Chapter 15
Eleven Disaster Recovery Planning Web Sites
In This Chapter
Receiving disaster recovery education and professional certification
Finding resources for disaster recovery planners
Networking through DR professional organizations
Information about disaster recovery planning is updated at the speed of thought. By the time this book is in your hands, a whole new set of DR-related developments, incidents, and issues may exist.
You may also want to pursue professional certifications. Some of the organizations I talk about in this chapter offer certifications related to disaster recovery planning and business continuity planning.
DRI International
DRI International was founded in 1988, and then named the Disaster Recovery Institute. DRII provides education programs and certification services to disaster recovery planning professionals. Today, over 3,500 professionals maintain professional certification through DRII.
The certifications offered by the DRII are
Associate Business Continuity Professional (ABCP)
Certified Business Continuity Professional (CBCP)
Certified Functional Continuity Professional (CFCP)
Master Business Continuity Professional (MBCP)
These four certifications represent levels of expertise and years of experience in disaster recovery and business continuity. The Web site also provides a search capability which you can use to locate DRII-certified professionals anywhere in the world.
Disaster Recovery Journal
This extensive and rich Web site contains information on these topics:
Chat boards and blogs
Bookstore
Vendor directory
Events
Tools
Career center
Additional resources
The Disaster Recovery Journal is also an in-print magazine. DRJ also organizes an annual conference called DRJ World.
This is my personal favorite Web site about DR planning.
Business Continuity Management Institute
BCMI is a business continuity and disaster recovery organization that specializes in education and certification. BCMI targets individuals who don’t have access to other DR planning and BC planning education where they live.
The certifications that BCMI offers are
Business Continuity Certified Planner (BCCP): A foundation-level certification for practitioners who are involved in the development, implementation, and maintenance of business continuity plans.
Disaster Recovery Certified Specialist (DRCS): A specialist-level certification for those who oversee specific DR planning areas in IT hardware, software, infrastructure, and applications.
Business Continuity Certified Specialist (BCCS): A specialist-level certification for those who act as BC planning project coordinators.
Disaster Recovery Certified Expert (DRCE): An expert-level certification for those who manage and drive organization-wide disaster recovery projects.
Business Continuity Certified Expert (BCCE): An expert-level certification for those who manage and drive business continuity projects.
BCMI offers a rich curriculum of training in over a dozen topics, ranging from foundation to expert level, in business continuity, disaster recovery, crisis management, audit, and pandemic planning.
BCMI is a co-organizer of the World Continuity Congress, an annual conference dedicated to business continuity and disaster recovery planning. The annual conference is held in Singapore, and it’s a replacement for the old DRI Asia conferences held there. The Web site for the conference is www.worldcontinuitycongress.com.
Disaster Recovery World
Disaster Recovery World is a small Web site that contains basic information and opportunities to purchase the following resources:
The BCP Generator
The SLA Toolkit
Disaster Recovery Toolkit
It contains links to other sites with information on risk analysis and risk assessment methodologies, which are a key part of a Business Impact Analysis (BIA). Other pages contain samples and resources of interest to DR planners.
Disaster Recovery Planning.org
Disaster Recovery Planning.org serves as a vendor-neutral clearinghouse for disaster recovery planning and business continuity planning, for both first-time planners and those with experience.
Disaster Recovery Planning.org claims that you don’t need DR planning certification to add to your career portfolio. I suggest you do further research to determine what’s best for your own career path.
The site includes a generic planning model and other resources for DR planners.
The Business Continuity Institute
The Business Continuity Institute (BCI) is a membership organization dedicated to the promotion of business continuity management worldwide. The BCI has over 4,000 members in more than 85 countries.
The benefits of BCI membership include
The prestige of membership: They don’t take just anybody’s money; you have to qualify to belong to the BCI by taking an examination that assesses your skills and experience.
Access to other BCI members: The Web site has Members Only pages that enable members to contact other members.
Access to published work: The Web site has published articles available to its members.
Post and search open positions: Whether members are seeking experts to add to their staffs or looking for employment themselves, the BCI lists open positions at no charge to members (and only members can list positions).
Discounts: BCI offers discounts for training courses, conferences, seminars, books, and Professional Indemnity Insurance.
The BCI Quarterly Journal:
This quarterly journal has articles on various business continuity topics.
BCI Forums: BCI holds these events in many countries throughout the world.
The BCI offers several certifications:
Associate of the Business Continuity Institute (ABCI): Requires a minimum of six months of business continuity management and experience within the scope of all ten BCI certification standards.
Specialist of the Business Continuity Institute (SBCI): Requires a minimum of two years full-time experience in business continuity management and a good knowledge of at least six of the ten certification standards.
Member of the Business Continuity Institute (MBCI): Requires a minimum of two years working experience across all ten BCI certification standards.
Fellow of the Business Continuity Institute (FBCI): Requires at least five years of full-time experience with all ten BCI certification standards and the demonstration of a thorough knowledge and understanding of the standards. You must have been a member for two years.
Disaster-Resource.com
Disaster-Resource.com contains resources for executives, managers, and planners in need of basic crisis management, emergency management, and business continuity information. The site contains an online disaster resource guide that helps you find information, vendors, organizations, and other resources.
Disaster-Resource.com is operated by Emergency Lifeline Corporation, an organization that provides disaster preparedness products to corporations, government agencies, schools, and families.
It publishes the Disaster Resource Guide, a printed resource for organizations and government agencies that want to prepare for emergencies. The Guide contains articles and information from internationally recognized experts. Emergency Lifeline Corporation mails the Guide to qualifying subscribers free of charge.
Computerworld Disaster Recovery
From the main page, click Knowledge Centers⇒Security⇒Disaster Recovery to get to Computerworld’s main Disaster Recovery site that contains news, articles, and resources.
Computerworld has been around since computers were made from vacuum tubes and pulleys (well, almost). Their DR planning page includes a lot of news, features, and columns on disaster recovery planning. They keep the content fresh and up to date with the latest information that you need to keep your DR plans relevant and effective.
CSO Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery
www.csoonline.com/research/continuity
CSO Magazine is a great print magazine and Web site, both of which feature strategic level features, articles, columns, and interviews. Their business continuity and disaster recovery site includes many good articles from past issues of CSO Magazine.
You can also subscribe to online newsletters about DR planning and BC planning by visiting www.csoonline.com/newsletters. Just select the check box to the left of CSO Continuity & Recovery, enter your e-mail address in the E-Mail Address text box, and click the Subscribe button.
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
A division of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the FEMA Business Web site has many good resources for businesses, including
Protect your business from disasters. Resources for preparation from various natural disasters.
Emergency Management Guide For Business & Industry. A 67-page guide to emergency planning, response, and recovery for companies of all sizes.
Standard Checklist Criteria For Business Recovery. A four-section checklist that helps a business develop its own business recovery manual.
Flood hazard mapping. Information to help businesses better understand the risks associated with specific locations.
Flood Insurance. Information for claims adjusters, lenders, insurance agents, realtors, and so on.
Rothstein Associates Inc.
Operated by Philip Jan Rothstein, FBCI, this Web site is dedicated to business continuity planning, disaster recovery planning, and service level management. This is one of the most extensive sites on BC planning and DR planning that I’ve ever seen! The Web site features
Articles: A rich collection of articles on disaster recovery planning and business continuity planning.
The Rothstein Catalog of Disaster Recovery: Books, CDs, and videos on disaster recovery planning. On its own, this catalog is the mother of all DR planning and BC planning resources, with more books, tools, and instructional videos than you can find anywhere else on the Internet!
Links: A large collection of links to other useful sites on disaster recovery planning and business continuity planning.
Newsletter: A quarterly newsletter with articles and other information.
Forum: Online interactive forum.
Books: A catalog of several books that the site offers for sale.