August 2--EOC Tip of the Week

BY: Eric Holdeman | August 2, 2009

Redundancy, Redundancy, Redundancy: Am I being "redundant?" I hope so. If there is a weakness in our government plans and procedures it is in the area of business continuity planning (BCP), otherwise known as COOP (Continuity of Operations Planning). A huge weakness is the unwillingness of governments to pay for backup IT facilities and services. Yes, it does cost money. No, I don't recall when we last needed it.

I can tell you that when you do need it, you will be glad you have it in place. With more e-government on the way it will be absolutely vital that you have backup systems in functioning. Making a backup copy and putting it on a disk, then storing it in the same building the main computer is in--is not what I'm talking about. It might not have to be real-time backup, but you need equipment and people in place that kick in when your primary system fails.

The above all applies to the EOC which becoming more electronically wired and vulnerable as we continue to move into the 21st century.

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