1. Continuity of Operations
A Introduction to
Taxpayer Services’
Business Continuity Plan
OR…
What the heck is it? And why do we need a plan?

2. WelcomeWelcome
Rules of EngagementRules of Engagement
IntroductionsIntroductions
AgendaAgenda

3. Significance of COOP Planning

4. The World Trade CenterThe World Trade Center
Building 7Building 7

5. At precisely the time when this office had aAt precisely the time when this office had a
critical service to deliver to the citizenry, theycritical service to deliver to the citizenry, they
were faced with a severe crisis - the loss ofwere faced with a severe crisis - the loss of
their facility and its operational capabilitytheir facility and its operational capability

6. The office was able to re-establish an EmergencyThe office was able to re-establish an Emergency
Operations Center at Pier 92, just three days afterOperations Center at Pier 92, just three days after
the collapse.the collapse.

7. Probability (likelihood that an incident will
occur), frequency (how often an incident
occurs), and severity (impact of an incident)
are factors that weigh heavily into COOP
planning.
COOP Planning

8. This is the reason why COOPThis is the reason why COOP
planningplanning mustmust address the fulladdress the full
range of scenarios. (All Hazards)range of scenarios. (All Hazards)
COOP Planning

9. COOP Planning Includes…
• The safety of personnel and visitorsThe safety of personnel and visitors
• The ability to continue essential operationsThe ability to continue essential operations
• And provisions for the protection of:And provisions for the protection of:
− Critical equipmentCritical equipment
− Critical recordsCritical records
− Other assetsOther assets

10. COOP Planning Includes…
• Efforts to minimize damage and losses.Efforts to minimize damage and losses.
• Provisions for an orderly response andProvisions for an orderly response and
recovery from any incident.recovery from any incident.
• A foundation for the continued survival ofA foundation for the continued survival of
leadership.leadership.

11. The consequences ofThe consequences of notnot developing a COOPdeveloping a COOP
capability are very high, as demonstrated bycapability are very high, as demonstrated by
the response efforts on September 11, 2001.the response efforts on September 11, 2001.
Legal Ramifications

12. COOP Plan
• The plan should have provisions or
procedures for the following:
− Relocation sites for alternate operations
− For maintaining operations
− For Recovery and return to normal operations
− For Vital record maintenance and back-up
provisions / procedures
− For staff notification

13. COOP Elements
• Outline Phases of COOP to include:
− Activation procedures
− Alternate operations (sites)
− Reconstitution and termination
− Annexes with detailed information on each of
the essential elements
− Procedures for implementation, according to
the magnitude of the incident should also be
included

14. Questions?

15. The Evolution of
Hennepin County’s
Business Continuity Plan

16. Before Business Continuity PlanningBefore Business Continuity Planning

17. In the Beginning
• The Year Was 2003…
• Richard Johnson (then Deputy County
Administrator) decided that…
− Hennepin County needed a plan to continue
business even after a disaster
− We would hire a consultant to write it
− We would train one
employee to supervise it

18. Business Impact
Analysis &
Risk
Assessment
Plan Testing
Recovery
Strategies
Plan
Development
The Evolutionary Cycle of the BCP

19. What We Needed to Accomplish
1. Business Impact Analysis
2. Strategies
3. Emergency Response
4. Develop a County Plan
• Departmental Plans
1. Develop Awareness & Training Programs
2. Maintenance Program

20. Who Would Do All of This?

21. The Bottom Line
• Nobody knows what we do
better than us so…
• We (Hennepin County)
have to write the plan
• The consultants will…
• Organize the work
• Develop time line and...
• Supply the format

22. A Little Help From Our Friends
Business Impact Analysis
• Conducted by Intertech, a division of the
Department of Administration, State of
Minnesota
County Plan and Recovery Strategies
• Prepared by LBL Partners

23. Business Impact Analysis
• What were the business functions each
department performed?
• Which functions were critical?
• Which functions had to be recovered first?
• Recovery Time Objectives
First Things First

24. Information Collection
• Intertech conducted hundreds of interviews with
HC personnel to determine each Department’s:
• Prioritized Services, Processes and Functions.
• Estimate Recovery Time Objectives (RTO).
• Determine Resource Requirements.
• Business Impact Analysis Complete: June 2005

25. So…
• Business Impact Analysis
• Strategies
• Emergency Response
• Develop a County Plan
• Departmental Plans
• Develop Awareness and Training Programs
• Maintenance Program
NEXT

26. • LBL
• Furnished the template
• Established deadlines for section completion
• Collected final information
• Assisted HC Departments with writing
• Provided the software for housing the Plans
• Plans Basically Complete: Fall of 2007
• Plans are kept in ContingencyPro software
program on a HC Server

27. Today
• Plan Map
• Business Impact Analysis
• Strategies
• Emergency Response
• Develop a County Plan
• Develop Awareness and Training Programs
• Maintenance Program

28. Today
• Our end product is sitting in front of you!
• Points to remember as we move forward
• It took a long time and a lot of work to produce
• It’s our plan, to update and maintain
• We need to make it work in times of crisis
• Let’s hope we never need it!!

29. Incident Command for Managers
And…
What We Can Learn From Fire Departments

30. Managers Often Need To…
• Manage IncidentsManage Incidents
− Security incidentsSecurity incidents
− Service outagesService outages
− Infrastructure failuresInfrastructure failures
− Power failuresPower failures
− Cooling failuresCooling failures
− Connectivity failuresConnectivity failures
− …… and so forthand so forth

31. Who manages emergencies daily?
• Public Safety AgenciesPublic Safety Agencies
− Fire departmentsFire departments
− Urban & suburbanUrban & suburban
− Forest & wildlandForest & wildland
− Police departmentsPolice departments
− Coast GuardCoast Guard
− …… etc.etc.

32. How do Public Safety agencies…
• Organize themselves on the fly to deal withOrganize themselves on the fly to deal with
a major incident?a major incident?
• Quickly and effectively coordinate theQuickly and effectively coordinate the
efforts of multiple agencies?efforts of multiple agencies?
• Evolve the organization as the incidentEvolve the organization as the incident
changes in scope, scale, or focus?changes in scope, scale, or focus?
What could managers learn from this?

33. For Example…
• Car hits a fire hydrant – the car’s occupants are
trapped and injured
• Water from hydrant floods an underground electrical
transformer, causing a short circuit and an outage
• Who might be involved in response?
− Fire Dept: rescue trapped occupants
− Ambulance Service: treat & transport victims
− Police Dept: direct traffic & investigate
− Water Dept: shut off hydrant
− Electric Co: deal with flooded transformer
How do you manage all of that?

34. What needs to get done?
• The ambulance crew needs to treat &
transport victims
• But first, the fire department needs to
extricate them from wreckage
• Before the fire department can do that, the
water company needs to shut off the water
• Which they can't do until the electric
company safes the flooded transformer.

35. .
How do you organize this?
• Who is in charge?
• How do they figure out what needs to be
done and who can do it?
• How do assignments get made, so that
everything necessary gets done?
• No effort gets duplicated
• Everything is done safely

36. An Even Bigger Example…
• Southern California Wildfires
− Fast-changing situation
− Fire grows and moves as weather and winds shift
− Plan evolves as situation & resources change
− Many agencies involved Firefighters from dozens of
cities, plus CDF, USFS, BLM, and military
− Airborne water drop, transport, & scouting
− Law enforcement to deal with residents
− Support units (medical, kitchens, camps, fuel, etc.)

37. What do these types of incidents have in common?
• Time matters – need to respond quickly
• Situation not perfectly understood at start
• Learn as you go, and adjust on the fly
• Resources change over time
• People come and go; not all together at start
• Need ways to bring newcomers up to speed
• Need ways to transfer responsibilities

38. So, what’s the Incident Command System?
• The Incident Command System (ICS) is…
− Standardized organizational structure and set of
operating principles, tools for command, control,
and coordination of a response to an incident
− Provides means to coordinate efforts of multiple
parties toward common goals
− Uses principles that have been proven to
improve efficiency and effectiveness

39. History of ICS
• Developed in 1970 to coordinate
agencies dealing with yearly Southern
California wildfires
• Has since evolved into national standard
• Now used by nearly all US public safety
agencies
• Mandated by Dept of Homeland Security
in order to obtain State/Federal funding

40. 1. Modular and scalable organizational structure
2. Manageable span of control
3. Unity of command
4. Explicit transfers of responsibility
5. Clear communications
6. Consolidated incident action plans
7. Management by objective
8. Comprehensive resource management
9. Designated incident facilities
Key ICS Principles

41. 1 - Modular & Scalable
• Command
− Operations
− Logistics
− Planning/Status
− Admin/Finance
• Command functions are activated as needed for
a particular incident
• All incidents will have a Command section
• Almost all will have an Operations section
• Rest of sections are used on larger/longer
incidents

42. 1 – Modular and Scaleable
• Command
− Incident Commander (IC) responsible for
overall management of incident
− Incident Commander initially also performs all
four section chief roles until each is
designated to somebody else
• Operations
• Logistics
• Planning/Status
• Admin/Finance

43. 1 – Modular and Scaleable
• Operations
− This is where the real work happens
− Operations develops and executes plans to
achieve the objectives set by Command
− Assists Command in development of
Consolidated Incident Action Plan
− Typically biggest section, by number of people
− Operations focuses on now; Planning worries
about later

44. 1 – Modular and Scaleable
• Logistics
− Responsible for obtaining all resources,
services and support required to deal with the
incident
− Responsibilities include facilities, supplies,
transportation, equipment maintenance and
fueling, feeding and medical care of incident
response personnel, etc.
− Is more important on large, long-running
incidents; may not be needed on small or
short incidents

45. 1 – Modular and Scaleable
• Planning/Status
− Collects & evaluates info needed to prepare
Incident Action Plan (IAP)
− Forecasts probable course of incident
− Plans for next day, next week, etc. (IAP)
− Keeps track of what has been done, and
what still needs to be done
− Keeps “current status & plans” info up to
date, so that new arrivals can brief
themselves

46. 1 – Modular and Scaleable
• Admin/Finance
− Responsible for tracking incident-related
costs, including time & materials, if
necessary for reimbursement
− Also administers procurements arranged
by Logistics
− Usually only activated on the very largest
and longest-running incidents

47. 1 – Modular and Scaleable
• Growing the Incident Command System
− Initially, the most experienced first responder is
the Incident Commander (IC)
− IC responsibility may transfer to somebody
else later as incident grows, but isn't automatic
− Generally better to keep the same IC if feasible
− If IC transfer does happen, it needs to be
explicit (face to face)

48. 2 – Manageable Span of Control
• Each supervisor should have no more
than 3 – 7 subordinates
• 5 is ideal
• When necessary as organization
grows, create new levels
− Division might be functional or geographic

49. 3 – Unity of Command
• On incident, each person has 1 boss
• Strict tree structure, all the way to the top
• Everybody knows who they work for
• Makes communication & coordination
easier, up /down tree as organization
grows & changes
• Reduces freelancing

50. 4 – Explicit Transfer of Responsibility
• Changes to organization are made explicitly
and announced
• More senior person doesn't automatically
take over IC upon arrival
• Person already in place is often better suited
to handle the current situation, and certainly
is more up to speed
• Planning/Status keeps overall organizational
chart updated

51. 5 – Clear Communications
• Communicate clearly and completely, not
in code (Uses Plain English!)
• Reduces potential for confusion
• Reduces time spent clarifying
• Talk directly to resources, when possible

52. 6 – Consolidated Action Plans
• Command communicates top-level action plan
for current operational period (hour, shift, day,
etc.) 6 – 12 – 24 hour operational periods
• Plan states, at a high level, what organization
is trying to accomplish right now
• Written plan is best
• Makes it easier to keep everybody on target
• Makes it easier for new arrivals to brief
themselves
• Rule of thumb: if it crosses organizational or
specialty boundaries, write it down

53. 7 – Management By Objective
• Tell people what you want them to
accomplish, not how
• Let them figure out how to get it done
• Gives them room to flexibly and creatively
cope with changing circumstances
• Is generally faster to communicate, and the
folks doing the work may know a better
way than you

54. 8 – Comprehensive Resource Management
• All assets & personnel need to be tracked
so…
• New resources can be used most effectively
• Existing resources can be relieved
• Avoids duplication
• Folks should “sign in” through Admin
function, then wait for assignment
• Helps ensure people are put to best use

55. 9 – Designated Incident Facilities
• Command Post is key facility to identify - that's
where everybody can expect to find IC
• If IC needs to leave Command Post, needs to
transfer IC responsibility (temporarily or
permanently) to someone who'll still be there
• EOC coordinates information & communication
• Also useful to designate “staging area” for new
resources to report to upon arrival, for sign-in
and assignment; may be at Command Post

56. ICS Tips
• Establish ICS early in an incident, If you get off to
a disorganized start, you'll be playing catch-up
forever
• Think of ICS as a toolbox full of tools
− Choose tools you need for the incident at hand
− Keep it simple
• Practice ICS at every opportunity If you use it for
“routine” and pre-planned events like moves,
social events or elections your dept. will be more
comfortable using it for “surprise” events

57. Remember…
• The ICS organization changes as the
situation and resources change
• Following the ICS principles gives you a
way to keep it all under control
• You can keep the ICS going – indefinitely,
if needed

58. 5 Minute Break?

60. Format
• In between Cover and Glossary there
are 16 sections
• Open your plans to:
− Section 1, The Table of Contents
• If you are having a touch of insomnia
please feel free to take this plan home!

61. What’s Important
• Directions on how we are to recover
• How we are organized- Section 4
• Recovery Teams
• What we have to recover- Section 7
• Critical Tasks
• Recovery Time Objectives (RTO)

62. What’s Important
• Who is on what team – Forms Tab (Section 11)
• What to do when
• Checklists
• Management Recovery Team – Section 5
• Logistics Recovery Team - Section 6
• Operations Recovery Team – Section 7
• Technology Recovery Team – 8

63. Recovery Teams
• To facilitate recovery and bring the
County back to normalcy the Business
Continuity Plan calls for the formation
of FOUR TEAMS:
• Management
• Logistics
• Technology
• Operations

64. Recovery Team Basics
• Emergencies require a coordinated
response and each occurrence must be
managed in a way that fosters consistency
of effort and contains the damage
• The Recovery Teams are organized to
address all issues related to an emergency
and they are authorized to make specific
decisions relative to recovery efforts.

65. Management Recovery Team
• Activating all or part of the DepartmentActivating all or part of the Department
Business Continuity PlanBusiness Continuity Plan
• Providing strategic direction to DepartmentProviding strategic direction to Department
Recovery Teams & personnelRecovery Teams & personnel
• Prioritizing objectives, actions & activitiesPrioritizing objectives, actions & activities

66. Logistics Recovery Team
• Determining immediate
operating needs
• Arranging for alternate
facilities, if needed
• Arranging for basic support services
• Obtaining office equipment as necessary
• Arranging transportation, travel and food
• Arranging for temporary personnel

67. Technology Recovery Team
• Coordinating repairs
• Restoring network equipment
• Restoring the data communications network
• Restoring systems to operational status
• Restoring system databases and files from
backup copies of electronic media
• Reconstituting to normal operations

68. Operations Recovery Team
• Initiating alternate procedures
• Executing BCP procedures
• Performing critical business functions
• Reconstructing data
• Reconstituting to normal operations

69. Section 7
The Heart & Soul of the Plan

70. Section 7
• In the event of disaster it is important that we
continue to perform the critical business
processes/functions identified in this Business
Continuity Plan.
• Section 7 contains the interim and restoration
procedures for the critical business functions and
tasks that support these processes.
• The Operations Recovery Team will use this
information to ensure that the staff is able to
perform the critical business functions in a timely
manner.

71. Priority Service Levels
• Each division has been assigned a Priority
Service Level (One – Four)
• These priority services levels have been
determined and categorized by the State of
Minnesota
• Indicate the priority order in which services
should be performed in the event a disaster
impacts Hennepin County

72. Priority Service Levels Defined
• Priority Service Level One: Immediate threat to
public health, safety or welfare
• Priority Service Level Two: Direct economic
impact, constitutionally or statutorily mandated time
frame or civil disorder may develop if not performed
in a few days
• Priority Service Level Three: Regulatory services
required by law, rule or order that can be
suspended or delayed by law or rule during an
emergency
• Priority Service Level Four: All other services

73. Discussion of Your Plan
• Open your plan to Section 7, Page 8
• What level of priority has been assigned
to your services?
• What are your critical functions?
• Do you agree with them?
• Does anything need to change?

74. Musical Chairs
Your Recovery Teams

75. Continuity of OperationsContinuity of Operations
A Tabletop Exercise

76. • This exercise is a learning opportunity –
it is not a test
• You are encouraged to think out loud
and “outside of the box”
• Expect to identify some issues or
problems that we cannot resolve today
• No one is expected to have all the
answers – there are no “gotchas!”
• HAVE fun!!
Table Top Exercise

77. The Scenario
• Hennepin County Government Center
• 7:30AM on a Tuesday
• Fire on the “D” level involving electrical
transformers containing PCB’s
• HCGC A Tower will not be available for
four to five days
• There is no access to the tower to
recover records, computers or personal
items

78. Questions to Discuss
• On what basis is the BCP activated?On what basis is the BCP activated?
− When?When?
− By Whom?By Whom?
• Who needs to be notified or involved?Who needs to be notified or involved?
• What documents and information do youWhat documents and information do you
need to resume operations?need to resume operations?
• What alternate sites could be used toWhat alternate sites could be used to
resume operations?resume operations?

79. The Scenario
• Building officials state that entry might
not be possible for 3 – 4 months
• Officials consider everything in the
building contaminated
• All other departments in the building
are also not allowed inside the building

80. • Where are your alternate sites?Where are your alternate sites?
• Who are the essential employees thatWho are the essential employees that
need to be called in?need to be called in?
• Estimate how long it would take toEstimate how long it would take to
resume essential services!resume essential services!
Questions to Discuss

81. Questions?

82. Hot Wash