Case Study:

Disaster Recovery Assessment and Planning

Background

A comment during a routine audit regarding the college’s disaster recovery preparedness led IT to prioritize Disaster Recovery planning.

What We Did

We began by determining the highest priority applications for recovery (Tier 1 applications). For each, we had the IT staff define the recovery time objectives (RTO) and recovery point objectives (RPO) for each application. Our next step was to identify systems and networks hosting Tier 1 applications. With that information, we were able to facilitate discussions with IT staff identifying system recovery options and procedures. After selecting a set of recovery options, we created DR test plans and performed a series of “table-top” DR exercises with the IT staff. Results from those exercises were used to improve the DR plan. A final DR plan was issued and presented to the college’s IT staff and administration.

What We Achieved

The Disaster Recovery analysis and plan we created for the college met audit requirements and also became the guideline for improvements to their recovery solutions (i.e., replicated systems, backup, other colocation and cloud solutions)

Summary

Industry: Higher Education
Scope: A Boston college with a student population of approximately 5,000
Impact: Addressed audit issues and improved business resiliency.
Duration: 4 months from analysis to solution

Harvard Partners Skillsets

  • Disaster recovery SME
  • Business analysis
  • Project management

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Harvard Partners brings practical solutions to strategic IT issues in a collaborative and engaging manner. We inspire excellence from IT organizations by identifying opportunities for improved performance, minimizing risk, and training and coaching staff.