October 31, 2003

 

Memo for:   Business Continuity Plan Management Committee

 

Subject:  Minutes of the October 31, 2003 Meeting

 

1.  A meeting of the Business Continuity Plan Management Committee was held on Friday, October 31, 2003 in Rm 208 Cone Center.

 

2.       Attendance:

a.       Present:  Randy Duncan, Barbara Edwards, Ted Elling, Carter Heath, Tony Hoppa, Michelle Howard, Phil Jones, John Mack, Lars Powell, Charlie Puckett, Mark Reynolds, Morgan Roseborough, Randy Ross, Wally Seigler, Laura Simic, Doug Thomas, Richard Yount.

 

b.      Absent:  Kathi Baucom, Susan Brooks, Rick Conboy, Ray Galleno, Barry Godlewski, Lee Gray, William Harper, Jon Hawn, Bill Hill, Tom Lamb, Steve Mosier, Darin Spease, Gary Stinnett.

 

3.      Main topics / issues:

 

A.     Update on Critical Business Processes:   No change from last month.  Initial input for all Critical Business Processes (CBP) is due today.  This is necessary for us to move into the next phase, exercising the recovery processes.

 

B.     Testing the Plans.  Morgan addressed testing and exercise of BCP’s, as approved by the Executive Staff.  The first of these, a communications exercise, was conducted on Tuesday, 28 October.  The exercise involved a simulated fire in a residence hall (with no injuries) and required contact with 10 people designated by the matrix (Tab C to the Emergency Response Plan).  Of those ten, 8 were contacted directly, 1 was contacted indirectly, and 1 could not be contacted.  In the latter case, the alternate point of contact was successfully notified.  The total time for all contacts made and responses received was less than one hour.  Future exercises will include different scenarios involving additional people.  In future exercises, we will also incorporate recall of key personnel, table top exercises of Critical Business Process recovery, Emergency Operations Center exercises, and semi-live exercises.

 

C.     Update on BCP Software.    Morgan reported that a meeting of business continuity planners from the 16 UNC system schools convened in Chapel Hill on Friday, October 24th to discuss BCP software.  The recommended product (Strohl’s LDRPS), was not given strong support by most of the representatives.  They said they would accept it (and use it) if the Office of the President purchased a license for the whole system.  However, they indicated that it is too training-intensive and is not a user-friendly product.  The Office of the President (VP for Finance) will look at other products that were suggested by Morgan and others in attendance.  While this is good news that we won’t be force-fed a less than desirable product, it is also bad news that the process of procuring a more universally acceptable product will take more time.

 

D.    BCP Web Site.  Morgan received several suggestions for improvements/modifications to the web site.  As a result, he has made the following changes:

·        Inactivated the link to Tab B (Emergency Operations Center Locations).

·        Inactivated the link to Tab E (External Emergency Contacts).

If Critical Business Process recovery plans will be added to the web site, they should be accessible only by userid and password.  Morgan will discuss this with ITS to see how this may be accomplished.

 

E.      BCP Workbook and Planner.  Morgan announced receipt of two plans for recovery of Critical Business Processes using the Planner.  He offered the use of the plan for pickup and delivery of mail as a model for other “CBP owners” to look at.  The final step is for all 42 CBP’s to have a recovery plan in the Planner format.  This format and the accompanying instruction manual, the “Workbook”, are posted on the web site for download.  All “CBP owners” should be working toward completion of their recovery plans using the “Planner”.

 

F.      Practice Disaster Scenario.  The committee talked through procedures to be followed in the case of a massive, regional power failure, similar to the one in the northeastern U. S. last month.  It was apparent that the University is heavily dependent on electrical power for many basic needs, not the least of which is heat.  Sources of emergency generators are key to the plan to provide those needs.  Since this scenario also involved evacuation of the SAC (during a basketball game), several points were made concerning means of crowd control.  Charlie Puckett will find out if the sound system in the SAC receives power from the emergency generator.  If not, bull horns should be readily available to staff and security personnel to enable them to give instructions to people evacuating the building.

 

4.      The next meeting of the BCP Management Committee will be Friday, November 21, 2003, at 10:00 AM.  Location will be announced.

 

 

 

 

Morgan Roseborough

Director, Business Continuity Planning

UNC Charlotte