Issue #51
Last Update May 5, 2007
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Business Office Shadow by Gerry Krownstein January 22, 2007 A great deal of attention is being paid by individuals, companies and governmental bodies to contingency planning. The impetus is obvious: the increase in weather-related catastrophes, the threat of an avian flu pandemic, and the world-wide fear of terrorism. To do such planning well, however, is a difficult task that requires well-trained, skilled professionals if the planning is to be useful when the emergency actually occurs. Tools exist to help in the planning process, providing support to the less experienced and enhancing the efficiency of time and effort of the business continuity/contingency planning/disaster recovery specialist. One such tool is Office Shadow, a software suite that walks the planner through the key steps of the process. It permits alternative views of the planning document highlighting roles, event triggers, plans, procedures and contacts. It permits centralization of planning control, while allowing decentralization of planning detail.
Especially useful for organizations with multiple business units or geographic diversity, Office Shadow allows each unit or region to customize its plans and its plan documentation while adhering to corporate standards and guidelines. A library approach allows the storage and retrieval of alternative texts, simplifying the customization process. As Europe's leading business continuity software package, Office Shadow's multi-lingual capability (French, Spanish, English (both American and British), German and Italian) is particularly useful for coordinating the plans of multi-national companies.
A central database module called Shadow Planner supports five main operational modules:
● Business Impact Analysis, which helps an organization to quantify its vulnerabilities by defining its mission critical activities and planning for their recovery or continuance in the event of an incident.
● Risk Analysis, to quantify the likelihood of failure of any of their critical assets and processes.
● Business Continuity Planning, for companies well advanced in developing Business Continuity Management program, and also for those in the early stages of developing such a plan.
● Incident Management, a.real-time communications center for invoking a plan in time of crisis or testing a plan during normal operations. The functions of the Incident Management module communicate directly with staff via SMS, email, web notice boards etc, informing them on an individual basis as the incident evolves.
● Compliance. The Compliance module monitors adherence to pre-determined internal or external Business Continuity Management indicators or other best practice and risk management standards throughout an organization.
Besides providing the framework for populating these modules with appropriate content, the Office Shadow package contains complete version control facilities, and important tool not only for when the plan is being created, but also for plan maintenance as organizational conditions or threats change.Sub-plans can be created and linked to other plans, simplifying the process of interrelating different teams or actions.
Facilities for printing plans is extensive, allowing for flexibility in style and content. The printed reports track documentation changes and also provide a method for plan publishing that mimics the alternative views provided for plan development. An extensive and extendable set of plan triggers can be used to signal plan actions, which are descriptions of actions to be taken in the event that the trigger situation occurs.
Pricing for the package is established by module and by the number of employees using the package. Office Shadow offers the option of internet hosting by Office Shadow, Inc., or local, on-premises hosting by the user. The license fee includes all updates and enhancements over the license period, and a two-day training session in system configuration. The on-line service is highly secure, and has been vetted by bank regulators, amongst others. Security levels for data access can be set for individuals within an organization.
Office Shadow opened its first North American location in New York this past June.
Office Shadow, http://www.office-shadow.com
To be notified of New York Stringer updates and new issues, click here.
New York Stringer is published by NYStringer.com. For all communications, contact David Katz, Editor and Publisher, at david@nystringer.com
All content copyright 2007 by nystringer.com