Continuity of Operations Planning (COOP)

Continuity of Operations Planning(COOP) Presenter: Lee Foster VP, Information & Disaster Mgmt Brought to you by KPMG Foundation

Continuity of Operations Planning Lee W. Foster, MS Vice President, Information & Disaster Management HandsOn Central Ohio

Outline • This training is typically divided into 10 Modules • Module 1: Principles of COOP • Module 2: Essential Functions • Module 3: Human Capital Management • Module 4: Delegations of Authority • Module 5: Vital Records • Module 6: Alternate Sites • Module 7: Communications • Module 8: Reconstitution & Devolution • Module 9: Writing a COOP Plan • Module 10: Training & Exercising

Principles of COOP • The key to COOP planning is to be sure it addresses “All Hazards” • What are some of the Hazards we face? • Floods • Severe Winter Storms (snow/ice) • Dam failure • Terrorism • Infectious Diseases • Tornadoes Source: 2010 Franklin County Emergency Management & Homeland Security Risk Assessment

Principles of COOP • 8 Principles of COOP • Essential Functions • Human Capital & Key Personnel • Delegations of Authority & Succession • Vital Records • Alternate Facilities • Communications • Reconstitution & Devolution • Tests, Training & Exercises

Principles of COOP • Without a COOP plan, agencies cannot function and provide essential functions • Good public relations • Consistency of services • COOP planning is just good business practices

Principles of COOP • 6 Goals of COOP • Ensure timely and orderly continuous performance of essential functions during and after an emergency • Protect facilities, equipment, records and other assets that support essential functions. • Reduce or mitigate disruptions to operations

Principles of COOP • 6 Goals of COOP (cont.) • Facilitate reconstitution and devolution after an emergency • Minimize loss of life, injury and property damage • Provide family support planning for agency personnel during an emergency.

Principles of COOP • COOP plans should: • Be operational no later than 12 hours after activation • Be able to maintain sustained operations for at least 30 days.

Principles of COOP • 7 phases of COOP development • COOP Program initiation • Identification of functional requirements • Plan design and implementation • Program implementation • Tests, Training and Exercises (TT&E) • Plan revision and updating • Plan execution

Essential Functions • What are essential functions? • Must be performed to achieve agency’s mission • Provide vital services • Maintain safety & well being of citizens • Sustain industrial/economical base • Should be resumed within 12 hours of disruption • Should be sustainable for up to 30 days

Essential Functions • 4 steps in identifying essential functions • Identify ALL functions • Identify essential functions as a subset • Determine resource requirements • Prioritize essential functions

Vital Records • Definition of Vital Records: • Records, systems and equipment that if irretrievable, lost or damaged will materially impair an organizations ability to carry out essential functions.

Vital Records • Emergency & Legal Records • Emergency Records: Essential to the continued functioning of an agency during and after an emergency to ensure continuity of operations. • Legal: Essential to the protection of the legal and financial rights of an agency and of the individual directly affected by the agency’s activities.

Vital Records • Are those records really vital? • The National Archives and Records Administration estimates no more than 7% of records are vital (likely 3 – 5%).

Vital Records • Building a Vital Record “Go-Kit”: • A hard copy of key personnel and disaster staff phone numbers. • Vital records inventory with precise locations. • Necessary keys or access codes. • Maps and blue prints of alternate facilities. • Access requirements and sources of equipment necessary to access records. • Lists of records recovery experts and vendors. • Copy of the agency’s COOP Plan.

Alternate Sites • Selecting an Alternate Site: • Location • Building Type • Space • Distance/Transportation • Communications • Security • Lodging/Food • Accessibility • Cost

Alternate Sites • Let’s define a Hot Site • A “hot” site is an alternate facility that already has in place the computer, telecommunications, and environmental infrastructure necessary to recover the agency’s essential functions. • A hot site is basically like have an exact replica of your original building.

Alternate Sites • Let’s define a Warm Site: • A “warm” site is an alternate work site equipped with some hardware and communications interfaces, as well as electrical and environmental conditioning capable of providing backup after additional software or customization is performed and/or additional equipment is temporarily obtained.

Alternate Sites • Let’s define a Cold site: • A “cold” site is an alternate facility that has the environmental infrastructure necessary to recover essential functions or information systems, but does not have preinstalled computer hardware, or telecommunications equipment. The agency must make arrangements for computer and telecommunications support within 12 hours of COOP activation to make a cold site viable.

Alternate Sites • Tele-work • Tele-work is another option for continuing operations if your facility is inaccessible. • Tele-work allows employees to work from home during a potential disaster. • Became the “go to” method of operations during the 2009 H1N1 outbreak (Social Distancing).

Training & Exercising • Why Bother? • It’s important to train and exercise your plan. It helps to verify that the plan works and that staff are familiar with their expectations during COOP operations. • By effectively simulating a COOP situation, staff will understand how to react when the plan “fails”.

Training & Exercising • A few other points • Training and exercising provide excellent opportunities to update your plan. • Encourage cross training among departments. “Non-essential” staff could be asked to assist in essential function programs.

Training & Exercising • Types of Exercises • Discussion based exercises: • Seminars • Workshops • Table-Top • Operations based exercises: • Drills • Functional • Full Scale

Training & Exercising • How can you get involved with Exercises? • If you have a function that would aid in the response to an emergency or disaster (sheltering, providing food, medical care) contact you local Emergency Management Agency for more information on how you can become involved. • If you want to test your own plan, you can conduct a Drill. (A single agency, testing a single function)

Training & Exercising • Developing a Drill • Once you’ve decided to conduct your own exercise, a drill, you will need to make sure your objectives are SMART • Simple: Easily understood • Measurable: can be gauged against a standard • Achievable: challenging, but not impossible • Realistic: Plausible for the agency • Task Oriented: tied to something you want to improve

Training & Exercising • Improvement Planning • Once you’ve completed your Drill (or real life event) it is important to conduct an After Action Report / Improvement Plan (AAR/IP). • In the AAR/IP you will want to list what went well, what needs improving and lessons learned.

Training & Exercising • Improvement Planning (cont) • You’ll want to use the items that need improving and construct your Improvement Plan • An improvement plan is a chart that lays out what was identified as needing improvement, how it will be improved, who is responsible for the improvements and when will the improvements be completed.

Conclusion • COOP planning is intended to be an extensive process. • Do not rush through your COOP planning, your plan will fail if you do. • Be sure to test your plan whenever possible. • Seek outside resources, like HandsOn Central Ohio, for assistance.

Questions/Follow Up Lee Foster, MS Vice President, Information & Disaster Management lfoster@handsoncentralohio.org 614-221-6766 x 168

Continuity of Operations Planning (COOP)