September 27, 2007
Business continuity during an emergency: People first, then systems
Scott Preston and his colleagues at UW Emergency Management help departments and units plan responses to disasters such as fires, earthquakes, pandemics and plain old human error.
But first and foremost, they plan how to keep people safe.
“You cannot protect anything unless you have protected people,” Preston said. “They’re the linchpins.”
UW President Mark Emmert and his advisors have identified business continuity planning as a top priority, and all UW units are required to plan for business emergencies. Since last winter, Preston has worked with six units, most recently, Student Financial Services and the Office of the Vice Provost for Student Life.
Basically, says Preston, decide what records or operations you can afford to lose, and how to protect what you can’t.
The Business Continuity Pilot Project, which Preston manages, has developed a planning checklist. “The more homework units do, the less they have to figure on the fly,” he said.
Here are some key points:
- Devise an employee safety plan. It’s most important in business continuity.
- Decide which assets and operations are crucial. How will you protect them?
- Choose an alternative work site, either on or off campus.
- Protect your data with back-ups and off-site storage. Test to make sure they function properly.
- Protect your supply chain. Obtain memorandums of agreement both inside and outside the local area. Consider plans that would allow your unit to share resources with similar ones. Stockpile your most basic supplies.
- Decide how you’ll communicate during an emergency. If phone and Internet services aren’t available, how will you communicate with employees and those you serve?
- Test the emergency plan regularly and revise as necessary.
This past year, a $100,000 grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency initially funded the Business Continuity Pilot Project. It included planners from four campus units: Payroll, Human Resources, the Evans School of Public Affairs and Comparative Medicine.
In three-hour simulations this past winter and spring, each unit responded to a major earthquake which knocked out or compromised all bridges in the Puget Sound region.
The work revealed problems: Some managers, for example, got people out of buildings and accounted for them once outside, but hadn’t considered who would remain on campus and who’d go home — or how they’d get home.
As part of planning basic business continuity, Preston reminded planners about such things as alternative storage. UW Records Management Services stores inactive but necessary records in a 15,000 square-foot warehouse at the former Sand Point Naval Station. The building has multiple alarms, motion detectors and a buzz-in entry system. Earthquake mitigation measures include bungee-like cords holding some 28,000 boxes in place.
“Hundreds of departments still need business continuity planning, but there’s also need for overall university planning,” Preston said. If, for instance, there were a pandemic and students were sent home, would tuition be refunded? If federal officials closed U.S. borders because of a pandemic, what obligations would the UW have to faculty and students abroad? If an earthquake disrupted University operations for weeks on end, could administrators justify paychecks? State law requires work before paychecks.
Business continuity plans also require multiple scenarios: If an earthquake damages or destroys a data center, there ought to be back-up systems, but what if a pandemic prevents people from working at a center? Not everyone can work at home, and network providers such as Comcast would likely be swamped.
“You could have a cascading series of disasters,” Preston said.
For a fuller explanation of the Business Continuity Management Project, including a more detailed checklist, go to http://www.washington.edu/emergency/bcm.
Preston and his colleagues also welcome inquiries and can arrange planning sessions. For additional information, contact UW Emergency Management, 206-897-8000 or e-mail disaster@u.washington.edu.
