Benefits

• Employees protected from physical hazards
• Losses minimized in the event of a disaster
• Data damage limited by clear, consistent recovery procedures

Challenge

A national retailer’s computer center had prepared some rudimentary disaster-recovery procedures, but they hadn’t codified them into a coherent, integrated plan. In the event of a catastrophe, employees would have to hunt through multiple sources to locate restart procedures and schematics for vital equipment – assuming that the materials they needed had even been prepared in the first place.

As a result, the company’s employees were poorly protected from serious harm, while data and hardware assets remained in jeopardy.

Stratagem's Solution

Stratagem’s knowledge transfer consultants helped the retailer coordinate a complete, integrated solution. Working from a checklist of topics that needed addressing, we helped the retailer identify and record all the employees who would need to participate in a recovery effort.

With inputs from company experts, the team also created a complete, one-source document outlining all necessary procedures. These procedures were written so that the target readers could easily follow them, even under the stressful conditions where they would be used.

In conjunction with the procedures, Stratagem drew three-dimensional schematics of the data center, overlaying the locations of computers, fire extinguishers, and smoke detectors. These layered diagrams were easy to update and could be posted throughout the data center, enabling employees to find help quickly.

The retailer’s team ran disaster role-playing exercises using our procedures, and verified that they would work under the most difficult of circumstances.

Result

By commissioning Stratagem to organize its recovery documentation, the retailer was able to protect its people and property from many types of risk. Employees had the opportunity to use the manual to ready themselves – before any trouble started.