Nbsia Contingency Management Plan

NBSIA CONTINGENCY MANAGEMENT PLAN

PART I: PLAN DOCUMENT

Preparation for, response to, and recovery from a disaster affecting the administrative functions of the Authority may require the cooperative efforts of many individuals and organizations. This document records the plan that outlines and coordinates these efforts, reflecting the analyses by NBSIA staff.

For use in the event of a disaster, this document identifies the computer recovery facilities that have been designated as backup if the functional areas are disabled.

How to Use This Document

This document is divided into four parts, as the table below describes.

IInformation about the document itself

IIDesign of the Plan that this document records, including information about the overall structure of business contingency planning at NBSIA

IIIGeneral responsibilitiesof the individuals that together form the NBSIA Leadership Team (LT), emphasizing the function of each member and his/her preparation responsibilities.

IVRecovery actions for the LT and important checklists such as the notification list for a disaster and an inventory of resources required for the environment. [Note: If a “disaster” situation arises, Section IV of the Plan is the only section that needs to be referenced. It contains all of the procedures and support information for recovery.]

Distribution

As the written record of NBSIA’s Business Contingency Plan, this document is distributed to each member of the LT.

PART II: DESIGN OF THE PLAN

Purpose

NBSIA increasingly depends on computer-supported information processing and telecommunications. It is expected that this dependency will continue to grow.

The increasing dependency on computers and telecommunications for operational support poses the risk that a lengthy loss of these capabilities could seriously affect the overall performance of NBSIA. A risk analysis identified several dependencies involving outside parties such as member school districts and vendors, and a network system, the loss of which could result in a major impact to NBSIA within as little as 24 hours. This risk assessment process will be repeated on an annual basis to ensure that changes to our processing and environment are reflected in recovery planning.

NBSIA recognizes the low probability of severe damage to data processing, telecommunications or support services capabilities that support the Authority. Nevertheless, because of the potential impact to NBSIA and those it serves, a plan for reducing the risk of damage or delay from a disaster, however unlikely, is vital. NBSIA’s Contingency Management Plan (the Plan) is designed to reduce the risk to an acceptable level by ensuring the restoration of critical processing with 48 hours, and all essential production within one week of the outage.

The Plan identifies the critical functions of NBSIA and the resources required to support them. It provides guidelines for ensuring that needed personnel and resources are available for both disaster preparation and response and that the proper steps will be carried out to permit the timely restoration of services.

This Contingency Management Plan specifies the responsibilities of the NBSIA Leadership Team, whose mission is to establish procedures to ensure the Contingency of NBSIA’s business functions. In the event of a disaster affecting any of the functional areas, the Leadership Team serves as liaison between the functional area(s) affected and our member districts.

Assumptions

The Plan is predicated on the validity of the following three assumptions:

  • The situation that causes the disaster is localized to the NBSIA office; its telecommunications systems; or network systems. It is not a general disaster, such as an earthquake or flood.

It should be noted, however, that the Plan will still be functional and effective even in an area-wide disaster. Even though the basic priorities for restoration of essential services to our members will normally take precedence over the recovery of an individual member, NBSIA’s Contingency Management Plan can still provide for a more expeditious restoration of our resources for support of key functions.

  • The Plan is based on the availability of the contingency site(s) or back-up resources, as described in Part IV. The accessibility of these, or equivalent back-up resources, is a critical requirement.
  • The Plan is a document that reflects the changing environment and requirements of NBSIA. Therefore, the Plan requires the continued allocation of resources to maintain it and to keep it in a constant state of readiness.

Development

NBSIA’s Prevention Services Manager, with assistance from all other Program Managers and the Executive Director, is responsible for developing and maintaining (in coordination with all Department Managers) NBSIA’s Contingency Management Plan.

Maintenance

Ensuring that the Plan reflects ongoing changes to resources is crucial. This task includes updating the Plan and revising this document to reflect updates; testing the updated Plan; and training personnel. The Leadership Team members are responsible for this comprehensive maintenance task.

Annually in October, the Leadership Team members ensure that the Plan undergoes a formal review to confirm the incorporation of all changes since the prior year. This could result in major revisions to the Plan, which will then be distributed to all authorized personnel, who will exchange their old plans for the newly revised plans.

Testing

Testing the Contingency Management Plan is an essential element of preparedness. Partial tests of individual components and recovery plans of specific departments will be carried out throughout the year.

Organization of Disaster Response and Recovery

The organizational backbone of business contingency planning at NBSIA is the Leadership Team. In the event of a disaster affecting NBSIA, its members, or its resources, the LT will respond in accordance with this Plan and will initiate specific actions for recovery. The LT is called into action under the Authority of the Executive Director or designee, who has the responsibility for approving actions regarding this Plan.

Leadership Team

  • Executive Director. Communicates with members, media, public, and staff not involved in the recovery operation.
  • Program Services Manager. Provides alternate voice communications capability in the event normal telecommunication lines and equipment are disrupted by the disaster. Provides support for human resources elements of recovery. Coordinates support for data processing resources at both the NBSIA office and contingency location; provides network support.
  • Prevention Services Manager. Coordinates testing exercises; communicates, distributes, maintains written program.
  • Workers’ Compensation Claims Manager. Works with network service providers to recover computer systems. Directs recovery actions within the individual department.
  • Workers’ Compensation Claims Supervisor. Functions as back-up to W/C Manager
  • Property/Liability Claims Manager. Provides liaison to insurance carriers. Directs recovery actions within the individual department.
  • Accounting Manager. Provides audit and accounting support during the emergency. Directs recovery actions within the accounting department.

Disaster Response

This section describes six required responses to a disaster, or to a problem that could evolve into a disaster:

  1. Detect and determine a disaster condition;
  2. Notify persons responsible for recovery;
  3. Initiate the Contingency Management Plan;
  4. Activate the designated contingency site;
  5. Communicate information to staff/board;
  6. Provide support services to aid recovery.

Each subsection below identifies the position(s) responsible for each of these six responses.

Disaster Detection and Determination

The detection of an event which could result in a disaster affecting information processing systems at NBSIA is the responsibility of whoever first discovers or receives information about an emergency situation developing in one of the departments or building in general, or the utilities or communications lines used by NBSIA in regular production. This information should be communicated to a member of the NBSIA Leadership Team immediately.

1.Disaster Notification

The Leadership Team Member notified will monitor the evolving situation and, if appropriate, will then notify the Leadership Team.

2.Initiation of the NBSIA Contingency Management Plan

Any member of the Leadership Team can initiate the NBSIA Contingency Management Plan.

3.Activation of a Designated Contingency Site

The responsibility for activating any off site location is delegated to the Executive Director or Program Services Manager. Damage assessment will be completed within eight hours of the occurrence, and a prognosis for recovery determined. If the estimated occupancy or recovery of the damage cannot be accomplished within 48 hours prior to a scheduled payment processing date or by 8:00 a.m. the contingency site(s)will be implemented.

Should there be a failure of claims administration systems at the VOS ASP site, the Program Services Manager or W/C Claims Manager will contact VOS for status reports and updates regarding movement to the VOS hot site. VOS contact for purposes of this communication is VOS Support at (925) 242-4642.

4.Communicate Information to Staff/Board

The Executive Director is responsible for directing all meetings and discussions with the news media, members of the NBSIA Board of Directors, district members and NBSIA personnel not actively participating in the recovery operation.

Recovery Status Information Number (707) 428-1830has been established as a voice mail information number for posting recovery status and information notices. All reports will be placed by the Program Services Manager or other member of the Leadership Team

5.Provision of Support Services to Aid Recovery

During and following a disaster, NBSIA staff not actively participating in the recovery operation are expected to provide general assistance under the direction of the Leadership Team.

Disaster Recovery Strategy

The disaster recovery strategy explained below pertains specifically to a disaster disabling the main NBSIA information systems servers which provide major support to NBSIA’s claims and administrative applications. Especially at risk are the critical applications designated as Category I systems (see page 7).

This section addresses three phases of disaster recovery:

  • Emergency
  • Backup
  • Recovery

Strategies for accomplishing each of these phases are described below. It should be noted that the subsection describing the emergency phase applies equally to a disaster affecting any department of NBSIA.

Emergency Phase

The emergency phase begins with the initial response to a disaster. During this phase, the existing emergency plans and procedures of NBSIA direct efforts to protect life and property, the primary goal of initial response. If the emergency situation appears to affect the information systems center or other critical facility or service, either through damage to data processing or support facilities, or if access to the facility is prohibited, the Leadership Team will closely monitor the event. Once access to the facility is permitted, an assessment of the damage is made to determine the estimated length of the outage. If access to the facility is precluded, the estimate includes the time until the effect of the disaster on the facility can be evaluated.

If the estimated outage is less than 4 hours, recovery will be initiated under normal operational recovery procedures. If the outage is estimated to be longer than 48 hours or within 48 hours of a check processing date, then the Contingency Management Plan is activated. The recovery process then moves into the back-up phase.

Back-Up Phase

The back-up phase begins with the initiation of the appropriate plan for outages enduring longer than 48 hours or within 48 hours of a normal check processing date. In the initial stage of the back-up phase, the goal is to resume processing critical applications. Processing will resume either at the NBSIA office or the designated contingency site, depending on the results of the assessment of damage to equipment and the physical structure of the building.

In the back-up phase, the initial contingency site must support critical applications for up to two weeks and as many Category II applications as resources and time permit. During this period, processing of these systems resumes, possibly in a degraded mode, up to the capacity of the contingency site. Within this two-week period, the NBSIA office/servers will be returned to full operational status if possible. In the event NBSIA can access its off-site back-up data and a fully operational server, the relocation to the contingency site may not be necessary.

However, if the damaged area requires a longer period of reconstruction, the second stage of back-up commences. During the second stage, temporary housing is coordinated in the surrounding area and equipment installed to provide for processing all applications until a permanent site is ready.

Recovery Phase

The time required for recovery of the functional area and the eventual restoration of normal processing depends on the damage caused by the disaster. The time frame for recovery can vary from several days to several months. In either case, the recovery process begins immediately after the disaster and takes place in parallel with back-up operations at the designated contingency site. The primary goal is to restore normal operations as soon as possible.

Scope of the Contingency Management Plan

The object of this Plan is to restore critical (Category I) systems within 48 hours, and Essential (Category II) systems within two weeks of a disaster that disables any functional area and/or essential equipment supporting the systems or functions in that area.

The initial Risk Assessment of the computer applications that support NBSIA programs assigned two systems to Category I Critical. This risk category identifies applications that have the highest priority and must be restored with 48 hours of a disaster disabling a functional area. Specifically, each function of these systems was evaluated and allocated a place in one of our risk categories, as described below.

Category I – Critical Functions (48 hour recovery)
  • Workers’ Compensation Indemnity payments (Account Technician’s system)
  • NBSIA Staff payroll (critical only during the third week of each month if not already processed)
  • Telephone/Voice mail system
  • Frame Relay Internet Access

Category II – Essential Functions (1 week recovery)

  • IVOS Payment Processing (Property/Liability Settlements)
  • NBSIA Staff payroll (when notduring the time period to warrant a Category I ranking)
  • Network Systems/Outlook

Category III – Necessary Functions (2 week recovery)

  • NBSIA Vendor payments (including claims programs)
  • Accounts Receivable
  • Web Page Recovery

Category IV – Desirable Functions

  • Any other non-essential functions

Part III. Team Responsibilities

Plan Maintenance

Goal: To oversee the development, maintenance and testing of recovery plans addressing all Category I and II business functions. In the event of a “disaster” to manage the backup and recovery efforts and facilitate the support for key business functions and restoration of normal activities. This function is the responsibility of all NBSIA department managers.

Preparation Requirements

On an annual basis, the Team will review the overall status of the recovery plan and report on this status by November 1 through the Executive Director to the NBSIA Executive Committee.

Loss Prevention/Control

Goal: To prevent or at least minimize the loss suffered subsequent to a critical incident.

Preparation Requirements:

An “Emergency Preparedness Handbook” will be developed by the NBSIA Safety Committee under the direction of the Prevention Services Department. This plan shall be developed, tested, reviewed and updated at least annually by the Committee and shall reflect those situations most likely to result in injury, loss or damage to NBSIA personnel, visitors and property. Training of NBSIA staff will be conducted at least annually.

Computer data backups will be run daily and weekly (modified only) and monthly (full system). The daily tapes are to be stored the following morning in the fireproof media safe. Weekly and month end tapes are to be stored off-site and accessible in the event the contingency site plan is activated. This will be the responsibility of the Program Services Manager.

Damage Assessment

Goal: To determine within two to four hours after access to the facility is permitted, the extent of the damage to the affected site, and to make recommendations regarding possible reactivation and/or relocation of data center or user operations. Following assessment of the damage, the Leadership Team is then responsible for salvage operations in the area affected. This function is carried out by the Prevention Services Manager, the Property/Liability Claims Manager and Executive Director

Preparation Requirements:

Identification of all equipment to be kept current. A quarterly report will be stored off-site. The listing will show all current information, such as serial number and model. A listing of all system vendor sales and consulting personnel is to be included and reviewed semi-annually. Names, addresses and phone numbers (normal, home and emergency) are also to be kept.

Insurance

Goal: To provide for all facets of insurance coverage before and after a disaster and to ensure that the recovery action is taken in such a way as to assure a prompt and fair recovery from NBSIA insurance carriers. The P/L Claims Manager is responsible for this function.

Preparation Requirements:

Determine needs for insurance coverage. Identify the coverage required for hardware, media, media recovery, liability and extra expense and confirm that adequate coverage is in place.

Arrange for video and still photography to record the damage.

Ensure that an equipment inventory is available, to include model and serial number of all devices.

Telecommunications

Goal: To provide voice and data communications to support critical functions. Restore damaged lines and equipment. This function is the responsibility of the Program Services Manager.

Preparation Requirements

Provide critical voice and data communications services in the event that normal telecommunications lines and equipment are disrupted or relocation of personnel is necessary. A full system backup of the voice mail system shall be made and stored off-site in the event of system failure.

Consult with outside contractors and service providers to ensure that replacement equipment and materials are available for timely delivery and installation.

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