Force Byte
Business Continuity Plan Part II - Interim Procedures

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In the last issue, we mentioned that in order to strike a balance between cost and benefit, Information Systems Wing (ISW) will assist users to assess their systems objectively and arrange suitable backup facilities. More resources will be deployed to systems that are critical to the mission and core services of the Force (for example, 999 services) so that services can be recovered fully or partially within a short time. For less operationally critical systems, less or sometimes no backup resources would be required. As such, services could be provided manually until the computer system has been restored. For a more mission-critical system, time is required for recovery; how can we effectively continue our services?

Apart from system and data recovery procedures, "Interim Procedures" are another important component of the Business Continuity Plan (BCP). A real life example would help to illustrate the concepts.

Assuming that the electronic ordering system (an IT system) of a fast food chain shop has failed, and that one day is required for its recovery, what kind of contingency procedures could be taken? First, the fast food operator would need to identify what the "Minimal Services" are. Second, he would fathom the scope of impact. The fast food shop would not stop operating just because of an IT system problem (in fact, many caterers continue to operate even for water and power outages), and its "Minimal Service" is to continue selling food. Other services, such as compiling sales reports, would be of lower priority and would be postponed or suspended. However, without a computer system, counter service to take orders and transmission of customer orders to kitchen, etc, could be seriously affected.

After the scope of impact has been determined, appropriate "Interim Procedures" could be adopted, which include jotting down orders by hand; temporary staff being deployed to the counter to take orders; orders being passed to the kitchen manually, and so on.

It should be noted that in maintaining "Minimal Services", some "Essential Information" for the operation is required. In this example, the food menu and the price information are the essential information that could normally be retrieved from the computer. Without that, the information from the wall-posted menu would be used instead. Therefore, it is advisable to identify beforehand what the "Essential Information" is and have it made readily available.

The above example illustrates some important concepts of BCP, namely, "Minimal Service", "Interim Procedures" and "Essential Information". It is therefore important to develop an "End User Manual" in each BCP so that in case of a major system breakdown, the frontline users could start the interim procedures developed to maintain the minimal service.

We will continue to share other concepts of BCP with you in future.