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The 4 Challenges for ANY Incident

June 30, 2011

The University’s Business, Academic and Research Continuity (BARC) program is embedded within the UW’s Emergency Management office. There are many commonalities between emergency management and business continuity, include four common challenges that are inherent in any situation:

1- The Fog of Disaster, which is says that unless events are occurring in your presence, you don’t REALLY know what is going on. Fog of Disaster means that the incident manager must rely on second-hand reports from the scene that are filtered through the personal perceptions, knowledge, skills and abilities of the reporting party with varying degrees of accuracy.

2- The Tyranny of Time, which says that the longer it takes to respond to a disaster, the more difficult it is to respond to that disaster due to the continuation of disruption, destruction and damage caused by the event. For example: the longer it takes to respond to a fire, the more damage and potential loss that fire is causing.

3- Communications challenges. The ability to effectively communicate may accurately be called the “first” victim of any situation. Until effective communications are restored, allowed for proper coordination of personnel and resources, the response will not be efficient.

4- Resources challenges. Resources are limited by capability, capacity, availability and distance. Having the right resource for the need (capability) in the right place (availability) in the right quantity (capacity) at the right time (distance) can be very, very difficult. Resources often requires additional capabilities in terms of movement and deployments. For example: a fire engine can carry only so much water and will need to be replenished once that water is used up. The final challenge is that in large-scale disasters, if you need a resource, chances are good that someone else wants it too. This means that resource scarcity will drive increased competition for those resources.

These challenges I outline above are present in ALL situations to a greater or lesser degree. There is no way to eliminate them. However, with careful planning, an organization can mitigate them and provide for an easier time responding and recovering to a disaster.

BARC: It's Just Good Business

May 24, 2011

Recently, Eric Holdeman, former Director of King County Emergency Management, published a blog about the importance of Business Continuity Planning in the recovery of a business. You can view it here. In the article, Eric talks about the importance of individual disaster preparedness as part of business preparedness. People are the most importance aspect of preparedness for any organization.

The same is true for the University of Washington. Not only does the University share many of the same concerns and aspects of a business, but both research and academic units have many business-like requirements as well:

*All units have some kind of constituents (students, staff, faculty and PI’s).

*All units are accountable for some form of fiduciary management.

*Significant disruption for any unit leads to lost productivity which equals lost money.

*Too much lost productivity due to disruption or loss will result in lost jobs- even if they are tenured.

While these facts may be scary, the upside is that UWEM can help business, academic and research programs become more resilient to disruption and even recover faster if disruption occurs. To learn more visit our website or contact us.

It’s Getting a Little Chilly to be a Grasshopper

January 03, 2011

Aesop, the 6th Century BC Greek writer and philosopher once venerated the virtue of hard work and preparedness in his timeless story, the Ant and the Grasshopper.

The general story can be summed up like this: The Ant took time during the Summer to prepare for Winter. The Grasshopper did not. When the Winter came, the Ant was well prepared and survived. The Grasshopper was ill-prepared and did not.

Although the story is ancient and the point a little extreme (prepare or die), the principle of the value of emergency preparedness is still valid today. The very nature of a disaster is such that the ability of the local emergency services to protect individuals becomes severely compromised. Under those conditions, an individual will have only what they have planned for.

A proactive individual will have taken the time to learn the necessary skills and gather the necessary supplies to be more self-reliant until our emergency services systems are back online and functioning well.
The same is true of business continuity planning. Take the time now to help your employees and department be better prepared to endure the next disaster well. If you want more information about how to do this, contact us.

Trick Plays in Disaster Management

November 09, 2010

Recently, a home-video of a clever offensive play by a middle-school football team in Texas has gone “viral” on the Internet. The play shows the Center passing the ball over his shoulder in a very calm, sedate manner to the Quarterback, who then proceeds to nonchalantly walk across the line of scrimmage and through the opposing team’s defensive front line before reaching the defensive back-field and then running for a 60-yard touch-down. The Defense did not respond until the Quarterback began running, but by then it was too late. You can view the video here.

What can we learn about disaster management from this humorous video? The Defense did not respond in a timely manner, because the Quarterback was not behaving in a manner that the Defense had been conditioned to respond to. Within Business, Academic and Research operations, there are situations that may develop, that are potentially disruptive, but may not unfold in a manner that solicits an immediate response.

This is why I advocate for a planning model that is both All-Hazards and resource-oriented (rather than scenario-driven). It promotes flexibility of thought and action, rather than waiting for a specific set of conditions to occur before decisive action takes place.

For example: let’s say that a particular department has a plan for an office-space fire (scenario-driven planning), but a flood is occurring. Will the staff know what to do? Conversely, if the department had a resource-oriented plan that identified the office space as being critical, then the scenario doesn’t really matter. All that matters is that office space is unavailable.

Proper planning should help us avoid the confusion that is seen in the video by the defense when an event or incident is emerging in a way that we don’t expect.

Scott Preston, UW Business Continuity Manager

Business, Academic and Research Continuity (BARC) Management

The University of Washington has elements of business, academic operations and funded research that must be protected from disruption. Unplanned interruptions of business operations account for $588 Billion in lost revenue each year. In addition to protecting life-safety, property and the environment, we have revenue and a reputation in academic and research excellence to protect as well. In an effort to better prepare the University, Business Continuity Management planning was mandated in April of 2007 by the Office of the President through UW Administrative Policy Statement (APS) 13.2. This APS is intended to support Academic and Research continuity efforts as well, so as to produce a holistic emergency preparedness effort that will benefit the University community.

The BARC program uses Husky Ready as the primary enterprise-level business continuity package for all University of Washington locations, both foreign and domestic. Click here to be taken to the Husky Ready website.

To contact the University’s Business Continuity Manager, Scott Preston, please call 206-897-1882 or e-mail him at scottpre@uw.edu

What is Business Continuity?

The National Fire Prevention Association defines business continuity as follows. Business Continuity is an ongoing process supported by senior management and funded to ensure that the necessary steps are taken to identify the impact of potential losses, maintain viable recovery strategies, recovery plans, and continuity of services.

What is Academic Continuity?

Academic continuity is the process of planning to ensure that instruction continues after a disruptive incident. Academic continuity is intended to reduce disruptions in the faculty’s ability to provide instruction and the student’s ability to receive instruction. Academic continuity promotes principles that provide graduate students with assurances that their work will be safe and available to them in the event of a campus disruption.
Academic continuity planning benefits faculty by reducing the recovery time from disruptions and by reducing the risk of the disruption itself. Academic continuity planning benefits students by assuring that a disruptive incident will not cause a delay in academic progress.

What is Research Continuity?

Research continuity is the process of ensuring that research projects will endure after a disruption in services. This is done by planning and mitigatory steps that protect; the researcher, data, research subjects, equipment, records, and critical supplies that may be impacted by a disruption. A disruption in services may include events such as a power failure, communication disruptions, or an inability to access your workplace due to safety or transportation issues.

Helpful links for Research Continuity at the University of Washington

The following links provide additional information and resources available to UW research departments and hisotrical collections. Also, don’t forget: UW Emergency Management is always available 24/7.

UW Office of Research

UW Libraries Disaster Response for Library Collections

How does BARC Benefit Me?

BARC As A Marketplace Advantage

Business continuity planning and similar preparedness efforts are often seen as either unrelated to the business plan or at best, a necessary evil. Those businesses that do have a plan seldom review it for consistency with the current state of the business. A plan written three years ago is likely incompatible with the existing business.

The reality is that business continuity is a strategic investment that helps a business stay competitive, even in the face of temporary disruption. Some quick facts provided by the Houston Advanced Research Center:

35 - 40% of businesses disrupted by a disaster without a continuity plan never reopen
5 year average of US disaster losses is 2.5 billion (pre Katrina)
Every dollar spent on disaster mitigation saves 7 dollars in recovering disaster related economic losses
The rate of occurrence of natural disasters has increased by 40 % in the last 15 years

We know for a certainty that every business will face some form of disaster at some time. Those businesses who have prepared will be in a much better position to prevent a serious disruption of their operations. Additionally, those prepared businesses will be able to recover in a more cost-efficient, timely manner because much of the initial recovery requirements and resources have already been identified. This means that those businesses that can recover faster will attract more customers and draw business away from a competitor who has not resumed operations. This can have far-reaching consequences for an unprepared business, beyond just the loss of real dollars. Potential future sales lost and even a negative perception by customers can all lead to loss of market share. Often market share loss can be many times greater in value than the actual real dollars. Conversely, a well-prepared company with a business continuity plan may have some additional benefits:

Increased Investor Confidence
Favorable public opinion
Better insurance rates
Better loan rates
Higher customer loyalty (you were there when your customers needed you)
More efficient recovery means lower cost due to fewer wasted dollars
Better employee loyalty (you cared enough to help them prepare)
Reduce financial and legal liabilities

A business with a healthy business continuity plan and program to support it will have a decisive advantage over an unprepared rival in the competitive marketplace. Disasters create opportunity for those who are prepared.

Disasters Create Opportunity

Some folks look at business continuity as a necessary burden. You need to have it because your investors or insurance company requires it. The reality is that a well thought-out business continuity plan can actually be a decisive market place advantage.

Remember the movie “Forrest Gump”? In the movie, the Bubba-Gump Shrimp Company was struggling to get their business off the ground. A large storm hit the area, leaving the local shrimp boats devastated, except for the Bubba-Gump Shrimp boat. That storm created opportunity for the Bubba-Gump Shrimp Company who was in a good position to take advantage of it. Was the Bubba-Gump Shrimp company lucky?

Seneca, a mid-1rst century AD Roman philosopher once said:

“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity”

This 2,000 year-old piece of wisdom is still true today. Those companies who have developed a vibrant business continuity program and a preparedness mindset will be in a position to take advantage of the opportunities that may arise from a disaster. They will be faster and more efficient in recovery than any competitors who have not developed a business continuity program. When the customers come knocking, it will be on the doors of those who are open for business.