NYS Forum Business Continuity Committee Meeting
(http://www.nysforum.org/committees/businesscontinuity/)

Date: Held 7/16/2008 @ 2:00 PM Keane Office
From: Tom Luther and Mark Spreitzer

Discussion Topic

Attendance

Attendants, and the agencies or organizations they represent:
Tax & Finance - Janine Messina, Shelly Brosen
OFT - Benita Sokolowski, Alan Kowlowitz
OSC - Tom Luther, Keith Farrell
CGI - Mark Spreitzer (via phone)
CGI - Jim Hewett
State Police - Doug Freidman
OMH - Ted Borys
Thruway - Diane Galuski
DOS - Steve Conant
DMV - Annette Roy

Table go-around, with updates on BC-related activities

Note: A proposal has been made to create a catalog to capture current activities at State Agencies in the area of Emergency Planning, BC and DR. This catalog will primarily include the type of activities that committee attendees generally report in this go-around portion of the meeting but, only at a high level.

  • Shelly (DTF) indicated that the Highway Use Tax is an application that they are now "in-sourcing" at DTF and are pursuing a warm site for this function.
  • Jim from CGI indicated he is working at DCJS on their DR High Availability project.
  • Diane (Thruway) - indicated they have developed a team to discuss and complete the Forum BC Health Check but also are continuing with other initiatives.
  • Annette (DMV) indicated she and others are scheduled to present a proposal to executive management to establish a BC program.
  • Ted (OMH) indicated that OMH has a secondary data center for their QA environment at their location in Utica; that they have 27 hospitals and all have BC plans which are required by law; also have employed VM-ware to virtual their servers.

2008-2009 BC Committee Initiatives

The NYS Forum held its annual Strategic Planning session on July 11. Each year this effort results in a new slate of proposed initiatives for each of the Forum committees. The list that was developed for the BC committee was presented and discussed at the committee meeting. A general consensus was taken by meeting participants that resulted in the following items being most favored to pursue. The complete list from the July 11 session is shown below.

  • Pursue and catalog alternate work location opportunities for both staff and IT.
  • Develop templates and methodology related resources to assist BC practitioners.
  • Work with Forum Executive Committee and GOER to develop Business Continuity Training Program for practitioners.
  • Plan a day-long conference for State agency personnel on emergency planning and business continuity targeting executives and practitioners.

Miscellaneous Topics Discussed

These included:

  • the NYS OSC Audit of Selected State Agencies BC/DR Plans;
  • the concept of creating an appropriate agenda/presentation on DR activities/practices for an IT audience;
  • a forum discussion on the differences between COOP and BC planning;

Potential Future Meeting Agenda Topics

** Offer your feedback on which you prefer.

  • NIST 800 Guidelines
  • Overview of the OSC Emergency Exercise
  • DR for IT Managers
  • Templates from DRI
  • Server Virtualization for IT Managers
  • Crisis Management in the Workplace

Action Items

Action Item
Tom Luther proposed that the committee develop a catalog of Emergency Planning/Business Continuity/DR related activities for NYS Agencies. There was considerable support expressed for this.
Owner
Committee Members
Due Date
A draft will be provided in the near future for all to add their activities to.
 
Action Item
Tom asked attendees to think about how to capture/catalog Disaster Recovery Practices that are conducted at your agencies. Tom is looking for volunteers for a sub-group to strategize this idea to develop and scope out a (half day?) program on behalf of the committee.
Owner
Tom Luther
Due Date
Pending
 

Next Meeting: The next meeting is planned for Wednesday September 10 2 to 4 pm - Location to be announced

Additional Documents of Reference: complete list of proposed BC Committee initiatives as developed by the co-chairs and the July 11 Strategic Planning participants.

  1. Define / Catalog the components of a BC Program from Best Practices perspective. This documentation can be useful such as helping Executives understand what is needed in an organization.
  2. Develop synergy among the State level organizations with shared responsibility in Emergency Preparedness (OHS, SEMO, OFT, CISIC). Clarify explicit roles and responsibilities in area of Emergency Preparedness.
  3. Expand BC Committee membership to include more of the State Agencies with established BC Programs to improve information sharing and networking.
  4. Pursue and catalog alternate work location opportunities for both staff and IT.
  5. Develop the necessary elements of pending legislation (alluded to in the OSC Audit report) to clarify SEMO support and oversight role for BC, to ensure the necessary components are included and funded.
  6. Understand more about the pending CISIC initiative to develop a data classification standard and what this might mean to agency needs to identify mission critical functions and applications.
  7. Expand the BC conference idea to include a Mock Disaster exercise to illustrate how response and recovery works.
  8. Continue to work, in partnership with SEMO, on the "How to" of Business Continuity planning.
  9. Develop templates and methodology related resources to assist practitioners.
  10. Work with Forum Executive Committee and GOER to develop Business Continuity Training Program for practitioners.
  11. Plan a day-long conference for State agency personnel on emergency planning and business continuity targeting executives and practitioners.
  12. Develop a partnership with NYS SEMO and NYS OHS to improve information exchange and knowledge sharing among agencies that are not part of the Disaster Preparedness Commission.