Continuity of Operations Planning
(COOP)
Presenter: Lee Foster
VP, Information & Disaster
Mgmt
Brought to you by KPMG Foundation
Continuity of Operations Planning
Lee W. Foster, MS
Vice President,
Information & Disaster
Management
HandsOn Central Ohio
Outline
This training is typically divided into 10 Modules
Module 1: Principles of COOP
Module 2: Essential Functions
Module 3: Human Capital Management
Module 4: Delegations of Authority
Module 5: Vital Records
Module 6: Alternate Sites
Module 7: Communications
Module 8: Reconstitution & Devolution
Module 9: Writing a COOP Plan
Module 10: Training & Exercising
Principles of COOP
The key to COOP planning is to be sure it addresses “All
Hazards”
What are some of the Hazards we face?
Floods
Severe Winter Storms (snow/ice)
Dam failure
Terrorism
Infectious Diseases
Tornadoes
Source: 2010 Franklin County Emergency Management & Homeland Security Risk
Assessment
Principles of COOP
8 Principles of COOP
Essential Functions
Human Capital & Key Personnel
Delegations of Authority & Succession
Vital Records
Alternate Facilities
Communications
Reconstitution & Devolution
Tests, Training & Exercises
Principles of COOP
Without a COOP plan, agencies cannot function and
provide essential functions
Good public relations
Consistency of services
COOP planning is just good business practices
Principles of COOP
6 Goals of COOP
Ensure timely and orderly continuous
performance of essential functions during and
after an emergency
Protect facilities, equipment, records and other
assets that support essential functions.
Reduce or mitigate disruptions to operations
Principles of COOP
6 Goals of COOP (cont.)
Facilitate reconstitution and devolution after an
emergency
Minimize loss of life, injury and property damage
Provide family support planning for agency
personnel during an emergency.
Principles of COOP
COOP plans should:
Be operational no later than 12 hours after
activation
Be able to maintain sustained operations for at
least 30 days.
Principles of COOP
7 phases of COOP development
COOP Program initiation
Identification of functional requirements
Plan design and implementation
Program implementation
Tests, Training and Exercises (TT&E)
Plan revision and updating
Plan execution
Essential Functions
What are essential functions?
Must be performed to achieve agency’s mission
Provide vital services
Maintain safety & well being of citizens
Sustain industrial/economical base
Should be resumed within 12 hours of disruption
Should be sustainable for up to 30 days
Essential Functions
4 steps in identifying essential functions
Identify ALL functions
Identify essential functions as a subset
Determine resource requirements
Prioritize essential functions
Vital Records
Definition of Vital Records:
Records, systems and equipment that if
irretrievable, lost or damaged will materially
impair an organizations ability to carry out
essential functions.
Vital Records
Emergency & Legal Records
Emergency Records: Essential to the continued
functioning of an agency during and after an
emergency to ensure continuity of operations.
Legal: Essential to the protection of the legal and
financial rights of an agency and of the individual
directly affected by the agency’s activities.
Vital Records
Are those records really vital?
The National Archives and Records
Administration estimates no more than 7% of
records are vital (likely 3 – 5%).
Vital Records
Building a Vital Record “Go-Kit”:
A hard copy of key personnel and disaster staff phone
numbers.
Vital records inventory with precise locations.
Necessary keys or access codes.
Maps and blue prints of alternate facilities.
Access requirements and sources of equipment necessary
to access records.
Lists of records recovery experts and vendors.
Copy of the agency’s COOP Plan.
Alternate Sites
Selecting an Alternate Site:
Location
Building Type
Space
Distance/Transportation
Communications
Security
Lodging/Food
Accessibility
Cost
Alternate Sites
Let’s define a Hot Site
A “hot” site is an alternate facility that already has
in place the computer, telecommunications, and
environmental infrastructure necessary to
recover the agency’s essential functions.
A hot site is basically like have an exact replica of
your original building.
Alternate Sites
Let’s define a Warm Site:
A “warm” site is an alternate work site equipped
with some hardware and communications
interfaces, as well as electrical and
environmental conditioning capable of providing
backup after additional software or customization
is performed and/or additional equipment is
temporarily obtained.
Alternate Sites
Let’s define a Cold site:
A “cold” site is an alternate facility that has the
environmental infrastructure necessary to recover
essential functions or information systems, but does
not have preinstalled computer hardware, or
telecommunications equipment. The agency must
make arrangements for computer and
telecommunications support within 12 hours of COOP
activation to make a cold site viable.
Alternate Sites
Tele-work
Tele-work is another option for continuing
operations if your facility is inaccessible.
Tele-work allows employees to work from home
during a potential disaster.
Became the “go to” method of operations during
the 2009 H1N1 outbreak (Social Distancing).
Training & Exercising
Why Bother?
It’s important to train and exercise your plan. It
helps to verify that the plan works and that staff
are familiar with their expectations during COOP
operations.
By effectively simulating a COOP situation, staff
will understand how to react when the plan
“fails”.
Training & Exercising
A few other points
Training and exercising provide excellent
opportunities to update your plan.
Encourage cross training among departments.
“Non-essential” staff could be asked to assist in
essential function programs.
Training & Exercising
Types of Exercises
Discussion based exercises:
Seminars
Workshops
Table-Top
Operations based exercises:
Drills
Functional
Full Scale
Training & Exercising
How can you get involved with Exercises?
If you have a function that would aid in the
response to an emergency or disaster
(sheltering, providing food, medical care) contact
you local Emergency Management Agency for
more information on how you can become
involved.
If you want to test your own plan, you can
conduct a Drill. (A single agency, testing a single
function)
Training & Exercising
Developing a Drill
Once you’ve decided to conduct your own
exercise, a drill, you will need to make sure your
objectives are SMART
Simple: Easily understood
Measurable: can be gauged against a standard
Achievable: challenging, but not impossible
Realistic: Plausible for the agency
Task Oriented: tied to something you want to improve
Training & Exercising
Improvement Planning
Once you’ve completed your Drill (or real life
event) it is important to conduct an After Action
Report / Improvement Plan (AAR/IP).
In the AAR/IP you will want to list what went well,
what needs improving and lessons learned.
Training & Exercising
Improvement Planning (cont)
You’ll want to use the items that need improving
and construct your Improvement Plan
An improvement plan is a chart that lays out what
was identified as needing improvement, how it
will be improved, who is responsible for the
improvements and when will the improvements
be completed.
Conclusion
COOP planning is intended to be an extensive process.
Do not rush through your COOP planning, your plan will
fail if you do.
Be sure to test your plan whenever possible.
Seek outside resources, like HandsOn Central Ohio, for
assistance.
Questions/Follow Up
Lee Foster, MS
Vice President, Information &
Disaster Management
lfoster@handsoncentralohio.org
614-221-6766 x 168