disasters do not have any connection with human beings, but it crop ups naturally and sometimes harmfully affects the activities of human being. The extent of damage associated with natural calamity will be determined by the capability and determination of population to resist and manage the disaster (Arnold, 2000). Thus, a natural hazard at times may not be caused by natural agent but may result because of vulnerability of the inhabitants. Nevertheless, like manmade disaster, natural disaster may be classified to what causes it. Land movement is a natural disaster that is caused by the way the soil or earth moves on earth e.g. volcanic eruptions or earthquakes. Water disasters are caused by enormous amounts of water entering human population locations through such issues as tsunamis, floods and limbic eruptions. Moreover, weather disasters are caused by heat waves, cyclonic storms, blizzards and droughts. Other natural disasters may result due to fires and space e.g. solar flare and usually results in solar system and diseases (Sharer, 2005). Current Internal/External Analysis of Automotive Paint Supplies’ I.T Infrastructure Internal and external factors of Automotive Paint Supplies play a critical role in its success. In essence, the strategic planning of Information systems Infrastructure is usually supported to a large extent by the results of the internal and external factors . The major business objective is to make profits and also be able to offer quality services to its clients. The major objectives of the organization are to enhance its strategic placement by leveraging on technology as a means of achieving this objective. The reason for this rationale is to remain relevant in the ever growing market place. Transformation is necessary despite the rigidity that it normally attracts because of the people’s reluctance to change. The current analysis of the Automotive Paint Supplies shows both these internal and external factors that have the potential to shape the future of the organization. The organization has an advantage of leveraging on Information Technology through various Information Management Systems, which greatly improve on the reliability of service and information flow at the organization. This is beneficial to both the internal and external environment and operations within the organization. This strategy increases the competitive lead given that it will be able to assure the quality of information and communication regarding the activities carried out. Leveraging on technology for the management and operation presents chance for the organization to enhance its position in the market. Aligning technology and business operations will provide a fundamental basis for business sustainability and development. Technological Analysis Technology has two effects on any organization, it can either increase its competitive advantage and increases is sustainability over time or decrease its competitive advantage through increased expenses as a result of adopting unplanned technological requirements. Despite this, technology is essential in any market oriented business as it creates a leverage to its infrastructural placement. Automotive Paint Supplies has not fully utilized its information system placement, it is yet to align with its organizational structure and as a result, this can create a significant threat from demanding clients and also from competitors. Automotive Paint Supplies has wastefully utilized its Information System which is supposed to increase its market scope and sustainability. In this sense, it is imperative for the management to consider proper alignment of informational structure and strategy with the current business process and organizational structure (Lavia 2004). Current systems assessment (findings) Applications The Organization has few applications running some critical and basic tasks for any business venture. Automotive Paint Supplies is not wholly information technology dependent indicating that there’s wide room for leverage on information technology solutions for efficiency and timely provision of quality services in times when there are outages caused by either technical hitches. Content, document management and web services Automotive Paint Supplies lacks a centralized document management system. Documents are entrusted with individuals therefore making the organization vulnerable to individual failures and risks. Online payments system especially for such a world class facility is also lacking. This limits the customer base and payment flexibilities consequently low customer satisfaction. This environment also fosters the risk of manmade disasters, in terms of data theft from employees. Corporate and Administration This is usually the point of contact with the outside world hence needs systems that creates relevant image. Currently Automotive Paint Supplies has no customer management systems in place. The company lacks critical administration support applications for bookings, admissions, management, visitors’ identification and staff management. This is a great barrier to organizational security. Business application Automotive Paint Supplies currently has MYOP which is a financial management system. The system is a standalone and has not been integrated with other systems. Lack of integration between the two systems increases the chances of backlog if one of the independent systems ceases to operate. The system also promotes creation of duplicates and related redundancies. Data management Management related issues The data network consists of internal and external networks supporting voice and data transmission. The network infrastructure also supports wired and wireless communication components. The company has an SQL database support for storage of data. There are no data securities systems in place since there are no antivirus programs installed yet Windows software’s are vulnerable to attack by viruses. Hackers can also take advantage of the lack of computer security by exploiting on the organization’s system vulnerabilities. Technology infrastructure Server Infrastructure Automotive Paint Supplies land has several servers running on Microsoft Windows 2003. These servers support e-mail communication systems in place and application software’s. All desktops in the company are connected to the servers via network infrastructure. There are no disaster recovery back up IT management process Process issues There are IT resources in the organization, but there has been no clear service provision charter that describes services offered by the IT team and respective problem escalation procedures. The company does not have IT helpdesk systems and IT assets management applications. This puts the IT service provision and assets management in jeopardy. IT security and protection Security Issues The current system has no clear security procedures. It has been clear that the company lacks a predetermined access control procedures and systems. Solution to Current Situation Appropriate strategies The main areas of strategic leverage for the ultimate success of Automotive Paint Supplies lie in the provision of quality services efficiently. Efficiency can only be inbuilt in processes hence clear identification of inefficiencies and available opportunities is necessary. The organization needs to implement the following strategies. The organization should do a redesign of its critical processes, so as to be in tandem with the organizational Master plan. This can be done through acquisition of necessary enterprise resource planning applications. This should contain the following applications, marketing, financial reporting and recording, visitors’ management and security, project management. Automotive Paint Supplies should put in place data management infrastructure that will support large dataset since there is a projected growth in the industry. It should therefore plan for requisition of database management system that is robust and flexible. The company should also put in place data security protocols through purchase of necessary security hardware and support software’s. Proposed Disaster Recovery System to be implemented Mitigation After the formulation of a Disaster Recovery Plan, there will be need to address the issues as above. There will also be a need to implement High end RAID servers like Digital Intelligence F.R.E.D.C or F.R.E.D.M to restore large amounts of data. This will reduce the work load and recover the data easily and faster. In my backups, we will use Norton Ghost used for restoring files directly and backup workstation at once a week. I will also use configuring management to update all the required data at all times to safeguard data in my workstation in my database and also to fully comply with requirements of the policy. Disaster recovery of our organization and customer data will be ensured by setting up an offsite data storage location that guarantees absolute confidentiality and security of customer and organizational information. Conclusion Disaster lifecycle is the steps that emergency is managed. The cycle of disaster management have to tag along with some concern that includes public awareness, human justice issues and long-term work on infrastructure (Folmer, 1998). Disaster recovery usually brings into consideration four phases, which are preparedness, mitigation, recovery and response (Bland, 1998). The mitigation purpose also assists in decreasing the magnitude of disasters and preventing hazards from occurrence. Mitigation can be employed after disaster through the recovery period ensuring that the recovery process is accelerated. Mitigation employs different strategies, such as technological solutions (like flood levees), while other measures may include legislation, insurance and land-use planning (Allred, Addams and Chakraborty, 2007). Other strategies that can be used to improve the position of mitigation process are physical risk assessment and catastrophe modelling (Hiles, 2007). The second stage is preparedness, where managers under emergency sector make plans on how to respond against disaster. Some measures that are included in preparedness appropriate communication that brings into consideration methods and terminology, maintain and training equipment and services, emergency population warning, stocking the appropriate equipments and products and developing trained volunteers among the civilian community (Baker, 2006). Some of the organisations that should be included in disaster preparedness are Red Cross and Regional Contingencies Committees. Another important area that should be placed into consideration is determination the percentage of casualty through prediction. Generally, the managers within this level should be flexible and encompassing through provision of typical means of support. Moreover, it is important to ensure all stakeholders are incorporated in disaster management planning providing and allocating each sector with specific roles and responsibilities (Augustine, 1995). The last stage is the recovery, which fixes up the affected region. This effort usually takes place after the incident in which the immediate needs are addressed and the main goals associated with recovery efforts are re-employment, rebuilding destroyed property and repair of infrastructure that was destroyed (Curtin, Hayman and Husein, 2005). References Bibliography Allred, A., Addams, H.L., and Chakraborty, G. 2007. ‘Is informal planning the key to success of Disaster Management?’ Journal of Small Business Strategy, Vol. 18, Iss. 1, pp. 95-104. Allyn, L. 1993. Man-Made Catastrophes: From the Burning of Rome to the Lockerbie Crash. New York: Prentice Hall Arnold, M. 2000. Managing Disaster Risks in Emerging Economies. London: Cambridge University Press. Augustine, N. 1995. Managing the Crisis You Tried to Prevent. Boston: Harvard Business Review Press. Baker, F. 2006. Introduction to Disasters: Categories. New York: O’Reilly Publishers. 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