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Tracking the Storm: Higher Education IT Readiness for Business Continuity

This article explores the level of IT readiness in higher education institutions to support business continuity and restore normal operations in the event of a disruption. It examines the awareness, planning, testing, and resource availability for business continuity, and highlights the primary drivers and barriers to implementing effective business continuity plans.

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Tracking the Storm: Higher Education IT Readiness for Business Continuity

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  1. Tracking the Storm: Higher Education IT Readiness for Business Continuity Ron Yanosky EDUCAUSE 2006

  2. Can’t imagine? A weak defense “I cannot imagine any condition which would cause a ship to founder. Modern shipbuilding has gone beyond that.” – FutureTitanic Capt. E. J. Smith, 1907

  3. BC at risk What level of performance has your institution achieved in its IT readiness to support business continuity? (N=336)

  4. What is business continuity? The institution’s ability to maintain or restore its business and academic services when some circumstance threatens or disrupts normal operations. BC encompasses disaster recovery—the activities that restore the institution to an acceptable condition after suffering adisaster—and also includes activities such as risk and impact assessment, prioritization of business processes, and restoring operations to a “new normal” after an event.

  5. Some characteristics of BC • emphasis on front-end service delivery, not back-end infrastructure • holistic, collaborative, enterprise-wide • concerned with post-recovery change • IT supports it but can’t “deliver” it

  6. ECAR BC study 2006 • IT readiness to support business continuity • Web-based survey May-June 06, 340 responses • qualitative interviews • case studies

  7. At my institution: Mean Std. Dev. Strongly agree + agree Awareness of the need for BCP is high 3.59 1.025 61.1% ...is higher today than two years ago 4.12 0.886 84.4% Sr. management places high priority on BCP 3.42 1.013 52.5% 1=Strongly disagree, 2=disagree, 3=neutral, 4=agree, 5=strongly agree BC awareness • BC/DR in EDUCAUSE Current Issues 2006: • #4 in strategic importance • #3 in likelihood to become more significant • #9 in occupying IT leader time (tie)

  8. Primary drivers for BC planning

  9. Central IT is represented on 9 out of 10 reported ERTs BC in the organization

  10. Exec responsible for institutional BCP

  11. Institutional risk assessment

  12. Status of planned/in-progress RA Percentage responding in each category

  13. Even some institutions with no plans for formal RA have some RA procedures... and most in-progress institutions have one or more. RA procedures v. formal RA status

  14. Central IT BC/DR plan 26% of institutions provide depts/units with a framework for developing unit BC plans

  15. IT BC/DR procedures v. formal plan

  16. IT BC/DR procedures v. formal plan Mean and median number of documented procedures rises with advancing plan status

  17. What good is a plan, anyway? Those with a completed institutional RA, institutional BC plan, and/or central IT BC/DR plan are more likely to: • have one of the other types of planning document • have individual documented BC/DR procedures • conduct tests of IT readiness to support BC • have a hot site • agree that BC practices are woven into business operations • rate their institution’s preparedness to restore centrally controlled systems higher

  18. IT: Is there an alternative? If central IT systems and services were not operational at my institution, business units could carry out essential operations. (N=332)1=Strongly disagree, 2=disagree, 3=neutral, 4=agree, 5=strongly agree

  19. Bad things do happen: the top 8 Overall, 46 percent report disruptions in the past 5 years that triggered central IT emergency response

  20. Consequences of disruptions

  21. 74% among those with completed IT BC/DR plans Testing Does your institution conduct tests to assess IT readiness to support business continuity? (N=340) 1=Strongly disagree, 2=disagree, 3=neutral, 4=agree, 5=strongly agree

  22. Testing rate by institution size More doctorals report testing (54%) than other Carnegies (27% - 31%)

  23. Hot sites Does your institution have at least one hot site capable of assuming key IT operations? (N=340)

  24. Resources We have the necessary funding to deliver IT support for business continuity. (N=336)1=Strongly disagree, 2=disagree, 3=neutral, 4=agree, 5=strongly agree

  25. BC in the Budget *Excluding outliers reporting > 15%

  26. About 1.3 points of budget separate mean disagree & agree responses. What would it take to make you happy?

  27. Mutual aid Does your institution participate in formal mutual aid agreements? (N=340)

  28. Primary barriers to BC planning

  29. Outcomes: restoring systems My institution is prepared to restore centrally controlled systems in the event of a disruption. (N=333)1=Strongly disagree, 2=disagree, 3=neutral, 4=agree, 5=strongly agree

  30. Some preliminary findings • most respondents believe their institutions are “at risk”—though they may be afraid of tempting fate • institutional guidance on BC seems underdeveloped • institutions lacking a completed BC/DR plan often have considerable procedure-level documentation • still, plan completion is associated with good outcomes • testing is infrequent and institutions worry about it • two-thirds of respondents report they do not have the necessary resources for BC

  31. Ron Yanosky ryanosky@educause.edu

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