Peer POst 7
By Day 5
By Day 5, respond to two or more of your colleagues in one or more of the following ways:
- Analyze the risks faced by Engro that were identified by your colleagues, and compare them with those you identified. Comment and discuss the similarities and/or differences.
- Analyze the features identified by your colleague that were omitted from the plan, and compare them with those you identified. Comment and discuss the similarities and/or differences.
- Provide an alternative perspective on the best practices for business continuity planning. Use examples based on your experience or observations to support your perspective.
- Offer your ideas about how the best practices suggested by your colleague could be used at your organization. Explain why you think these might offer a competitive advantage for your organization.
Please remember to use citations and references as appropriate and necessary.
RE: Discussion – Week 7
COLLAPSE
The risks that Engro faced after the fire that destroyed a large portion of the companyâ€
s hard copy records would-be well-defined organizational structure, budgeting review process, known policies and procedures, internal controls, and operating risks (Ahmed, 2009). When you are in a disaster sometimes you may have to deviate from your plans depending on what may occur. To make your plans stronger you must consider all things that could go possibly wrong and plan how to handle those issues. I believe they deviated from their plan because the fire destroyed a large portion of the hard copies already, and quick actions was needed for response. The IT services recovery plan has to be implemented in a disaster by the CEO, GM finance or IT. The IT recovery team will be notified and responsible for action plan, and any necessary amendments before activation. The IT recovery team is also responsible for the corrective actions of the plan. The Midas recovery team and SAP recovery team will start their responsible operations as quickly as possible and run relevant reports as necessary (Ahmed, 2009).
The purpose of a disaster recovery plan is to restore vital support systems like communications, hardware, and IT resources as quickly as possible. Disaster recovery aims to reduce downtime for organizations and focus on getting technical operations back to normal following a disaster. The disaster recovery plan is only related to IT department it did not cover other areas of business operations (Ahmed, 2009). They will need to create a business continuity plan and focus on all areas of the business including IT and disaster recovery. The first lesson would be when creating a disaster recovery plan make sure you have a continuity of operations plan that contains all aspects of your organization. Yes, it is good to have an IT disaster recovery plan, but that plan is no good if you have a disaster that effects your entire organization. You must have a plan on how to handle daily operations if a disaster occurred at your organization. You will need to know who is in charge by three deep, contact information, where you would go during the disaster, and how you can still sustain operations.
References
Ahmed, M. B. (2009). Engro Chemicals Pakistan Limited— Business disaster overcome. (Ivey Publishing Case No. 909- E24).
Carver, J. (2013). Iprotance of business continuity planning: ineffective data storage practices leave business data at risk. Operations Management (1755-1501), 39(3), 39–40.
DUNNING, M. (2013). Continuity Plan Helped Silverstein Get Back to Business Earlier. Business Insurance, 47(1), 0007.
2 days ago
Brenda Danner
RE: Discussion – Week 7
COLLAPSE
After the fire ruined the head office for Engro, the company was at great risk for financial loss. With that high level of damage, it can take a long time for companies to get back up and running. When a company experiences an event causing significant data loss, 50% are out of business within a couple years (Carver, 2013). Additionally, with such a large disaster so soon before the yearly audit, not being in compliance could be a major set back and risk both for 2007 and subsequent years. If Engro isnâ€t able to be compliant with regulations, they could also lose their business.
The purpose of the Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP) was to outline an action plan in case of a disaster. The plan would communicate to employees what action to take, which business needs are prioritized, and where staff should be temporary located (Ahmed, 2009). The DRP described recovery aspects related to IT and financial recovery, but didnâ€t cover continuity plan for the remainder of necessary office functions, such as work space, hardware, distribution, supply chain etc.
While Engro had a DRP in place, when leadership was faced with the reality of an actual disaster, they realized that in this situation, the initial plan of hosting all IT functions at the Daharki plant wasnâ€t the best solution. By utilizing multiple locations, the team was better able to divide and concur their IT function and role expertise much faster. Each team had the servers, backups, hardware, and physical space required to recover as fast as possible (Ahmed, 2009). For Engro, it seemed to work well to have a less centralized recovery plan than if they were using an ERP. I think the BIS infrastructure that is best depends on the needs of the company. Engro has many layers, subsidiaries, and facets that all need unique, specialized systems, where having a less fully integrated system than an ERP worked in their favor.
Reflecting on the DRP implemented by Engro, the divide and concur tactic seemed to work well. Leadership split up the company depending on Server/System needs and prioritized within those structures and responsibilities the tasks that needed to happen first, such as email system so everyone could communicate as usual. Leadership prioritized getting the SAP modules operational, which would be required for the end of the year audit since it contained the financial accounting information. Leadership was able to collaborate with established business partnerships to get the hardware, tools, and piece together information the staff needed to become operational. Then got out of the way and let them do their work.
Based on lesson learned from Engro, I would advise my organization to have a DRP/Business continuity plan in place and communicate the plan in advance so employees can know what to expect. The DRP should include contingency planning if the so that if the Plan B doesnâ€t work, there is a situation covered for Plan C. If the DRP that was in place doesnâ€t fully make sense once the organization is staring in the eyes of Disaster, make adjustments to the DRP as needed for best results. Just make sure to clearly communicate all changes in the plan so everyone is on the same page. Where the organization needs extra resources, there is an option to outsource some of the less skilled, tedious, time consuming labor that wouldnâ€t require high levels of company intel, like looking for duplicate invoices, compiling information etc. It would be better to spend extra money to ensure quick and smooth recovery, than struggle for longer than necessary and lose out on business in the long term.
When it comes to data and information, ensure regular, automatic backup replication of information in different locations. If all back up data is stored in one place, in the event of a disaster, the organization could lose everything. Maintain great relationships with business partners so when youâ€re in a tight spot, theyâ€ll be willing to kick into high gear to get you up and running as fast as possible and make helping the organization a priority. Use the “other half†of ownership in financial information to reconcile what your missing. For example, gather deposit information from banks and invoice information or delivery schedules from customers and business partners. Since they were also involved in financial transaction, scheduling and planning, they should have records too. If putting daily or weekly backups on tapes (to take advantage of their storage capacity and affordability) also back up data in the cloud. Since 50% percent of tapes fail due to corruption or become unreadable (Carver, 2013), you need an alternate option. Keep tapes in a fire proof safe. Utilize cloud storage and off-site back up servers as well as physical backups to data and information.
Reference
Ahmed, M. B. (2009). Engro Chemicals Pakistan Limited- Business disaster overcome. (Ivey Publishing Case No. 909-E24).
Carver, J. (2013). Importance of business continuity planning: ineffective data storage practices leave business data at risk. Operations Management, 39(3), 39-40
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