DISASTER RECOVERY TIPS - KEY INFORMATION THAT HAS BEEN DAMAGED

With the best planning in the world, damage to records and information during and following a weather incident can still occur. Small businesses are especially vulnerable as they generally do not have the resources to maintain large scale contingency and backup plans. Records and information recovery includes several steps (a) assess damage, (b) stabilize the situation, (c) begin salvage operations, (d) begin restoration procedures, and (e) resume operations.

Some tips to keep in mind during the assessing, stabilizing and salvaging processes:

1. When assessing damage, remember – not everything can be saved. Give priority to identified vital records. If there is no vital records program in place, then concentrate on assessing damage to records important to continuing in business, such as mission critical information, financial information, and asset management information (deeds, easements, property management records, etc.).

2. Identify information that may be duplicated elsewhere, such as property deeds, bank information, or tax information housed with a contracted accounting firm.

3. Contact your contracted recovery service immediately and have a representative present when you do the damage assessment walk-through. Use a damage assessment report form so all records are assessed consistently and you remember to record all pertinent information for every record group.

4. Categorize the records and information according to one of three options – a) destroyed or unsalvageable records and information, b) unharmed, retained records and information, and c) damaged records and information requiring recovery techniques. Concentrate limited resources on stabilizing the unharmed records and on recovering and restoring the damaged records.

5. Stabilize the damaged area as quickly as possible. Reducing air temperature and humidity and increasing air circulation to the damage area helps prevent the growth of mold and mildew. If the damage area is too large to stabilize, remove recoverable records and information and transfer to an area that can be environmentally controlled.

6. Place water damaged microfilm and magnetic media in clean, clear water, or rinse media and place in sealed plastic bags while still wet. DO NOT ALLOW MICROFILM TO DRY before it is restored by a qualified laboratory procedure. DO NOT USE DISKETTES before they have been cleaned and inspected by qualified recovery personnel.

7. DO NOT USE HARD DRIVES before they have been professionally cleaned and restored for use by qualified recovery personnel.

8. Begin insect extermination procedures immediately on isolated infested records to prevent migration and further damage.

9. Follow recommended "pack out" procedures to prevent further damage. Wet paper records must be packed in appropriate cartons, such as plastic milk crates, for drying. If using a commercial vacuum drying chamber, then clean, new cubic  foot cardboard boxes can be used. Be sure to label every box and keep an inventory of contents. Every box and crate should have a lid.

10. Handle wet paper records VERY CAREFULLY! Use plastic gloves at all times, and try not to lift large groups of wet records with your hands. Use a flat, straight piece of wood or plastic (such as a paint stirrer stick) to lift and separate wet paper to give more support to the length of the paper (also helps in spotting "critters" lodged between pages and folders).

11. Wet film (including microfilm and photos), audio and video tape, imaging media and magnetic media should not be freeze or vacuum dried. Contact professional magnetic media recovery firms or microfilm laboratories.

The goals of any disaster recovery planning include:

1. Minimize the disruption to the bare minimum.

2. Effect the return to normalcy as quickly as possible.

3. Maintain control over a series of events where chaos will reign.

4. Prioritize the efforts of people, the sequence of events, and the strategies used during the recovery and restoration phases.

5. Ensure the security of information and equipment so that other consequential disasters will not occur.

6. Gain and maintain management support and confidence.

7. Prevent other consequential damages as a result of this disaster.

Each of these goals is attainable, but if done after the fact could take significantly longer.

CRISIS MANAGEMENT TIPS:


1. Personnel:

First, be sure you have up-to-date, fully-comprehensive contact information for everyone on your staff, and then a plan in place as to how to reach everybody in times of emergency. This list should be set up in different fashion depending on the nature of what post-crisis communications capability may be available.

The easiest way is to have the most senior person contact department heads, whose responsibility it is to contact each and every person who works under them. You can refine this further, based on the size of the company.

If communication is dicey or just not available, then an arrangement should be made based on adjacency. In other words, the most senior person in a neighborhood would walk, bike, or drive to the next nearest person in order to ascertain the well-being of the employee, and give out information as to if and how the company will be operating over the next many days, stating location and materials or equipment needed, etc. Continue on down the line, either as a round-robin, or through other pre-defined methods.




2. Infrastructure:

Space: If you think that your office or prime place of business may not available to you, whether for a few days, or indefinitely, you'll need to have a back-up plan in place as to how you're going to operate. Perhaps you'll work out of a conveniently located hotel, your living room, or that of someone on staff who may be more centrally located, assuming that location will be accessible. Allow for alternate locations in your plan. But be sure you have sufficient materiel available to support your key operating staff. You'll need all of the following, and don't forget extension cords, lights, etc.

Furniture: Based on the size of essential staff, plan as to how you'll "house" them with sufficient work-surface space. It may be folding chairs and tables, or empty cardboard cartons that can be pressed into service.

Communications: If phone systems are temporarily inoperative try to rely on cellular phones, but only for essential conversations. However, under certain circumstances cellular transmitters may be incapacitated or temporarily non-functioning. Consider reasonable alternatives, short of smoke signals.

Computer Hardware: All available (reachable) staff who have company-owned portables or laptops must make them available. Other key personnel who have their own laptops should be asked to bring them.

Try to have available in your back-up space a couple of Ethernet hubs and sufficient cables to help you operate. Otherwise you'll have to resort to "sneaker-net," using floppies, zip disks, or other available removable media.

Software: Prior to any crisis, be sure that all important and essential business programs have been installed on the laptops of people who may need them in the event of an emergency, and that they're kept up-to-date.

Printers: Try to have at least one available in your back-up space. It should be Ethernet-capable so it can be shared by all who need it.

Copiers: Try to have at least one available in your back-up space.

Fax: Try to have at least one available in your back-up space, along with a suitable phone line, assuming communications are functioning.

Internet Access: Talk with your ISP (Internet Service Provider) and work out an emergency back-up plan.

Mail and Courier Service: Ascertain if the Post Office, UPS, FedEx, etc. are functioning, or how soon they expect to be back in business.



3: Systems:

Use the most recent back-ups of all your essential accounting and operating data and databases, etc. You DO have back-ups don't you? And will they be readily accessible to you in an emergency? Planning for this is essential, because as likely as not, someday you'll need them, perhaps not during a "crisis" but when key files have somehow become corrupted. You might look at the myriad of back-up information at the following web site, among others: http://www.dantz.com.

Then copy your best and most appropriate back-ups onto the laptops of those who will need them, and resume work as best you can. Be careful how you maintain these newly updated files so that they can be re-loaded onto your corporate computers when you're able to get back into your office.

Besides software, you'll likely have to reorganize the available staff, reassigning responsibilities as necessary in order for the company to continue to function.

I've made only a few, elemental suggestions here, but hopefully it'll help you think about what you'll have to do to protect your business and your staff. There's a fair amount of knowledgeable material available on the web, so I encourage you to dig it out, read it thoroughly, and then come up with a crisis management plan that works for your company.