GLOSSARY

Here are listed all continuity related terms used in this plan. Please do not remove them from this document as these are industry-standard, international definitions.

ALTERNATIVE SITE: A location, other than the normal facility, used to process data and/or conduct critical business functions in the event of a disaster.

CONTINUITY PLANNING: The process of developing advance arrangements and procedures that enable an organization to respond to an event in such a manner that critical functions continue without interruption or essential change.

CONTINUITY MANAGEMENT: The process of developing recovery timeline methodologies, documentation, procedures and instructions for use in restoring IT services. Continuity Management includes IT risk management, service continuity planning, and IT disaster recovery.

COLD SITE: An alternative facility that is void of any resources or equipment except air-conditioning and raised flooring. Equipment and resources must be installed in such a facility to duplicate the critical business functions of an organization. Cold-sites have many variations depending on their communication facilities, UPS systems, or mobility. SIMILAR TERMS: Shell-site; Backup site; Recovery site; Alternative site.

COMMAND CENTER: A centrally-located facility having adequate phone lines to begin recovery operations. Typically it is a temporary facility used by the management team to begin coordinating the recovery processes, and is used until the alternative sites are functional.

DATA CENTER RECOVERY: The component of Disaster Recovery that deals with the restoration, at an alternative location, of data centers services and computer processing capabilities.

DATA SECURITY: The securing and safeguarding of electronic equipment owned by an organization, using technology such as security software packages and data encryption devices.

DAMAGE ASSESSMENT: The process of assessing damage, following a disaster, to computer hardware, vital records, office facilities, etc., and determining what can be salvaged or restored and what must be replaced.

DISASTER: A sudden, unplanned, calamitous event causing great damage or loss. In the business environment, any event that creates the inability of an organization to provide critical business functions for at least a predetermined period of time.

EMERGENCY: A sudden, unexpected event requiring immediate action due to potential threat to health and safety, the environment, or property.

EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS: The discipline that ensures an organization's, or community's readiness to respond to an emergency in a coordinated, timely, and effective manner.

EMERGENCY PROCEDURES: A plan of action to be followed, with immediate effect in the event of a disaster, to prevent the loss of life and minimize injury and property damage.

HOT-SITE: An alternative facility that has the equipment and resources to recover the business functions affected by the occurrence of a disaster. Hot-sites may vary in the type of facilities offered (such as data processing, communication, or any other critical business functions needing duplication). The location and size of the hot-site will be proportional to the equipment and resources needed.

INTERNAL HOT-SITES: A fully equipped alternative processing site owned and operated by the organization.

NETWORK RECOVERY OBJECTIVE: The time required to recover or fail-over network operations. Keep in mind that systems level recovery is not fully complete if associates cannot access the services via network connections.

OFF-SITE STORAGE FACILITY: A secure location, remote from the primary location, at which backup hardware, software, data files, documents, equipment, or supplies are stored.

RECOVERY POINT OBJECTIVE: The point at which data must be restored in order to resume processing transactions.

RECOVERY TIME OBJECTIVE: The time between a disaster being declared and the recovery of the critical functions.

RISK ASSESSMENT/ANALYSIS: The process of identifying and minimizing the exposure to certain threats that an organization may experience. SIMILAR TERMS: Risk assessment; impact assessment; corporate loss analysis; risk identification; hazard/exposure analysis; exposure assessment.

RISK MANAGEMENT: The discipline that ensures an organization does not assume an unacceptable level of risk.

STRUCTURED WALK-THROUGH TEST: An activity where team members walk through the Business Continuity Plan to identify and correct weaknesses.

WARM SITE: An alternative processing site that is only partially equipped (as compared to a Hot-Site, which is fully equipped).