December Meeting

This seminar will start with purpose and definitions of Business Continuity Planning and Disaster Recovery Planning. Overview of purpose, principles, and philosophical approaches and continue into the following areas:

• The Myths and Realities of IT Centric Disaster Recovery
• The Importance of the Business Impact Analysis to the order of recovery
• The Infrastructure Rebuild dependencies
• The DR Program - Shelfware Problem, Stewardship, Change Management
• DR Under Fire - Testing the plan and executing in a real event • Return to "Normal" operations • Auditing the Plan

Business Continuity Management Lifecycle

You will learn many aspects of the lifecycle, including the following:

Analyze:

• Current State Assessment - Assess the organization’s current BCM program status
• Risk Assessment - Assess existing business continuity threats and recommend solutions
• Business Impact Analysis - Establish Recovery Time Objectives (RTO) and Recovery Point Objectives (RPO) for major business processes

Develop:

• Governance - Introduce key BCM governance practices to promote a successful BCM program
• Availability Recovery Strategies - Recommend tactical and strategic solutions to enable the organization to meet availability and recoverability objectives
• Plans & Documentation - Detail the required people, processes, procedures and infrastructure necessary based on the recovery strategy selection

Implement:

• Resource Acquisition & Implementation - Provide project management assistance for the implementation of BCM infrastructure and processes and the organizational rollout of the overall BCM program
• Training & Awareness - Develop an ongoing awareness and training program to support and improve an organization’s BCM capability

Testing:

Provide guidance in the development of a comprehensive and integrated testing program that includes business work-area recovery, data center recovery, and emergency communications

The Myths and Realities of IT-Centric Disaster Recovery Plans

1. FIRST PRINCIPLES: The purpose and definitions of Business Continuity Planning and Disaster Recovery Planning. Overview of purpose, principles, and philosophical approaches.
2. The Myths and Realities of IT Centric Disaster Recovery
3. The Importance of the Business Impact Analysis to the order of recovery
4. The Infrastructure Rebuild dependencies
5. The DR Program – Shelfware Problem, Stewardship, Change Management
6. DR Under Fire – Testing the plan and executing in a real event
7. Return to “Normal” operations
8. Conclusion

Speakers:

M.J. Vaidya (mjvaidya@deloitte.com) is the North East Business Continuity Lead in Deloitte’s enterprise risk services practice and has more than 15 years of experience in program management, business continuity, IT risk management, infrastructure integration, and consulting. He has led teams on large scale complex engagements, including ERP and Infrastructure with high availability and business continuity requirements. M.J. has global experience in developing strategies, conducting interviews, and facilitating workshops with stakeholders across organizations, including business units, IT, customers, executive management, and third parties. He has provided executives guidance on business continuity, disaster recovery, risk management, infrastructure, and information security.

Click here (PDF, 1MB) for a copy of M.J.'s presentation.

Walt Carter (walt.carter@rmbattle.com) began his career as a technical officer in the US Air Force supporting the Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missile program. He led the Missile Recovery and Reconstitution Command Center at the 91st Strategic Missile Wing. Following this, he was handpicked by a three star general to serve as the Chief of the Strategic Air Command Airborne Battlestaff Logistics Team flying on "Looking Glass" and the auxiliary command posts for three years providing leadership on recovery and reconstitution to the acting Commander-in-Chief of Strategic Air Command and the National Command Authority (the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the President). He was on active duty in this critical role during the first Gulf War. He negotiated international host-tenant agreements between the US and Canada under the NORAD treaty and received numerous decorations including the Meritorious Service Medal for actions under evaluation from the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He has served in a variety of IT governance leadership roles with companies such as Fidelity, Gannett Corporation, BDM, TRW, Spherion, Ajilon Consulting and CDC Software. While at TRW, he won the President's Award for his leadership on their largest commercial project at a major airline. Walt makes his home just outside of Atlanta, Georgia with his wife Eileen and their four children.

Click here (PDF, 1MB) for a copy of Walter's presentation.