The Testing Experiance
Posted by Sarah Rixey on Wed, Dec 14, 2011
In response to multiple requests to make our recovery tests more transparent and accessible, we have decided to share with you the following test we recently conducted with one of our members.
Read below as Senior Continuity Planner, Mark Norton recounts the testing experience. From the mock disasters to valuable takeaways, learn first-hand about the importance of testing your disaster recovery plan.
At 6:00 a.m. on Monday morning an Agility mem
ber had a pretend a tornado blown through their office building presenting them with obvious challenges beyond the typical mundane Monday. Thankfully no one was hurt in this scenario, however there was no question they were going to need space for their 12 employees. Initially, they were thinking the parking lot would be ideal for recovery, however after hearing our stories of recent tornado recoveries they learned that debris from a tornado would likely block the roads or entrance to the parking lot making it an impossible option for recovery. This became the turning point in the scenario because their recovery strategy was contingent on that single statement (recovery would take place in the parking lot).
Agility has seen many strategies hinged on the assumption that someone or something would be available for recovery; however what if our assumption is wrong. Who do we turn to? Where do we go? What do we do? A suggested planning step for all of us is to TEST our assumptions. We all make them and we would all have a gap in our plans if these assumptions do not pan out.
Thankfully Agility isn’t contingent on anything so we were able to shift gears and share nearby space options for both a mobile office as well as office space for their employees. Another void after the tornado was in their communication plan. Since both phone and Internet access were lost following the tornado, they decided to forward their phone calls to cell phones, but they did not have a fix for their Internet. However, before we focused on finding Internet, we first circled back on the issues of using cell phones as your backup to landlines.
You see, cell phones didn’t work in Joplin and they didn’t work in Alabama. In fact, oftentimes in regional events cell phones typically aren’t good for sending/receiving calls. This is by design as the cell networks aren’t setup to support everyone calling everyone at the same time which is exactly what happens after a far-reaching disaster. Most of us have a good plan for the short-term disasters, but the long-term disasters pose a problem. So again, we want to make sure we all have a Plan B (long-term plan) when Plan A (short-term plan) no longer works for us. The voicemail Agility can setup was a great backup option for them and may be for you as well.
After we had taken care of the phones and determined where the new office place could go, we discussed the computer system they would need and everyone who would be there to set it up. We reinforced the importance of avoiding assumptions around who would’ve, could’ve, should’ve done x, y, z. We wrapped up by discussing a few things that wasn’t on their radar for the exercise:
- Internal & External Communications: Emphasized the importance of using different speakers for different audiences (having someone in charge of communicating to Employees, Vendors, Media, etc.) – we never want to have a single-point of failure or having Mr. Smith speaking to the media
- Keeping your employees up to date around what is going on – things happen very fast following a crisis and your employees should be the first to know what is going on. This can be a challenge when your customers and potentially the media are demanding the same information. Have a tool that allows for quick and easy communications to your audiences - Agility has an Alert Notification System which enables you to send a text message or email to all of your employees which may be one tool to add to your tool belt
- Knowing the various outlets for communication and how they can be updated – you have a large and often dynamic audience to interact with following a crisis so know different ways of reaching these when your traditional outlets of communication fail (email, phones, etc.). Good alternatives may be: company’s Website, radio, television, social media, etc.
At the end of the exercise, we received our greatest compliment, "You and your team were very helpful and I think my organization has gotten a lot out of this exercise. The conversation with you shed a lot of light on gaps in our disaster plan." That is why Agility is here. We believe in a more prepared world and a walk-through exercise is one (of many) steps forward in creating a culture of preparedness.
- Mark Norton
Agility Recovery, Member Services
