Susan pulled into her usual parking place near the HAL offices and wondered what was going on. Fire trucks and police cars were scattered all around the building, and there was even an ambulance waiting nearby.

Grabbing her briefcase and jacket, she walked quickly over to the fire department command truck and asked, "What's going on?"

The fireman who seemed to be in charge asked, "Who might you be?" "Susan Carter, I am the third-shift IT supervisor here at HAL."

"Not tonight," he said. "There was a major structural fire in this building. We just about have it under control, but we need to make sure there are no flare-ups. Everyone is out of the structure, and as far as we know, no one was seriously injured. There were only a few of your employees inside. All of them are out and accounted for by the second-shift supervisor. But no one is going into the structure at this time. It'll be several hours before the inspectors are done and you can get started with your recovery." "Okay," Susan said. She walked over to the ambulance where the employees from the second shift in the HAL data center were being looked over by the paramedics. She saw the second-shift supervisor breathing from an oxygen mask. Now that she had quickly appraised the situation, she turned back toward her car. After she sat down in her car, she pulled out her company cell phone and hit the speed dial for her boss, Amanda Wilson.

"Hello," said a voice, clearly awakening from a deep sleep.

"Amanda? Susan Carter here. I am just getting to work, and there was a significant fire in the building. We have a disaster on our hands. Everyone is out safely, and it seems we don't have any serious injuries, but the offices are in a bad state."

"Oh, no!" Amanda said. "I'm glad that everyone is okay. Do you think the on-site backups are going to be usable?"

"I wouldn't bet on it," Susan said.

"Okay," Amanda said. She paused for a moment, then said to Susan, "Declare a disaster and activate continuity plan A and recovery plan B immediately. I will be there in 20 minutes."

Susan next called the HAL automated phone system, knowing it was based off-site at a secure service provider's location. When the HAL greeting started, she entered her PIN code to authenticate herself. She then recorded a brief message outlining the disaster and the disaster and continuity plans that were to be followed. When she finished the message, she confirmed that the alert roster was to be processed with the message she had just recorded. Everyone who needed to know about this catastrophe would be called in the next few minutes. The system would keep trying every person at each of their possible phone numbers until they were reached.

Susan pulled out her laptop and inserted the USB stick with all of HAL's IR, DR, and BC plans. She quickly pulled up her master planning document, selected the continuity plan, clicked option A, and began to read. She then pondered her next action.

Discussion Questions

1. What do you think Susan's next action should be if her plan is like the recommendations in this module?

2. What are the priorities for Susan in the next 30 minutes?

Ethical Decision Making

1. Part of Susan's responsibilities is to notify a number of company leaders. One of them, shown near the end of the priority list, is a good friend who may have been in the office at the time of the fire. Susan chooses to call her friend first to make sure she's OK before starting at the top of the priority list. "It'll only take a minute," she thinks. How could this choice go wrong?

2. Suppose that one of HAL's contractors was issued a copy of the company alert roster. Suppose further that the contractor has family members who sell recovery services, and the contractor passed them a copy of the roster with all personal contacts and critical skills listed. Is this an ethical action by the contractor? Why or why not?

3. Suppose Susan had a friend with a small business that offered some services similar to those provided by HAL Inc. During a discussion of DRP and HAL's plan, Susan's friend asked to see how a "big" company would plan for disasters. Susan decided to provide her friend with a copy of the DR plan. Was this an appropriate action? Why or why not?