Colleen cheered as she completed the last of her attachments for the report, which had been a last$-$minute request on a fair$-$weather Friday. She was eager to begin the weekend, because she had made plans to spend it with her partner, Brian. She saved the interactive PDF file, which linked to $18$ ancillary files, and attached all $19$ files to her e$-$mail to her boss.

Colleen pressed Send and logged off. She rushed from her office to catch the $5$:$15$ p$.$m$.$ uptown bus. If she missed it$,$ she would have to wait about a half$-$hour for the next one. As she jumped on the bus before the doors closed and grabbed a seat in the back, she opened her purse. She quickly turned off her phone, which had only a small charge left, to preserve the battery. She brushed her hair and put on some lip gloss in preparation for dinner at a nice uptown bistro. Brian had made reservations for outdoor dining on the bistro's balcony overlooking the bustling street below.

At the same moment, Colleen's boss was opening Colleen's e$-$mail. As he downloaded the files, error messages began popping up$.$ Six of the files had been corrupted in electronic transit. He called Colleen's extension; it went immediately to voicemail. He called her cell phone and heard a familiar message$-$the recipient was not receiving calls. He e$-$mailed her, hoping that she would somehow still be available, to no avail. Panic quickly set in$-$the report had to be delivered at a meeting in $1$ hour, and the other four functional area managers would be present.

Questions

Do you perceive any possible repercussions from the failure of the electronic transfer of the six files?

What would you suggest as a $1-$hour plan for Colleen's boss?

How could problems like the one in this scenario be avoided $($a$)$ by Colleen, $($b$)$ by Colleen's boss, or $($c$)$ by company policies?