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📄 Contents

␡
  1. Management Reference Guide
  2. Table of Contents
  3. Introduction
  4. Strategic Management
  5. Establishing Goals, Objectives, and Strategies
  6. Aligning IT Goals with Corporate Business Goals
  7. Utilizing Effective Planning Techniques
  8. Developing Worthwhile Mission Statements
  9. Developing Worthwhile Vision Statements
  10. Instituting Practical Corporate Values
  11. Budgeting Considerations in an IT Environment
  12. Introduction to Conducting an Effective SWOT Analysis
  13. IT Governance and Disaster Recovery, Part One
  14. IT Governance and Disaster Recovery, Part Two
  15. Customer Management
  16. Identifying Key External Customers
  17. Identifying Key Internal Customers
  18. Negotiating with Customers and Suppliers—Part 1: An Introduction
  19. Negotiating With Customers and Suppliers—Part 2: Reaching Agreement
  20. Negotiating and Managing Realistic Customer Expectations
  21. Service Management
  22. Identifying Key Services for Business Users
  23. Service-Level Agreements That Really Work
  24. How IT Evolved into a Service Organization
  25. FAQs About Systems Management (SM)
  26. FAQs About Availability (AV)
  27. FAQs About Performance and Tuning (PT)
  28. FAQs About Service Desk (SD)
  29. FAQs About Change Management (CM)
  30. FAQs About Configuration Management (CF)
  31. FAQs About Capacity Planning (CP)
  32. FAQs About Network Management
  33. FAQs About Storage Management (SM)
  34. FAQs About Production Acceptance (PA)
  35. FAQs About Release Management (RM)
  36. FAQs About Disaster Recovery (DR)
  37. FAQs About Business Continuity (BC)
  38. FAQs About Security (SE)
  39. FAQs About Service Level Management (SL)
  40. FAQs About Financial Management (FN)
  41. FAQs About Problem Management (PM)
  42. FAQs About Facilities Management (FM)
  43. Process Management
  44. Developing Robust Processes
  45. Establishing Mutually Beneficial Process Metrics
  46. Change Management—Part 1
  47. Change Management—Part 2
  48. Change Management—Part 3
  49. Audit Reconnaissance: Releasing Resources Through the IT Audit
  50. Problem Management
  51. Problem Management–Part 2: Process Design
  52. Problem Management–Part 3: Process Implementation
  53. Business Continuity Emergency Communications Plan
  54. Capacity Planning – Part One: Why It is Seldom Done Well
  55. Capacity Planning – Part Two: Developing a Capacity Planning Process
  56. Capacity Planning — Part Three: Benefits and Helpful Tips
  57. Capacity Planning – Part Four: Hidden Upgrade Costs and
  58. Improving Business Process Management, Part 1
  59. Improving Business Process Management, Part 2
  60. 20 Major Elements of Facilities Management
  61. Major Physical Exposures Common to a Data Center
  62. Evaluating the Physical Environment
  63. Nightmare Incidents with Disaster Recovery Plans
  64. Developing a Robust Configuration Management Process
  65. Developing a Robust Configuration Management Process – Part Two
  66. Automating a Robust Infrastructure Process
  67. Improving High Availability — Part One: Definitions and Terms
  68. Improving High Availability — Part Two: Definitions and Terms
  69. Improving High Availability — Part Three: The Seven R's of High Availability
  70. Improving High Availability — Part Four: Assessing an Availability Process
  71. Methods for Brainstorming and Prioritizing Requirements
  72. Introduction to Disk Storage Management — Part One
  73. Storage Management—Part Two: Performance
  74. Storage Management—Part Three: Reliability
  75. Storage Management—Part Four: Recoverability
  76. Twelve Traits of World-Class Infrastructures — Part One
  77. Twelve Traits of World-Class Infrastructures — Part Two
  78. Meeting Today's Cooling Challenges of Data Centers
  79. Strategic Security, Part One: Assessment
  80. Strategic Security, Part Two: Development
  81. Strategic Security, Part Three: Implementation
  82. Strategic Security, Part Four: ITIL Implications
  83. Production Acceptance Part One – Definition and Benefits
  84. Production Acceptance Part Two – Initial Steps
  85. Production Acceptance Part Three – Middle Steps
  86. Production Acceptance Part Four – Ongoing Steps
  87. Case Study: Planning a Service Desk Part One – Objectives
  88. Case Study: Planning a Service Desk Part Two – SWOT
  89. Case Study: Implementing an ITIL Service Desk – Part One
  90. Case Study: Implementing a Service Desk Part Two – Tool Selection
  91. Ethics, Scandals and Legislation
  92. Outsourcing in Response to Legislation
  93. Supplier Management
  94. Identifying Key External Suppliers
  95. Identifying Key Internal Suppliers
  96. Integrating the Four Key Elements of Good Customer Service
  97. Enhancing the Customer/Supplier Matrix
  98. Voice Over IP, Part One — What VoIP Is, and Is Not
  99. Voice Over IP, Part Two — Benefits, Cost Savings and Features of VoIP
  100. Application Management
  101. Production Acceptance
  102. Distinguishing New Applications from New Versions of Existing Applications
  103. Assessing a Production Acceptance Process
  104. Effective Use of a Software Development Life Cycle
  105. The Role of Project Management in SDLC— Part 2
  106. Communication in Project Management – Part One: Barriers to Effective Communication
  107. Communication in Project Management – Part Two: Examples of Effective Communication
  108. Safeguarding Personal Information in the Workplace: A Case Study
  109. Combating the Year-end Budget Blitz—Part 1: Building a Manageable Schedule
  110. Combating the Year-end Budget Blitz—Part 2: Tracking and Reporting Availability
  111. References
  112. Developing an ITIL Feasibility Analysis
  113. Organization and Personnel Management
  114. Optimizing IT Organizational Structures
  115. Factors That Influence Restructuring Decisions
  116. Alternative Locations for the Help Desk
  117. Alternative Locations for Database Administration
  118. Alternative Locations for Network Operations
  119. Alternative Locations for Web Design
  120. Alternative Locations for Risk Management
  121. Alternative Locations for Systems Management
  122. Practical Tips To Retaining Key Personnel
  123. Benefits and Drawbacks of Using IT Consultants and Contractors
  124. Deciding Between the Use of Contractors versus Consultants
  125. Managing Employee Skill Sets and Skill Levels
  126. Assessing Skill Levels of Current Onboard Staff
  127. Recruiting Infrastructure Staff from the Outside
  128. Selecting the Most Qualified Candidate
  129. 7 Tips for Managing the Use of Mobile Devices
  130. Useful Websites for IT Managers
  131. References
  132. Automating Robust Processes
  133. Evaluating Process Documentation — Part One: Quality and Value
  134. Evaluating Process Documentation — Part Two: Benefits and Use of a Quality-Value Matrix
  135. When Should You Integrate or Segregate Service Desks?
  136. Five Instructive Ideas for Interviewing
  137. Eight Surefire Tips to Use When Being Interviewed
  138. 12 Helpful Hints To Make Meetings More Productive
  139. Eight Uncommon Tips To Improve Your Writing
  140. Ten Helpful Tips To Improve Fire Drills
  141. Sorting Out Today’s Various Training Options
  142. Business Ethics and Corporate Scandals – Part 1
  143. Business Ethics and Corporate Scandals – Part 2
  144. 12 Tips for More Effective Emails
  145. Management Communication: Back to the Basics, Part One
  146. Management Communication: Back to the Basics, Part Two
  147. Management Communication: Back to the Basics, Part Three
  148. Asset Management
  149. Managing Hardware Inventories
  150. Introduction to Hardware Inventories
  151. Processes To Manage Hardware Inventories
  152. Use of a Hardware Inventory Database
  153. References
  154. Managing Software Inventories
  155. Business Continuity Management
  156. Ten Lessons Learned from Real-Life Disasters
  157. Ten Lessons Learned From Real-Life Disasters, Part 2
  158. Differences Between Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity , Part 1
  159. Differences Between Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity , Part 2
  160. 15 Common Terms and Definitions of Business Continuity
  161. The Federal Government’s Role in Disaster Recovery
  162. The 12 Common Mistakes That Cause BIAs To Fail—Part 1
  163. The 12 Common Mistakes That Cause BIAs To Fail—Part 2
  164. The 12 Common Mistakes That Cause BIAs To Fail—Part 3
  165. The 12 Common Mistakes That Cause BIAs To Fail—Part 4
  166. Conducting an Effective Table Top Exercise (TTE) — Part 1
  167. Conducting an Effective Table Top Exercise (TTE) — Part 2
  168. Conducting an Effective Table Top Exercise (TTE) — Part 3
  169. Conducting an Effective Table Top Exercise (TTE) — Part 4
  170. The 13 Cardinal Steps for Implementing a Business Continuity Program — Part One
  171. The 13 Cardinal Steps for Implementing a Business Continuity Program — Part Two
  172. The 13 Cardinal Steps for Implementing a Business Continuity Program — Part Three
  173. The 13 Cardinal Steps for Implementing a Business Continuity Program — Part Four
  174. The Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL)
  175. The Origins of ITIL
  176. The Foundation of ITIL: Service Management
  177. Five Reasons for Revising ITIL
  178. The Relationship of Service Delivery and Service Support to All of ITIL
  179. Ten Common Myths About Implementing ITIL, Part One
  180. Ten Common Myths About Implementing ITIL, Part Two
  181. Characteristics of ITIL Version 3
  182. Ten Benefits of itSMF and its IIL Pocket Guide
  183. Translating the Goals of the ITIL Service Delivery Processes
  184. Translating the Goals of the ITIL Service Support Processes
  185. Elements of ITIL Least Understood, Part One: Service Delivery Processes
  186. Case Study: Recovery Reactions to a Renegade Rodent
  187. Elements of ITIL Least Understood, Part Two: Service Support
  188. Case Studies
  189. Case Study — Preparing for Hurricane Charley
  190. Case Study — The Linux Decision
  191. Case Study — Production Acceptance at an Aerospace Firm
  192. Case Study — Production Acceptance at a Defense Contractor
  193. Case Study — Evaluating Mainframe Processes
  194. Case Study — Evaluating Recovery Sites, Part One: Quantitative Comparisons/Natural Disasters
  195. Case Study — Evaluating Recovery Sites, Part Two: Quantitative Comparisons/Man-made Disasters
  196. Case Study — Evaluating Recovery Sites, Part Three: Qualitative Comparisons
  197. Case Study — Evaluating Recovery Sites, Part Four: Take-Aways
  198. Disaster Recovery Test Case Study Part One: Planning
  199. Disaster Recovery Test Case Study Part Two: Planning and Walk-Through
  200. Disaster Recovery Test Case Study Part Three: Execution
  201. Disaster Recovery Test Case Study Part Four: Follow-Up
  202. Assessing the Robustness of a Vendor’s Data Center, Part One: Qualitative Measures
  203. Assessing the Robustness of a Vendor’s Data Center, Part Two: Quantitative Measures
  204. Case Study: Lessons Learned from a World-Wide Disaster Recovery Exercise, Part One: What Did the Team Do Well
  205. (d) Case Study: Lessons Learned from a World-Wide Disaster Recovery Exercise, Part Two

In these times of rising demands for high availability, coupled with heightened risks of unscheduled outages, the need for effective, affordable disaster recovery sites for data centers to ensure business continuity is becoming increasingly more important. A few months ago I had an assignment to evaluate a large number of alternative recovery sites for a financial services client. This four-part article presents as a case study the results of that evaluation which consisted of both a quantitative and qualitative analysis. In part one, I describe the first two of four quantitative comparisons I used: weather/climate issues and natural disaster issues.

This particular company has its primary data center located in Southern California in the city of Irvine. In addition to the Southern California region, we included the following 11 areas in this evaluation:

  • Atlanta
  • Dallas
  • Denver
  • Kansas City
  • Jacksonville
  • Las Vegas
  • Northern California (San Francisco area)
  • Phoenix
  • Rolling Meadows (Chicago area)
  • St. Louis
  • White Plains (New York area)

We selected these areas because they were nation-wide which would allow us a large number of alternatives from which to select, and because they each contained major branch offices to provide some familiarity with the locales. I used the following four primary categories of characteristics and risk factors to conduct the analysis:

  • weather/climate issues (such as snow, rain, humidity)
  • natural disaster issues (such as earthquakes, floods, tornadoes)
  • man-made disaster issues (such as electrical disturbances, terrorists)
  • socio/economic issues (such as housing costs, wages and salaries)

Each of these categories contains several characteristics and risk factors that were applied to each of the 12 cities. Tables 1 and 2 list the results of our analysis for weather/climate issues and natural disaster issues. A variety of sources including websites, government agencies, recovery services companies, and industry specialists were used to compile this data.

For each factor within a category, the quantifiable entity associated with the factor is identified for each city. This quantity is then used to assign ranking points to each city in relation to every other city. For example, the first sub-category under weather and climate issues is the number of days in an average year that the temperature exceeded 90 degrees Fahrenheit. Phoenix had the highest number of days with 168, so it was rated 1 and designated as such with the parentheses. Las Vegas was second highest with 133, so it was rated 2, and so on for each city. A similar method was used for the other seven sub-categories. All of the ranking points were then summed. Cities with the lowest number of ranking points had the greatest level of issues within this category, and cities with the highest number of ranking points had the least level of issues.

As Table 1 shows, the three highest ranking areas in terms of having the least number of weather/climate issues were Southern California (80 points), Phoenix (75 points) and Las Vegas (71 points). A few points here are worth stressing. First, the category of weather/climate may or may not be of prime importance to you in selecting a recovery site. If not, do not use it and identify some other category that is more suitable for your particular situation. Similarly, you may want to use weather/climate but not with the sub-categories selected here. Determine other choices that make more sense for your environment. The important point here is that once you have selected your categories, use reliable information to evaluate the criteria and then rank the criteria accordingly. This technique of ranking and summing is used through the process for all of the categories selected.

Table 1 Weather/Climate Issues

City

Days > 900

Days < 320

Days >.01" rain

Inches of Snow

Wind In MPH

Percent Humidity

Percent Sunshine

Percent Cloudy

Total Pts

Southern California

22

(9)

0

(12)

35

(11)

0

(9)

6.5

(10)

67

(8)

73

(10)

72

(11)

80

Phoenix

168

(1)

5

(10)

36

(10)

0

(9)

6.2

(11)

37

(11)

78

(11)

70

(12)

75

Las Vegas

133

(2)

27

(8)

26

(12)

1

(8)

9.2

(7)

30

(12)

85

(12)

73

(10)

71

Northern California

1

(12)

1

(11)

66

(9)

0

(9)

9.3

(6)

71

(5)

66

(8)

105

(9)

69

Denver

34

(8)

156

(1)

89

(7)

60

(1)

8.6

(9)

54

(10)

69

(9)

120

(8)

53

Jacksonville

81

(4)

15

(9)

116

(3)

0

(9)

7.8

(12)

74

(1)

63

(7)

144

(5)

50

Atlanta

35

(7)

48

(6)

115

(4)

2

(7)

9.1

(8)

69

(7)

60

(5)

148

(4)

48

Dallas

97

(3)

37

(7)

79

(8)

3

(6)

10.7

(1)

70

(6)

61

(6)

133

(7)

44

White Plains

17

(10)

78

(5)

119

(1)

26

(3)

10.2

(4)

65

(9)

58

(3)

142

(6)

41

St. Louis

41

(5)

96

(4)

111

(5)

19

(5)

9.6

(5)

72

(3)

57

(2)

164

(2)

31

Kansas City

37

(6)

110

(3)

104

(6)

20

(4)

10.6

(2)

73

(2)

59

(4)

149

(3)

30

Rolling Meadows

17

(10)

130

(2)

125

(2)

38

(2)

10.3

(3)

72

(3)

54

(1)

176

(1)

24

Table 2 Disaster Issues During Past 10 Years

City

Hail Storms

Draughts

Earthquakes

Floods

Hurricanes/TropSt

Snow/Ice Storms

Thunder Storms

Tornadoes

Total Pts

Denver

48

(7)

4

(2)

(8)

8

(12)

0

(3)

0

(6)

28

(12)

1

(10)

60

White Plains

16

(10)

0

(5)

(7)

38

(5)

0

(3)

0

(6)

67

(9)

1

(10)

55

Atlanta

99

(5)

0

(5)

(8)

26

(10)

0

(3)

0

(6)

84

(8)

2

(8)

53

Las Vegas

28

(9)

0

(5)

(6)

50

(4)

0

(3)

0

(6)

61

(10)

2

(8)

51

Northern California

3

(12)

0

(5)

(2)

31

(7)

0

(3)

7

(4)

39

(11)

3

(6)

50

Rolling Meadows

137

(4)

0

(5)

(8)

29

(9)

0

(3)

17

(3)

123

(6)

1

(10)

48

Jacksonville

92

(6)

0

(5)

(8)

26

(10)

6

(1)

2

(5)

165

(3)

14

(3)

41

Phoenix

47

(8)

0

(5)

(5)

34

(6)

0

(3)

0

(6)

252

(1)

5

(5)

39

Southern California

10

(11)

1

(4)

(1)

58

(3)

1

(2)

0

(6)

95

(7)

16

(2)

36

St. Louis

179

(3)

0

(5)

(3)

31

(7)

0

(3)

32

(2)

138

(5)

3

(6)

34

Dallas

196

(2)

5

(1)

(8)

104

(2)

0

(3)

0

(6)

161

(4)

24

(1)

27

Kansas City

214

(1)

2

(3)

(4)

148

(1)

0

(3)

45

(1)

170

(2)

7

(4)

19

In part two I will present the results of my analysis for man-made and socio-economic issues.

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