Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Planning are no longer optional. Protecting infrastructure and information assets of an organization is one of management's primary duties. Here are some ideas and options for making sure you don't fall down on the job.
Make sure your project is adequately covered by the organizational crisis recovery/business continuity plan.
To outsource various types of functions (including software development/maintenance, data center and network operations, backup/recovery services, data storage management services, system administration services, etc.), you need to conduct a broad assessment of the capabilities of an outsourcing services provider. Use this outline as your guide.
Disasters getting you down? Perk up with this Disaster Recovery project plan.
This article focuses on the continuity management and disaster recovery component of ITIL, the Information Technology Infrastructure Library that was developed by the UK Government and is now part of the Joint Framework for IT Governance.
Disaster recovery has never been more important. National and world events have elevated it to a top priority in companies and government. Following 9/11, lower-Manhattan companies scrambled to recover data. Hacker attacks at government offices and large corporations also pointed up the critical need for meticulously crafted disaster recovery plans. Here is some help in keeping your workforce organized.
Just what is continuity planning and disaster recovery, and how can an organization get started with its planning efforts? Recent tragedies have proven there is plenty of work to do. Here's what the IT world can do to help prevent future failures.
As you begin your revised Disaster Recovery Plan, get off on the right foot with this expectations form.
Most disaster recovery plans include detailed procedures to bring the operational systems back online. What about the people to operate them?
There's no doubt that Cloud Computing is a major force on the IT horizon, but security and continuity risks may develop into a dangerous storm for organizations relying on this low-cost alternative.
What you do during your first 30 days as CIO will most likely determine your future success. The strategy you deploy is critical and will vary greatly with the circumstances you are inheriting. Here's part two of our examination of possible success strategies, which involves assessing various aspects of the IT organization.
Cloud computing offers cost savings, flexibility and speed of deployment that can be very tempting to all kinds of IT organizations, but don't forget about the risks inherent in turning over control of your data in the age of IT Governance and SOX compliance.
Assign roles, responsibilities and tasks for your Disaster Recovery Team using this form.
Most IT projects completely overlook business continuity as something beyond the scope of the project. Yet the project is in the best position to identify the business procedures required for the plan. Just look at the Titanic as proof as our series continues.
Virtualization as a concept has been around since the 1960s. There are still kinks to iron out, but it has proven itself as a sustainable technology that only improves over time. Today, cost-constrained companies are making a good case for virtualization technologies.
Some say that the explosion of digital data and traffic in recent years has made the rise of virtualization all but inevitable. Here's how the industry leaders are creating more sophisticated virtualization options.
ITIL appears ready for prime time. So why isn't it being implemented with great success across the board in IT organizations? As we continue to look at how you can successfully evolve ITIL standards into your organization, we present the remainder of ITIL’s modules along with implementation recommendations.
Decisions on IT Governance are easy when your company has ample resources and infrastructure to implement and support it. As companies get smaller, however, those decisions get much more difficult. Here are some guidelines to help you evaluate and prioritize your needs to build a strategy for getting the maximum benefit while staying within your means.
Even though you've built the perfect data warehouse, it's better to be safe than sorry if something goes wrong during its operation and you need to restore the original data files. Take the time to document your backup and recovery procedures, as in this example.
Many IT projects completely ignore anything during the post-implementation period, whether disaster recovery or business-continuity planning. But if the project team has to consider a recovery/continuity plan early on in the project, it would probably shift the thinking through the design process. Just look at the Titanic as proof.
This compliance checklist will simplify the assessment of your Disaster Recovery Plan and processes.
This recovery plan uses the output of the project assessment plan and implements the recovery.
When faced with a disaster, project managers must become recovery managers. Here, a turnaround specialist shares seven tips for turning around troubled projects, starting with realizing there is a problem and concluding with ways to prevent future disasters.
To manage risk effectively on our projects, we need to deal with uncertainty, understand why it matters, follow a structured process, and take into account the human side that influences judgment and decisions.
Most project managers think of changes to a project to be related to change requests that modify the scope of deliverables. But changes to projects go far beyond mere scope changes, so it's important to have a change management process in place that can address any manner of project change. While the majority of organizations have fairly mature change request processes in place, most lack similar processes to handle event-driven changes.
While business continuity and disaster recovery plans are important for all corporate applications, it is imperative that they exist for the most critical applications. The moment that these systems go down, your business is losing money. What are the different components of disaster recovery, and what should be in a good DR plan?
Development and implementation of new and updated technologies are crucial to keeping business moving, especially during an economic slow-down. Just be aware that pressure to roll out quickly carries with it increased risks that are easy to overlook.
Many IT projects completely ignore disaster recovery as something beyond their scope and covered by a yearly IT planning process. As we continue our look at project management through the eyes of the Titanic disaster, important lessons become more clear.
The year is almost half over, so it's time to think about needs and objectives for next year. Follow these planning guidelines for CIOs to make sure you have all your business bases covered.
Organizations need to adopt Business Continuity Management practices to lessen the business critical risks brought on with such tragic events as the terrorist attacks of September 11. Here's some advice on how to do it.
When something goes rotten in your PMO or project portfolio, all of your projects may be in jeopardy. The best way to handle crisis across multiple projects is to treat it like the train wreck it appears to be. Take a lesson from the medical community and triage the damage before you start trying to treat the wounded.
An absence of leadership has crippled rescue efforts. For crisis managers in all areas, this tragedy is a harsh reminder that provides some important lessons. Here, we find out how experts are evaluating the Haitian crisis--and what they anticipate over the next critical months.
Does your business have a contingency plan to handle the impact on critical business processes of an emergency system failure? Mitigate the risk using this Microsoft Project plan as an example of how to prepare for the worst.
How have you planned for the potential disaster recovery stage of your IT project? Hopefully not like the managers of the Titanic did.
As our series continues, we continue to examine what the post-mortem for the failed Titanic project would look like, and how can it help you in today's IT landscape.
No company wants to halt its operations under extenuating circumstances for any length of time. Use this risk management document template to create a specific plan of backup and recovery procedures so that work can flow uninterrupted when change strikes.
Most contingency plans and business continuity plans have a facility orientation rather than a project orientation. Use these tips to make sure your project can recover and restart.
From data processing centers in the '60s to PC networks in the '80s to this century's Cloud, the systems for managing large amounts of data are coming full circle. Read up on the latest trend: Mobile Data Centers.
It appears that although the global economic recovery has been sluggish, IT departments are bouncing back even more slowly. Why the lag? It has something to do with high expectations and low confidence. As usual, it's up to the mighty CIO to bridge that widening gap.
Does your company have a disaster recovery plan? Safeguarding IT is vital during times of crisis. This article explains the importance of a DR plan and outlines its critical elements.
From the threat of security attacks to complex compliance requirements, IT organizations face challenges that often require the advanced expertise of an outside specialist. When selecting a support partner, seek a blend of proactive and reactive services, and follow these vendor management best practices.
A new study shows that more than a third of projects are at risk and, not surprising, a key factor for recovering troubled projects is the actions of the project managers.
Business continuity planning is about much more than data recovery, and it should be conducted with a project management mindset. A financial institution's experience after Hurricane Katrina provides some how-to (and how-not-to) tips for developing a business continuity plan. It could be you and your company’s most important project … you just never know.
Despite the emphasis on IT Governance in corporations, many CIOs and CFOs still see money as an object. For many small to medium companies, implementation seems just too expensive. Here's some good news for those of you with budget restrictions who recognize the must-have nature of IT Governance.
“Cloud” sounds kind of ethereal, doesn’t it? Lofty in some ways, yet soft and comforting like a bed of heaven. With this new system direction, we’re supposed to let our concerns just float away. Not so fast...
Crisis management is finally getting the recognition it deserves. This article is going to explore crisis management's newest thinking and hone in on its top priorities, along with best practices and tips.
Many times, IT environments don't support the level of risk tolerance that the business is willing to accept. This problem has been created by IT and business’ lack of common understanding of service levels, and architecting and maintaining systems adherence to those service levels.
Keep tabs on various aspects of your project simply and easily with this progress report.
For whatever reason, you are now facing an exception situation in your project. What do you do to recover from this? This report will help you explore your alternatives.
Got a question? Refer to the manual. This comprehensive template will help you create a useful--we'd even say indispensible--user manual for your new software system. Don't leave home without it.
