Disaster Response

Definition

Disaster response is the disaster recovery task during which the endeavor or center initially responds to the occurance of a disaster in the first few hours after it occurs.

Objectives

The typical objectives of disaster response are to:

• Mitigate the negative impact of the disaster.
• Prepare for the performance of the remaining disaster recovery tasks.

Preconditions

Disaster response can begin when the following preconditions hold:

• The following teams are adequately staffed and trained in disaster response:
  • Emergency Response Team
  • Center Management Teams:
    • Contact Center Management Team
    • Data Center Management Team
    • Reuse Center Management Team
• A disaster has occurred.

Completion Criteria

Disaster response is complete when the following postconditions hold:

• Initial disaster response steps have been taken.
• The disaster recovery team has arrived and taken over the work from the emergency response team.

Steps

Disaster response typically involves the the following teams performing the following steps in an incremental, iterative, parallel, and time-boxed manner:

• Center Management Team:
  • Make an announcement to either evacuate the center or to move to a safe(er) location in the building.
  • Provide first aid to any injured personnel.
  • Evacuate any injured personnel to a safe location for transport to hospital.
  • Call for emergency assistance (e.g., ambulance, fire station, and/or police) as appropriate.
  • Perform an initial quick assessment of the nature, extent, and impact of the disaster.
  • Notify the:
    • Emergency Response Team.
    • Disaster Recovery Team.
  • If time and safety permits:
    • Perform an orderly shut down of the computers if they have not automatically powered down.
    • Perform damage-limiting measures (e.g., covering all computers and valuable equipment with plastic garbage bags to minimize water or smoke damage).
    • Verify that the evacuation was successful and that the facilities are unoccupied.
    • Secure all doors.
    • Provide personnel with emergency supplies (e.g., flashlights, batteries, and communications devices).
• Emergency Response Team:
  • Perform a detailed assessment of the nature, extent, and impact of the disaster.
  • Decide on an immediate course of actions:
    • Determine if additional equipment, supplies, or personnel are needed.
    • Determine if recovery is feasible at the affected center or if the alternate back-up center must be mobilized.
  • Notify senior management about the disaster.
  • Obtain approval for the expenditure of funds to bring in any requried equipment, supplies, and personnel.
  • Notify stakeholders (e.g. operations team leader, user support team leader) regarding the disaster status.
  • If there is a need for the immediate delivery of components to return the center(s) to operation (even if in a degraded mode), contact the local hardware and software vendor representatives to:
    • Notify them of the disaster.
    • Anticipated imminent needs:
      • Required hardware.
      • Anticipated required schedule for equipment replacement.
      • Help needed to begin procedures to restore systems software.
      • Emergency software keys, as appropriate, upon identification of serial numbers of replacement equipment.
    • Formally declare a disaster (and thereby initiate any disaster recovery contract).
    • Notify them that a priority should be placed on supplying additional equipment and/or replacing damaged equipment.
    • Request delivery of required equipment to either the affected or alternate centers (as circumstances dictate).
  • Contact the off-site data storage provider to obtain backup data tapes (as needed).
  • Rush order any supplies, forms, or media that may be needed.
  • Confer with the operations team(s) to schedule the obtaining the backup data tapes and associated documentation.
  • Confer with environments team(s) to coordinate site readiness for the installation of the replacement equipment, the rerouting of telecommunications links, etc.
  • Provide senior management with an updated assessment of the nature, extent, and impact of the disaster including an estimated schedule for full recovery.
  • Obtain authorization for emergency funding, if required to cover travel or any other extra expenses necessary to deal with the situation.

Techniques

Disaster response can typically be performed using the following techniques:

• Checklists

Work Products

Disaster response typically results in the production of all or part of the following work products:

• Emails
• Records of phone messages

Guidelines

• The steps above are written primarily for the response to a disaster that occurs at a center. These steps naturally need to be tailored if the disaster recovery is to occur at the endeavor level rather than at the center level.
• The scope and contents of this task need to be tailored to meet the specific needs of the organization.
• In smaller centers, the membership of the center management team and the emergency response team may be identical.