March 25, 2005
Memo for: Business Continuity Plan Management
Committee
Subject: Minutes of the March 25, 2005 Meeting
1.
A meeting of the Business Continuity Plan Management Committee was held on
Friday, March 25, 2005, in Room 208 Cone Center.
2.
Attendance:
a.
Present: Dixie Airey, Kathi Baucom, Mark Dauplaise,
Ted Elling, Diana Gann, Carter Heath , Debra Joyce, Marlon Lynch, John Mack,
Byron O’Daniel, Morgan Roseborough, Wally Seigler, Laura Simic, Doug Thomas
b.
Absent:
Susan Brooks, Randy Duncan, Barbara Edwards, Ray Galleno, John Gandar,
Barry Godlewski, Lee Gray, William Harper, Jon Hawn, Tony Hoppa, Dane Hughes,
Phil Jones, Bill Hill, Michelle Howard, Tom Lamb, Mark Reynolds, Darin Spease,
Gary Stinnett
3.
Main topics / issues:
a.
Results of MissionMode Notification Exercises: During the period 1 January through 18 March,
2005, we have conducted 5 exercises of the MissionMode Automated Notification
Service. Results are shown in the table
below.
The response
rate continues to improve with each exercise as subscribers get more familiar
with how it works. Additional ENS seats
are available to departments @ $.75 per subscriber per month (or $9/year). Contact Morgan Roseborough if you want to
include your division/department.
b.
Update on 2-Way Radio Initiative: Morgan
reported on the ongoing initiative to standardize 2-way radio communication on
campus. The objective is to get everyone
using the same equipment. This will
provide “purchasing power”, as well as the ability to communicate between
divisions/departments on campus. Mark
Dauplaise reported that Library Services has already purchased a number of
Kenwood radios to replace aging equipment in the library. It was not known if this equipment will be
compatible with the system under consideration by the “radio committee” chaired
by Phil Jones.
c. Blackberry/Nextel
Initiative: Morgan reported on the
ITS initiative to standardize cell phone and Wireless PDA on campus using the
Blackberry and Nextel equipment and network.
The objective is to provide alternate communications (and Internet
connectivity with the Blackberry) in the event the phone system is
inoperative. The Blackberry/Nextel
option has several plusses, including: “direct connect”, less expensive
user-level equipment, portable emergency antenna, and expanded coverage (with
pending merger with Sprint). The
initial cost is less than 2-way radio, but the long-term cost may be about the
same. As with the radio initiative,
there is greater buying power with a single contract than if each department
negotiates a separate “deal”. The
Blackberry/Nextel committee will meet again in the near future (April 8, 2005).
d. Resource
Tracker Contact and Recovery Item Status:
Morgan presented two charts depicting the current status of individual
emergency contact information and component documents of the Business
Continuity Plan. We currently have the
most current information that we have had since we began using Resource Tracker
as a means to keep track of the BCP.
This is mainly due to a campaign launched in December ’04 to bring all
of this data up to date for the Spring Semester. Due to the efforts of individuals and
departments, we have achieved our highest level of readiness in these two
areas. We will conduct another update
campaign in late summer to get the Fall Semester started with current
information and up-to-date plans.
Information is Current for 279 of 312
Team Members Of 86 Recovery Items: 12 are Past
Due; 0 are Not Established
e. Business
Continuity Program Maturity Model.
Morgan presented a model developed by Business Continuity professionals
to assess the maturity of an organization’s Business Continuity Program. The model identifies 6 levels of maturity in
8 categories. Morgan asked each
committee member to make an individual assessment of where UNC Charlotte falls
on this model, and where their individual departments are. The consensus of the group placed our University
Business Continuity Program between levels 3 and 4, acknowledging that some
areas are more (or less) well-developed
than others. This also provides
an indication of the areas where we need to apply additional effort and
resources.
While
this is mainly a subjective means to evaluate our program, there are no
standard empirical measures established by the Business Continuity Industry, or
by Federal or State governments, to date.
However, those measurement standards should be forthcoming within the
next few years.
f.
Planning Your Own Exercise: As we now
have approximately 89 separate Continuity of Operations Plans (COOP) and
related documents in the University Business Continuity Plan, it is not
possible to centrally plan and exercise all of them annually, as is our
goal. However, each division, college
and/or department can conduct their own exercises of COOPs or parts of their
recovery plans. This will not only lead
to improved plans, it will also increase Leadership Involvement and Employee
Awareness of the Business Continuity Program.
Morgan described the 5 phases of putting together an exercise plan, and
provided a planning template to each of the attendees. This template will also be placed on the BCP
web site (www.uncc.edu/bcp) for download.
g. The proposed date for the next meeting is 10:00 AM,
Friday, May 27, 2005; Room 208 Cone Center.
4.
The meeting
adjourned at 11:05 AM.
Director, Business Continuity
Planning
UNC