Routing Protocol Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Routing Protocol - Essay Example Enhanced interior Gateway routing Protocol is an advanced distance vector routing protocol which reduces routing uncertainty which developed after re-arrangement of various computer network elements. Routers which operate through EIGRP involuntarily spread data packets to the interior gateway routing protocol by changing the 32 bit enhanced interior gateway to 24 bit interior gateway. Since EIGRP uses a dual update algorithm (DUAL) its confluence is much faster. The time taken to transmit data packets through the telecommunication network from the source destination is from 65ms up to 185ms. Open Shortest Path first (OSPF) developed by Interior gateway protocol, conveys information in an automatic system. Different versions of OSPF include the OSPF version one and the OSPF versions two. OSPF has been widely used in large scale network connections. Open Shortest path operates by acquiring information from the neighbouring routers then developing a path for the network. The schematic arrangement of the network establishes the routing mechanism on the internet layer. If there are changes of the network arrangement, the OSPF closes in on a new loop, by analyzing the shortest path for the different routers using the graph search algorithm with all positive path costs. The main advantages of the Open shortest path first are it can reduce router paths as well as configuring an area through minimizing the size of a routing table. OSPF also supports various routes and length of an IP address. Comparing the two routing protocols regarding end to end delay, throughput and delay jitter, the end to end delay of EIGRP and OSPF is from 65ms to 185 ms with a 15% network load. As seen from the graph below, when the background load is set to 40%, The EIGRP raises to 200 ms while the OSPF rises to 4.4 seconds. With a more background load, EIGRP and OSPF delay, elevates to 600

Contingency leadership theories and contemporary leadership Essay

Contingency leadership theories and contemporary leadership - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that the general definition of contingency theories is that it is a class of behavioral theory. More so, contingency theory is a process of trying to identify and measure the conditions under which things or circumstances are likely to occur. These behavioral theories claim that there is no perfect way of organizing a corporation and the organizational structure of the company. An organizational or leadership style that is effective in some situations may differ from other organizations. This is so because organizations are different in structure and size. Therefore, the best way of having an organized organization is contingently depending on the external and internal situation of the company. This is the case because; external environments have numerous impacts on an organization in numerous ways. Critical external factors include the size of the organization, availability, labor markets, cost of capital, competitors, strategies, governme ntal laws and policies, managerial assumptions about employees, technologies used, and other diverse situations. Traditional leadership theories elaborated on leadership as nature borne of individual and established on the impossibility to create such attributes on a grown individual as illuminated by the great man theory, whilst a contrasting theory of the behavioral implicates on the possibility of an individual to be a leader as shown through traits.... Commonly, the contingency, transformational, and transactional approaches derive the best results whenever forecasting on the capabilities of an individual (CDR Associates, 2007:7). However, changes in leadership are continuously emerging because of the dynamics in the environment and acquisition of skill. Authenticity, building of trust and relationships are the modern approaches to effective organizational leadership. The cognitive perspective approach assigns that follower’s posses shared beliefs about a leader’s behaviors and beliefs about their leaders’ behaviors and traits (Gilbert, 2003:443). This influences how the followers encode information about their leaders by targeting the quality of ideas, quantity of speech and leaders ability to open up for friendliness. This means that the leader’s behavior influences his follower’s behaviors who perceive the reflection that leadership offers. Therefore, a leader should have the capability of buil ding up healthy and ethical relationships that would interconnect the personnel to a single group targeting to deliver performances to enhance organizational performances (Gill, 2010:50). The leader should remain emphatic to employees and avoid biases that would divide the employees. In order to ensure that the company performs obligations to the fullest, the leader should bear motivational characteristics and avoid any act that would seem to induce pressure on the personnel (Collins & O'Rourke, 2009:16). Though scholars had their own perspective of leadership, the bottom line of each of them was that every organization despite the size should have an efficient and outstanding leader. This is the case because efficient managerial leadership influences

Interview Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Interview Project - Essay Example For that reason, the servant leader shares his power with the people and puts the needs of the people first and helps his subordinates to fully develop their potentials. The servant leader therefore views himself/herself as a servant of the people mandated by the people to lead them and to help them to exploit their potentials and be able to achieve their goals in life. This paper is an Interview project synthesis. The paper is composed of two parts. The first part is the summary of the interview on servant leadership that was carried out on Moses Charlton, chairman of a Catholic parish council based in Dallas Texas, while the second part is an evaluation of what has been learnt in the interview, and a synthesis of this information into a personal philosophy of leadership. Professional Background of the interviewee The interviewee said that he is a trained human resource manager. He said that he has a master’s degree in human resource management. He also said that he has atten ded various courses on leadership in the Catholic church and he is therefore well versed with leadership in the church. On his experience in leadership, the interviewee said that he has served as a human resource manager in various companies for a period of thirty years, before his retirement. Mr Charlton therefore said that he has extensive knowledge of leadership both in the cooperate world and also in the church. Charlton’s responsibilities as the chairman of Catholic Parish council in Dallas Texas As the chairman of parish council, Mr. Charlton is first and foremost, the head of the parish council and he is the one who chairs all the meetings of the parish council in the parish. Charlton also is in charge of all development projects in the parish; he oversees all the development projects in the parish. Mr Charlton also is the coordinator of all the activities in the parish, and he is therefore mandated to ensure that all the activities in the parish run smoothly in accord ance with the program of the parish. Charlton’s Philosophy of Leadership On his philosophy of leadership, Charlton said that he is a servant leader. And when I asked him what he understands the servant leadership to be, he said that, servant leadership is a style of leadership whereby the leader views himself not as the master or as the boss of the people, but rather as the servant, the steward, or the shepherd of the people. Charlton went on to say that the guiding principle of servant leadership is to treat people not merely as means to achieve some objective, but rather to see the people as the very objective or the goal of leadership. He went on to explain that, although in leadership making profits for the organisation is of course one of the goals of leadership, monetary profits however should not be made at the expense of the lives of the people/ workers. He said that for him, the primary objective of leadership is to empower his subordinates and to ensure that they ar e contented and to ensure that he has given them conducive environment and means to fully exploit their potentials. He went on to argue that, although at fast glance servant leadership may seen as a leadership style that will lead to massive losses in the organisation, servant leadership actually leads to making an organisation successful

Contingency leadership theories and contemporary leadership Essay

Contingency leadership theories and contemporary leadership - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that the general definition of contingency theories is that it is a class of behavioral theory. More so, contingency theory is a process of trying to identify and measure the conditions under which things or circumstances are likely to occur. These behavioral theories claim that there is no perfect way of organizing a corporation and the organizational structure of the company. An organizational or leadership style that is effective in some situations may differ from other organizations. This is so because organizations are different in structure and size. Therefore, the best way of having an organized organization is contingently depending on the external and internal situation of the company. This is the case because; external environments have numerous impacts on an organization in numerous ways. Critical external factors include the size of the organization, availability, labor markets, cost of capital, competitors, strategies, governme ntal laws and policies, managerial assumptions about employees, technologies used, and other diverse situations. Traditional leadership theories elaborated on leadership as nature borne of individual and established on the impossibility to create such attributes on a grown individual as illuminated by the great man theory, whilst a contrasting theory of the behavioral implicates on the possibility of an individual to be a leader as shown through traits.... Commonly, the contingency, transformational, and transactional approaches derive the best results whenever forecasting on the capabilities of an individual (CDR Associates, 2007:7). However, changes in leadership are continuously emerging because of the dynamics in the environment and acquisition of skill. Authenticity, building of trust and relationships are the modern approaches to effective organizational leadership. The cognitive perspective approach assigns that follower’s posses shared beliefs about a leader’s behaviors and beliefs about their leaders’ behaviors and traits (Gilbert, 2003:443). This influences how the followers encode information about their leaders by targeting the quality of ideas, quantity of speech and leaders ability to open up for friendliness. This means that the leader’s behavior influences his follower’s behaviors who perceive the reflection that leadership offers. Therefore, a leader should have the capability of buil ding up healthy and ethical relationships that would interconnect the personnel to a single group targeting to deliver performances to enhance organizational performances (Gill, 2010:50). The leader should remain emphatic to employees and avoid biases that would divide the employees. In order to ensure that the company performs obligations to the fullest, the leader should bear motivational characteristics and avoid any act that would seem to induce pressure on the personnel (Collins & O'Rourke, 2009:16). Though scholars had their own perspective of leadership, the bottom line of each of them was that every organization despite the size should have an efficient and outstanding leader. This is the case because efficient managerial leadership influences

Video Project Reflection Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Video Project Reflection Paper - Essay Example In our case, the whole concept of professionalism boarded on respect, both for other members as well as for oneself. The task and the entire project were daunting, and it took a toll on everyone’s schedules; without self-respect, we would not manage to get everything going within the stipulated timeframe. Fortunately, most of us were extremely focused and aligned with the project’s requirements. As such, we exhibited a great deal of professionalism with respect to the expedition. However, a little lack of professionalism still surfaced, at some point some would not complete their duties in time, but with the help of others, they were successful in the end. On the same note, members were highly respectful and patience with regards to the opinions of other members. Each opinion, regardless of how wrong it may seem, was accepted and later isolated with facts, and in a way that left everyone satisfied. In any situation where more than one person is involved, conflicts of interest are bound to arise. Likewise, our team had to struggle with conflicts resulting from different points of view. Working in a team is never an easy task; everyone has their opinions, all which have to be harmonized and integrated with the overall objective of the project (Schon 9). On this note I found myself in a tight corner- most of the time having to deal with a mixture of feelings. From the onset of the project, I felt somewhat awkward; some members seemed to dislike the tasks they were allocated. Furthermore, the team had to evaluate all the different opinions given by the members. As is not enough, the introverted team members who rarely contributed to the discussions felt out of place, and somehow unrecognized. To contain the conflict that could probably blow out of proportion, everyone was required to contribute each time a motion popped up. The collectively, each proposal was evaluated in a more c omprehensive and inclusive

White Privilege in American Society Essay Example for Free

White Privilege in American Society Essay Privilege is the greatest enemy of equality. This quote from a noted Austrian novelist, Marie Von Ebner-Eschenbach, perhaps describes the harm of white privilege on American society. By its very definition privilege is a grace bestowed on one over another (Webster, 2006). In that sense, privilege is in and of itself an opposition to equality. In racial terms, if one group has been historically privileged over another, there will never be equality between the groups until a catastrophic new beginning can occur removing all trace of the bestowed privilege. Privilege is the greatest enemy of equality. This quote from a noted Austrian novelist, Marie Von Ebner-Eschenbach, perhaps describes the harm of white privilege on American society. By its very definition privilege is a grace bestowed on one over another (Webster, 2006). In that sense, privilege is in and of itself an opposition to equality. In racial terms, if one group has been historically privileged over another, there will never be equality between the groups until a catastrophic new beginning can occur removing all trace of the bestowed privilege. White American privilege is the result of a country developing around a racially charged society featuring whites on top. Since the inception of colonial America, Whites heeded themselves as the superior race. This is seen evident through the submission and elimination of the Native Americans as well as most directly in the institution of slavery. As the nation of riches began to develop, and the American Dream came into fruition, nonwhites were left out of any chance to profit. Skip ahead to present day and we see a nation that has made drastic leaps toward social equality between races, but still struggles with remnants of the past. Simply put, white privilege is the social advantage given to whites through wealth and power that nonwhites never had the opportunity to earn. Despite all of societys strides toward racial equality, how do you equalize the advantages one group has had over another? The most obvious advantage today is that of wealth. White Americans have had greater opportunity for previous generations to accumulate and pass on wealth to todays members, whereas nonwhite Americans were historically denied the opportunity to do so. Specific cases include the subjugation of a race with Native Americans, the enslavement of race as seen with Black Americans, and the fleecing of a race as seen with Japanese Americans. However, perhaps most prevalent, but certainly not obvious is the power that White Privilege bestows to White Americans. In a society being controlled by white Americans, it is natural for that society to show a bias toward whites. This bias manifests itself through legislation, opportunities and within the very fabric of society itself. However prevalent its effects might be, White Privilege seems nonexistent to those who benefit from it (McIntosh, 1989). In modern American society, as a nation that has existed with White Privilege, it is commonplace and goes by unnoticed to white Americans. Among its subtle manifestations, but arguably the most relevant, is the fact that actions committed by a white individual are attributed to that individual and very seldom to their race, whereas, actions committed by nonwhites are usually viewed as stereotypical of their race, even if those actions are in fact atypical. It is in these subtleties that the often made argument that disenfranchised white Americans do not benefit from the effects of White Privilege is proved inaccurate. The factor of wealth only gives a reason as to why white privilege exists. The fact that all but a very small percentage of wealthy Americans are white correlates to that fact that all but a very small percentage of Americans in power are white. The bias and controlling interest exerted by this white power majority is apparent through all aspects of American government. As described in The Coming White Majority a black man recalls coming to America, he quotes, We came here as Africans, but no one called us Africans. They called us Negroes (Maharidge, 1996). White Privilege is a phenomenon that cannot directly be undone. As discussed the underlying causes of White Privilege exist in the mindset and power structure of American society. Perhaps most conceivable would be to begin by diversifying the power structure of the government. However, as has been proven many times in American government, politics are won through financial support. So for this reason, we look again to wealth and must focus on equalizing the wealth of the nation. If, through these steps, we engineer a social system that has power equally distributed among races, there still remains the perceived power created by societal mindset. Unlike tangible aspects of government office and wealth, how can we conceivable attempt to change the minds of an entire society of people (Bonilla-Silva, 2006). It can be presumed that the only way to begin to undertake this task is through education. Contrary to popular belief, race cannot be ignored. Race education will help to educate both white Americans to be aware of phenomenon such as White Privilege, and to help educate nonwhite Americans in what to expect living in a society filled with White Privilege. As discussed, White Privilege is a permeating factor of American society and its effects slowly widen the riff between white and nonwhite Americans. However, although difficult, it is possible to begin to overcome the effects granted by White Privilege. Ignoring nonrealistic way such as a mass racial equalizing of wealth and power, the first step is to educate both sides of society in race relations throughout. After all, as has been coined may times, education and understanding are the end all of strife and despair. Works Cited Webster. Websters Dictionary. 2006 McIntosh, P. White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack. Peace and Freedom. July 1989. Maharidge, D. The Coming White Minority. Random House Inc, 1996. Bonilla-Silva, E. Racialized Social System Approach to Racism, in Gallagher, Charles. Rethinking the Color Line: Readings in Race and Ethnicity. 3rd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2006.

Contingency Planning Policy Statement

Contingency Planning Policy Statement Disaster Recovery Planning plays a most vital part in major industries where stored information or so called data plays the key role. Every business organization can be subjected to serious incidents or accidents which can prevent it from continuing day-day or normal operations and may cause in huge loss in terms of time as well as money. These incidents can happen at any day and at anytime, these causes can be natural calamities, human errors and system malfunctions. All Disaster Recovery planning needs to encompass how employees will communicate, where they will go and how they will keep doing their jobs. The details can vary greatly, depending on the size and scope of an organization and the way it does business. For some businesses, issues such as supply chain logistics are most crucial and are the focus on the plan. For others, information technology may play a more pivotal role, and the Disaster Recovery plan may have more of a focus on systems recovery. In this paper we are go ing to primarily discuss about steps to implement an actual disaster recovery plan. Below is the brief description of how the plan is implemented. Developing a contingency planning policy statement Conducting the business impact analysis (BIA) Identifying preventive controls Developing recovery strategies Developing a contingency plan Planning, testing, training and exercises Planning maintenance activities All the above steps are planned and performed taking all factors of the business into consideration. We shall also discuss the limitations of implementing such a plan. We shall also include real time examples and the successful results yielded by implementing the Disaster Recovery Plan. So this plans would act like a backup recovery process or a kind of business continuity solution while the actual system goes offline or corrupted. DISASTER RECOVERY PLANNING Have we ever imagined as to what would happen if we belong to a business and we lose critical data or information due to some errors like human errors or a server crash or a lost computer or any natural calamity? Such kind of loss of information could lead to major losses in information in turn would affect the company in term of time and money and in this current world where recession has struck real bad the stakes are even higher. Protection information or data in a company is one of the major tasks or responsibility a company should take, such is the time where the disaster recovery planning would come in great help. Disasters strike untimely in many forms like natural disasters, computer errors or human errors. These kinds of disasters could lead to major catastrophe in the companys future. Disaster Recovery Planning is a procedure or a plan which protects the business data and in case of a calamity would help in continuity of business operations with the least loss amount in ter ms of time and money. The terrorist 9/11 attacks on the United States are one of such great examples in history for many organization decision makers to focus on the need for disaster recovery. There was huge loss of data and resulted in great loss of money and jolted the market for a few months. Business continuity and Disaster Recovery are major components which help to ensure that systems essential to the operation of the organization are available when needed. The term disaster took to a new height after the 9/11 events, before many business used to think disasters in terms of natural calamities or computer errors. Some events occur in such a way that it may take months or even years to recover. Sources say that till date, 70% of small businesses in the U.S. experienced a data loss in the past year due to technical or human disaster alone [AMI U.S. Small Business 2009 Annual Overview]. 1Over years many companied have started to realize the importance of this recovery planning an d business continuity. Sources even say that the companies which have actually using these plans are very happy and secure and scare for any type of disaster has been reduced. Sources say that from the year 2000 there has been a gradual increase in the companies who have started to implement the Disaster Recovery solution and the Business continuity solutions. The IT business has always been a target for many hackers and terrorist organizations all over the world. Over the years IT has improved and has been a major source of money as well as information. The security in the IT organization has always been a question mark as through the years, many disasters have occurred and there has been huge loss of data. In the early years IT companies has always been the target as the security measures werent that strong, they were used to be called as Single Point of Failures. So with the increasing threats from external organization, recovery plans and solutions have started to improve and ga ined lot of Interest over the years. IBM was an organization which had made a major influence in the market in providing the recovery solutions. Many companies initially thought that the implementation of these disaster recovery plans could be really expensive and had to deal with a lot of money, but they soon realized the loss occurred during a disaster is far more than the amount required to invest for the solutions. The primary reason in order to implement this kind of solution is: To implement accurate and continuous critical records, data backup, and off-site storage. To develop various strategies in order to provide alternative sites for business operations. To construct a contingency organization. To resume business operations with the loss of least amount of time and money. The following are the key steps or procedures which are needed to be followed in order to implement a disaster recovery plan: Developing a contingency planning policy statement Conducting the business impact analysis (BIA) Identifying preventive controls Developing recovery strategies Developing a contingency plan Planning, testing, training and exercises Planning maintenance activities CONTINGENCY PLANNING POLICY STATEMENT According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the following statement means that it is a set of management policies and procedures designed to maintain and restore business operations, possibly at an alternate location in the event of emergency, system failure or disaster.-2 This is one major component in the disaster recovery planning. In this, a plan is laid down keeping all the emergency situations in mind and preparation for any kind of disasters which may occur at any point of time. The policy statement is really talks about communication between management and those responsible for developing the plan. Keeping in view the driving goals of the project and the level of financial resources and other resources, the particular people who are involved and are to be responsible, this policy statement gives everything that the planners need to work out options in order to achieve the organizations goals. It also provides the scope to planners to interact with the management in case they need to re-assess the organization goals and resources from time to time. The importance of this step is not just for preparing the plan for the DR implementation but also at this step a major amount of cost is involved than the other phases of the DR implementation. Here a re the key points that the policy statement should address: What kind of disaster does the organization intend to cover? What do the organizations need to accomplish? How much time would it take in order to get things back to normal state? Where does the responsibility of the plan and planners end? How to take advantage of the crisis situation in order to improve your organization image with the stake holders? What level of system should be covered in case of any crisis? What is the maximum level of resources that the plan can command during the preparation, implementation, testing and maintenance? The initial draft for this plan may set goals that turn out to be impossible under the resource constraints specified. But as the time passes we need re-evaluate the policy and adjust the goals and resources according the situations. BUSINESS IMPACT ANALYSIS The primary purpose of this step is to ensure that everything is protected without any loss of resources. This will also facilitate as to how quickly the business operation should have to return to full operations in case a disaster occurs. These are analyzed and identified on the basis of the worst-case scenario which may occur that assumes that the physical infrastructure supporting each respective business unit would be destroyed and all records, equipment, etc. are not accessible within 30 days. The main objectives of the business impact analysis (BIA) are as follows: Estimating on what scale on each business unit can be affected financially, considering the worst case scenarios Estimating on what scale on the operations of each business unit can be affected considering the worse case scenarios. Identifying and estimating the amount of personnel required for recovery operations. Estimating the time frame required for each business unit, considering the worst case scenarios. The key business processes that act as backbones to the organizations ability to carry out its business are identified and the requirements that drive these processes are also analyzed. The above processes can be identified and sorted in two different ways. Outside-In Analysis: This analysis is conducted in consideration with external stake holders, outside suppliers and internal departments which depend on IT services. The outside-in analysis focuses on whole systems, at each layer taking into consideration, the current process or system as distinct from the users or other systems that depend on it and via versa. Depending on the overall complexity of your business and how it makes the ideal solution to divide things up in the context, we may end up with just a single layer or with many of them. Inside-Out Analysis: The inside-out phase primarily focuses on resources that are required in each layer in order to provide the services that have been identified in the Outside-In phase which covers everything from the core system to the IT resources in the organizations. Then for each of the above we shall determine the impact of a disaster which may cause disruption or damage of the resource on the functioning of the system and its ability to deliver the services on which other layers depend on. Then we determine the maximum time wastage due to the disaster test we conducted on each of the services on the basis of what other layers are dependent on these services. We shall also include in the analysis any indirect effects which were caused by the disaster on these services. The BIA Report should be presented to the Steering Committee PREVENTIVE MEASURES There has been a simple formula for determining the risk associated financially with a given type of disaster; $R=P*C*T where P is the probability that the disaster will occur, C is the hourly or daily cost of downtime in lost productivity, lost revenue, etc. and T is time outage. The primary purpose of this step is to reduce the time outage, which are also the main purposes of the DR plan. Since the risk and the other factor are directly proportional to the time outage associated, hence the reduction of time is the primary responsibility of this task. At the same time the reduction of the other two factors which is the probability of the occurrence of the disaster and the cost due to the downtime are equally important. So minimizing all the three factors would result in the least risk possible. Generally sources say that the cost of preventing a problem is far lower than the cost of fixing it after it occurs. Let us now look into how we can identify the above factors. Firstly the pr obability of disaster occurring is generally is the toughest one to say. Natural calamities come and strike without a sign. The only way to prevent them is to make the organization sites in safe places. Next is the computer malfunction or server crash, these can be prevented by regular maintenance, constant tracking through performance monitors, proper vigilance and good security. Secondly is the cost reduction, there should be maintenance in such a way that generally if by chance there has been any damage the system should be protected. We should not be in a position to replace and get a new one. Generally the cost associated in installing a new machine is always higher than the maintenance cost put on it. Even the cost of downtime can be reduced by reducing the organizations dependence on the system. Thirdly is the time outage, we need to have special ops teams which should act readily to any situational catastrophe. So by reducing all the above factors we can reduce the probabili ty of risk on the organization. RECOVERY STRATERGIES The primary task of this step is to determine how we have to achieve the disaster recovery goals for each of the systems and system components that were identified in the Business Impact Analysis. It is here that we do the core work of balancing costs and benefits of the available approaches. This step is not just about selecting specific vendors, determining exact costs, or developing detailed procedures, but the main purpose in this stage is to select the types of solution that you will use and to determine the scales of the costs involved. There are a set of consideration we need to follow while going through this phase. Firstly, we need to consider exactly what type of disasters may occur and classify them into different types based on the effectiveness Secondly; we need to consider solutions of differing range of coverage i.e. we need to determine solutions which can protect on the site failures as such a solution can also protect the system and its components. Lastly we need to consider are the characteristics of infrastructure, human and data aspects of recovery. Each of the above three factors should be considered separately and we should determine what type of solution and the cost associated for the solution. Out of the above three factors Infrastructure recovery is the simplest. The best feature of infrastructure is that it can be replaced easily. People are considered more difficult factors. Every personnel in the company are associated with particular skills and accordingly they are assigned roles. So if a recovery strategy is needed to be implemented on these people, suppose if a personnel has been fired or he quits then finding another personnel of the same skill set and roles is always an additional cost ,since we need to play better salaries. Thirdly it is the data; this cannot be replaced at any cost. Once a data is lost cannot be recovered at any cost. What we need to determine is to what extent of data we can lose and identify which is the c ritical data and we need to protect it accordingly. Once this is done, we have to note the recovery strategies for each system on the Master System Information form. DEVELOP THE CONTINGENCY PLAN This step is the apex or the peak activity of all your work. The main outcome of this phase is the documented plan and the complete implementation of the infrastructure in order to implement the plan. This documented plan includes each and every information of assumptions, constraints and specific procedure needed to be implemented. The implementation phase contains all the purchasing and setup of all the hardware and implementation at the sites, communication services etc. This phase itself is run by a team, just like a team which handles projects. Team which consists of different expertise with fixed timelines and deadlines. According to the NIST guide the following are some aspects or steps which needed to be followed during the plan. 1. Introduction: Here the main task is to document the goals and scope of the plan, along with any requirements that must be taken into account whenever the plan is updated. 2. Operational Overview: The purpose of this section is to provide a concise picture of the plans overall approach. It contains essentially two types of information: (1) a high-level overview of the systems being protected and the recovery strategies employed and (2) a description of the recovery teams and their roles. 3. Notification/Activation Phase: According to the NIST guide this phase defines the initial actions taken once a system disruption or emergency has been detected or appears to be imminent. This phase includes activities like notifying recovery personnel, assessing system damage and implementation of the plan. At the completion of this phase, recovery staff will be prepared to perform contingency measures to restore system functions on a temporary basis. 4. Recovery Phase: This section of the plan is one that documents in detail the solutions to be used to recover each system and the procedures required to carry out the recovery and restore operational activities. 5. Reconstitution Phase: This is the last of the three sections of the plan. As per the NIST guide this phase is where the recovery activities are terminated and normal operations are transferred back to the organizations facility. If the original facility is unrecoverable, the activities in this phase can also be applied to preparing a new facility to support system processing requirements. 6. Appendices: The appendices contains any information that (a) is necessary as reference material during recovery, (b) may be necessary during any revision of the plan, or (c) documents legal agreements. PLANNING TESTING TRAINING AND EXERCICES In this fast moving modern information technology world, with the change in time and things, many hardware components are replaced, softwares are upgraded, networks are reconfigured, data sizes grow. All the above factors play a major impact on the performance of the disaster recovery systems. Testing and exercising goals are established and alternative testing strategies are evaluated from time to time. Each and every procedure required for testing should be properly documented from time to time. Initially the testing should be done in sections and should be conducted after the office hours. Below are some types of testing: Check List Testing Simulation Testing Parallel Testing Full Interruption Testing Although these systems were fully tested when first installed, but the system is dynamic in nature, so proper training should be given to personnel from time to time. We need to conduct exercises from time to time to check the status and under different condition with the help from all the personnel in the organization. Once the plan has been properly tested and documented it should be approved by the top management to start off. The management would take all the responsibility of preparation of policies, procedure, responsibilities and tasks associated with it. It should make sure that they review the contingency plan at least annually and re-assess and approve it. At the same it should be responsible in making limitations and constraints. Proper implementation of the above all factors will lead to a smooth start up and helps the DR plan successful. PLAN MAINTAINENCE After developing a disaster recovery plan, it is equally important to ensure that the plan accurately runs accordingly to the current requirements and systems. There are three places, at which the plan can be reviewed firstly, during testing annually or semiannually, and secondly when changes are made in either the IT systems being protected or in the business processes they support. The first of the above two falls in the responsibility of the top management in the disaster recovery planning and so has to be done on a regular basis. The last requires that consideration of the impact of the changes on the disaster recovery plan to be introduced as a standard consideration in procedures that are outside the scope of direct concern of those responsible for the DR plan. SUMMARY The world is fast changing and organizations need to be prepared for natural or manmade disasters that could disrupt business processes. Customers and millions of dollars could potentially be lost and never be recovered if business processes are disrupted. The Business Continuity Plan helps resume the business processes and the Disaster Recovery Plan helps resume the IT systems. The core objective of a Disaster Recovery Plan is to restore the operability of systems that support mission-critical and critical business processes to normal operation as quickly as possible. Business continuity planning integrates the business resumption plan, occupant emergency plan, incident management plan, continuity of operations plan, and disaster recovery plan. Personnel from each major business unit should be included as members of the team and part of all disaster recovery planning activities. These people need to understand the business processes, technology behind those processes, networks, and systems in order to create the disaster recovery plan. Applications and systems are identified by the team that is mission-critical and critical to the organization. There would be a specialist disaster recovery team which will be responsible for training, implementing, and maintaining the plan. They will possess unique skills, knowledge, and abilities that should be updated in the plan. A Disaster Recovery Plan that is well developed, trained on, and maintained, will minimize loss and ensure continuity of critical business processes in the event of disaster.