Deliverable 2 - Disaster Recovery Plan and Summary

Jeff Rover

Management of Information Systems

Rasmussen College

Part 1- Disaster Recovery Plan

Nothing is vital importance to a system as being able to function optimally even in the face of a disaster. Nozama, being an e-commerce based system, technical failures that can prevent and interrupt the critical processes hence a need for a proper disaster recovery method. Risk avoidance, for instance, forms a crucial part of any disaster recovery plan. In a large scope, any disaster recovery program can be thought of as being largely categorized into the following areas (Hristidis, 2008):

· Assessment of Critical Applications

· Steps for Back-Up

· Recovery steps

· Steps for Implementation

· Test Mechanisms

· Plans for Maintenance

The role of the staff members can never be under-estimated in case of a disruption. The actions to be implemented by the Nozama Staff would take the following sequence of activities (Lawler, 2007):

· Availing the Authorized User Data in any remote access data recovery center.

· All network pathways linked to the Centers of Disaster Recovery

· Configuration of the Centre for Disaster Recovery

· Provision of critical coverage at the Centre for Disaster Recovery.

· Provision of necessary equipment and workspace for use.

In order for any action to be implemented successfully, a need for a proper laid down plan is necessary. The plan defines the purpose and its scope of operation. The plan lists down the checklists, procedures and responsibilities that may be used to put the situation under check should an emergency occur. The Plan for the Management of a Data/Disaster Crisis follows a step-wise development phase that seeks to achieve the following objectives:

· Preparation of Nozama’s senior management to effectively respond in the event of a disaster

· Quantify damage, solve it and activate the repaired computing center.

· To manage the disaster in an effective and organized manner

· To mitigate the impact and magnitude of the crisis situation to the Nozama’s business units by minimizing the duration in which they are down.

The question on instructions for activating the plan, its update and review procedures and by whom cannot be overlooked. The Database Administrator, being fully responsible, ensures that the system configurations and the Nozama network requirements are accurate and technically realizable at all times. As an alternate processing strategy, a yearly testing plan should be put in place. An update maybe necessary if the problems or changes constitutes any of the following activities to Nozama’s system (Lawler, 2007):

· Mainframe Test results

· Addition of critical softwares or clients

· Heightened complexity of applications

· Hardware, software, Data and Network changes.

The recovery operations necessary for addressing disruptions and restoring equipment and devices usually takes place in a number of phases. These include (Hristidis, 2008):

Phase I

Transfer of activities to the Nozama’s Disaster or Data Recovery Backup Servers and Emergency Implementation Centre. This event initiates with the onset of the Plan for Disaster Recovery. A period of say one day maximum, is then given for the smooth turnover and organization of the backup servers.

Phase II

The goal of this phase is for Nozama to gather her networks and systems so the customers can continue enjoying the e-commerce services. It will aim at recovering the Nozama’s critical functions, restore its critical applications and efficient network connectivity.

Phase III

This final stage ensures that Nozama returns her processing activities to the primary facilities and the other computer facilities like online search of books.

Part 2-Summary

The MIS strategy comes in handy as it gives the compass that steers the Nozama Organization along the paths of success. It is of paramount importance to identify any potential security challenges that may hit the firm. Loss of data can occur due to a number of causes that like (Lawler, 2007):

· Natural disasters, for instance: Fire, tornados, floods, hurricanes et cetera.

· Extended power failure

· Vandalism

· Failure of air conditioning systems

· Biological and Chemical contamination

It is therefore pertinent that the MIS is protected from a set of threats that may not make the system vunerable.Implementation of the laid down plans should be in such a manner that the Nozama employees and stakeholders have belief in their capability of managing any kind of a crisis. The culture for continuous improvement (Kaizen) should be cultivated and the successful actions may take the forms below:

· Professional selection of the Crisis and Data Recovery Teams

· Implementation of relevant training programs such as crisis communication

· Well established and equipped emergency and data recovery centers

· Implementation of back-up and off-site storage arrangements

· Conduction of internal and external awareness as part of induction processes.

· Constant employee preparation for disaster recovery

The success of Nozama information support is tightly tied to good decision making. In as much as the best plans may be put down, poor managerial skills and an adept attitude towards data and disaster recovery may fail if not all are dedicated to such a cause. Other carefully implemented methods that can be used are:

· Remote Journaling

· Remote Mirroring

· Structured walk-throughs and simulation tests

· Parallel tests

· Full-Interruption tests

· Antiviruses

· Strong Passwords and Stringent access policies

All in all, Disaster Recovery Plans go beyond technology. The Nozama fraternity is tasked with having a good backup and restore strategies. The good news is that all tools for data protection and disaster management can be properly interlaced so as to achieve robust solutions that see Nozama scale the heights of success.

References

Saleem, K., Luis, S., Deng, Y., Chen, S. C., Hristidis, V., & Li, T. (2008, May). Towards a business continuity information network for rapid disaster recovery. In Proceedings of the 2008 international conference on Digital government research (pp. 107-116). Digital Government Society of North America.

Lawler, C. M., Szygenda, S. A., & Thornton, M. A. (2007, April). Techniques for disaster tolerant information technology systems. In Systems Conference, 2007 1st Annual IEEE (pp. 16). IEEE.