Filed under: Knowledge | Tags: business continuity, business continuity software, business disaster, business impact analysis, Continuity of Operations, COOP, disaster preparation, disaster recovery, disaster recovery software, KingsBridge Disaster Recovery, Phoenix software, sharepoint
Don’t let the wrong plan get out as it could be worse than the disaster you are currently experiencing!
That’s right. The last thing an organization wants is for an untested and unapproved disaster recovery or business continuity plan to be released within the organization. Using an untested and unapproved recovery or continuity can create more problems than you already have. So, strict control of tested and approved plans is critical to an organization’s ability to recovery quickly and successfully. And Phoenix for SharePoint provides you with the ability to ensure that unapproved plans are not released within the organization.
Phoenix for SharePoint leverages the document management and team collaboration capabilities within SharePoint 2010. Document management features such as Check In/Check Out, Versioning, and Content Approval can all be applied to your Phoenix produced and published plans. In particular, you will be able to ensure that only tested and approved plans are released to application by the organization when disaster strikes and you need them the most. How does this work?
First, we need to enable Content Approval within the Published Plans document library.
1. Select the Published Plans document library from the Plan Management site.
2. Then click on the Library Tools / Library Tab
3. Finally click on Library Settings button in the Ribbon Menu interface.
The Library Settings will take you to the main page for configuring all of the settings associated with the Published Plans document library such as Content Approval.
4. Click on Versioning settings link.
The first item to configure within the Versioning settings section is Content Approval.
5. Click the Yes radio dial to enable Content Approval on this document library.
Content Approval will ensure that only Site Owners or Members with designated Content Approval permissions will be able to see newly published plans. No one else in the organization will be able to see, and more importantly, as a result they will not be able to use them either.
6. Click the OK button to accept the change to the Library Settings to require content approval for newly submitted items in the Published Plans document library.
7. Return to the Published Plans document library.
You will now see a new column within the document library titled Approval Status.
As new plans are published to the Published Plans document library they will automatically be earmarked as pending approval. In the following screen shot Jason McCormack is a Site Owner so he automatically sees which newly published plans are pending approval. Notice that there are seven (7) documents currently in the document library according to Jason’s view of it.
In the following screen shot, another user, Skip Williams, is logged on. Skip is a Site Member that has no Content Approval permissions. Notice that Skip’s view of the same document library is only of six (6) documents. Skip does not see the recently published “New Preparation Plan” document.
Back looking at Jason’s view of the Published Plans document library, upon careful review he will approve the newly published plan so that it can be seen and accessed by the rest of the organization.
8. Highlights the newly published plan and click on the Drop Down Arrow to activate the menu.
9. From the document Drop Down Menu he selects Approve / Reject.
10. Click on the Approve radio selection and add in a comment about why you are approving the document.
11. Click the OK button to change the status of the document to Approved.
Jason now sees the document within the Published Plans document library as Approved.
When Skip, a Site Member, returns to the Published Plans document library or even refreshes his view of the library webpage he will now see the newly approved document.
And that is how Phoenix for SharePoint helps you ensure that only the tested and approved documents are released for access and use by the rest of the organization.
For those people that have subscribed to e-Mail and SMS Text alert updates and changes to the contents of the Published Plans document library they will receive an alert notifying them about the fact that a newly published plan has been approved. Here is the email version of the Alert Notification.
The right plans at the right time, when you need them most! That’s how Phoenix for SharePoint helps ensure that you will feel good the day after the unexpected happens.
About KingsBridge
KingsBridge offers private businesses and government organizations a unique combination of industry knowledge and cost-effective disaster recovery / business continuity solutions. KingsBridge products and seminars provide the tools to assess possible threats and create tailored plans which mitigate risks and minimize losses in the event of a disruption to business. KingsBridge is headquartered in Ogdensburg, New York, with an office in Ottawa, Canada. For more information visit us at www.DisasterRecovery.com.
Filed under: KingsBridge Disaster Recovery, Knowledge | Tags: business continuity, business continuity software, business disaster, business impact analysis, Continuity of Operations, COOP, disaster preparation, disaster recovery, disaster recovery software, KingsBridge Disaster Recovery, Phoenix software, webinar, xmatters
Everyone is super busy, we can’t expect you to drop everything and give us an hour of your day. So we recorded our webinar for you to listen to whenever the thought moves you! You can listen to it a number of times in case you missed anything.
This hour long webinar featured Skip Williams of KingsBridge and Lance Stange of xMatters talking about how to think about the complete picture and plan for the result of the disaster rather than the actual incident itself. We even took it one step further and discussed how you can ensure your plans are brought to life with a communication system that matches your processes and delivers the right information to the right people at the right time.
Watch it now, watch it later or book mark it and watch it over and over again.
![xMatters Webinar Dont you wish you could be sure youve planned for everything [SaveYouTube.com]](http://videos.videopress.com/vvSNmVUA/xmatters-webinar-dont-you-wish-you-could-be-sure-youve-planned-for-everything-saveyoutube-com_std.original.jpg "Watch: xMatters Webinar Dont you wish you could be sure youve planned for everything [SaveYouTube.com]")
Filed under: KingsBridge Disaster Recovery | Tags: business continuity, business continuity software, business disaster, business impact analysis, Continuity of Operations, COOP, disaster preparation, disaster recovery, disaster recovery software, KingsBridge Disaster Recovery, Phoenix software
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| Don’t you wish you could be sure you’ve planned for everything? |
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| You plan and plan. And just when you think you have all of your plans set, you plan some more. It seems that planning for every scenario is never ending because in all honesty, there are millions of things that could happen that you have to plan for. But what if there was a way to simplify this? What if you changed the way you thought about scenarios and not only thought about what they are, but what the result would be if it actually happened?
Join this hour long webinar featuring Skip Williams of Kingsbridge and Lance Stange of xMatters to learn how to think about the complete picture and plan for the result of the disaster rather than the actual incident itself. We’ll even take it one step further and discuss how you can ensure your plans are brought to life with a communication system that matches your processes and delivers the right information to the right people at the right time. One lucky winner will receive a $50 American Express gift card just for attending this webinar…so you don’t want to miss it. |
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Filed under: Knowledge | Tags: business continuity, business continuity software, business disaster, business impact analysis, Continuity of Operations, COOP, disaster preparation, disaster recovery, disaster recovery software, KingsBridge Disaster Recovery, Phoenix software, sharepoint
In this Phoenix for SharePoint Feature of the Week we will focus on one of the most important aspects of a great DRP/BCP plan – maintenance. Maintenance of your plan documents and maintenance of all of the assets and processes that are included within your plans. Phoenix for SharePoint Enterprise includes a sub-site specifically dedicated to the maintenance of any and all kinds of assets associated with implementing and managing a disaster recovery, business continuity, and emergency management planning solutions. With the Asset Maintenance plan site you can manage the ongoing maintenance of your plan documents as well as items from servers to fire extinguishers that are detailed within your plans.
Asset Maintenance Site
The Phoenix for SharePoint Asset Maintenance site is a comprehensive facility for accomplishing the following objectives:
- Identifying assets that need to be maintained
- Determine which maintenance tasks need to be accomplished
- Establishing maintenance cycles (daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, annually, or customized)
- Assign asset maintenance tasks to individuals and have them alerted to the fact
- Track and assign unplanned maintenance service requests
- Document Lessons Learned within Service FAQs discussion forum
- Remain informed about ongoing asset maintenance activity through a BI Dashboard
The Phoenix for SharePoint Asset Maintenance site is a comprehensive solution. It is a central area where Managers and Staff can collaborate together on all elements related to the proper and ongoing maintenance of all assets related to DRP/BCP/ERM compliance.
The following is a brief overview of some of the more detailed features of the Asset Maintenance site capabilities.
Business Intelligent Dashboard for Managers
Maintenance Desk for Service Reps, Knowledge Mgrs, and Service Rep Mgrs
The Maintenance Desk allows all Team Members to coordinate their activity with regards to maintenance tasks. Service Reps are responsible for the kind of adhoc service requests that are created as a result of going through the Threat Risk Assessment and Business Impact Analysis processes. The Knowledge Mgr keeps track of all of the Lessons Learned in order to build corporate knowledge. The Service Rep Mgr ensures that all service requests are properly implemented and completed.
Asset Maintenance Lists, Tasks, and Schedules
This section is used to identify, schedule, and coordinate all of the activity associate with the maintenance of any and all assets associated with DRP/BCP/EMP activities. The following screen shot highlights the Asset Maintenance Tasks that are defined, scheduled, and assigned to an individual for follow up with a Gantt chart.
Maintenance Task Alert Notifications
When a Team Member is assigned responsibility for managing a task they will automatically be notified about the assignment, either by e-mail or SMS text message. Here is what an email notification looks like.
As mentioned, the above alert notification can be sent to mobile devices. Here is what it looks like on an iPhone.
The Phoenix SharePoint Enterprise tool is a complete solution for keeping track of all maintenance activities and assets associate with an organization’s DRP/BCP/EMP requirements. For a complete live demonstration of all of its capabilities please contact us at 1 (888) 246-6642.
About KingsBridge
KingsBridge offers private businesses and government organizations a unique combination of industry knowledge and cost-effective disaster recovery / business continuity solutions. KingsBridge products and seminars provide the tools to assess possible threats and create tailored plans which mitigate risks and minimize losses in the event of a disruption to business. KingsBridge is headquartered in Ogdensburg, New York, with an office in Ottawa, Canada. For more information visit us at www.DisasterRecovery.com.
Filed under: Knowledge, Software | Tags: business continuity, business continuity software, business disaster, business impact analysis, Continuity of Operations, COOP, disaster preparation, disaster recovery, disaster recovery software, KingsBridge Disaster Recovery, Phoenix software, sharepoint
Here is an easy way to work with Lists using Calendar Views so that you can be notified when something / anything is due for your attention. The item can be a weekly report or a hardware replacement or a safety policy review or a disaster recovery plan test.
In the following example we will take into consideration that Hardware needs to be reviewed and replaced on a regular and repeating basis. We will use the Hardware List within the Phoenix for SharePoint Data Lists Site as an example. The Hardware List is used to track, well, computer hardware related to the disaster recovery and business continuity process.
In the following Feature of the Week what we are going to do is…..
- Add a Due Date column to the Hardware List
- Create a Calendar View of the Hardware List that will allow us to see each week that something is due for our attention.
- Make this Calendar View the Default View when we look at the Hardware List
The concept of using a Calendar View over a Data List is a very creative way of sorting the information in a list so that you only see what is important to you.
First, let’s go the Phoenix for SharePoint site and locate the Hardware List.
As you can see we have one entry in the Hardware List for an HP server model 3600 series. If you look through the column fields across the top row you will see that there is no column field associated with when this particular piece of hardware needs to be reviewed. The first thing we need to do is add a new List column that allows us to track when an item in the Hardware list is due for attention.
We can add new columns to the default Hardware list supplied by Phoenix for SharePoint by clicking on the List Tab in the main screen of the Hardware List. Then click on the Create Column menu item.
This next screen will allow you to create a new column for the Hardware list that we will then be able to leverage by creating a Calendar view of the Hardware List items based on the date the item is to be reviewed.
In the next screen shot we are creating a new column for the Hardware list that is called DueDate. It is a Date Field column type.
Click OK to complete the creation of the new Column type field.
Back at the Hardware list you will notice that the new Column Field is now present in the default view but it has no Due Date to be addressed.
Let’s now add a due date to this hardware item. With your mouse cursor hover over the HP (in blue) hyperlinked Hardware List item and click on the drop down menu. Then select Edit Item.
Within the List Item Edit dialog box you can now add a Due Date then this item needs to be paid attention to. In this example it will be January 28th.
Now that the Hardware list has a Due Date Column we can now create a Calendar View that leverages the information in this column such as that the calendar will show us what hardware items need to be paid attention to this week.
Click on Create View and we will then create an additional view for this list based on a Calendar way of seeing the list as opposed to a default tabular view.
Select Calendar View.
We can now specify the criteria upon which the Calendar View of the underlying Hardware list is based.
The results are in…..
When you click on the hyperlink within the Calendar View item you open the item within the Hardware list that needs attention. You will notice as well, like all Lists in SharePoint, that users can subscribe to Alerts when the state of items in question change.
Given that this is a list you could also add a Status Column such that the person responsible for the Hardware items is able to change the status of ongoing attention to item in question. Managers can also subscribe to List Items in order to ensure that they are seeing that staff are paying attention to what maintenance needs to be done.
Conclusion:
Adding new Columns to a list and using custom Views is a great way to present information within Phoenix for SharePoint that is useful to your community of users.
About KingsBridge
KingsBridge offers private businesses and government organizations a unique combination of industry knowledge and cost-effective disaster recovery / business continuity solutions. KingsBridge products and seminars provide the tools to assess possible threats and create tailored plans which mitigate risks and minimize losses in the event of a disruption to business. KingsBridge is headquartered in Ogdensburg, New York, with an office in Ottawa, Canada. For more information visit us at www.DisasterRecovery.com.
Filed under: Knowledge | Tags: 2007, 2010, business, business continuity, business continuity software, business disaster, business impact analysis, Continuity of Operations, COOP, disaster preparation, disaster recovery, disaster recovery software, KingsBridge Disaster Recovery, Phoenix software, sharepoint
There are a number of great things about the Phoenix SharePoint environment. At its heart is the ability to leverage all of the enterprise level features and functions that SharePoint provides. Phoenix SharePoint combines the long history of our great DR and BC plan creation functions with the enterprise level expertise of SharePoint. Resulting in an amazingly powerful solution that allows you to be confident in your plan and the resulting response for your company.
One of the really cool features in SharePoint is the ability to email relevant DRP and BCP files directly to a Phoenix for SharePoint Document Library. This include Word or PDF documents, images, diagrams, and even email messages. This great feature is accomplished through the Document Library Settings.
In the example below we have selected the Current_Status Document Library within our Phoenix for SharePoint Enterprise Edition solution. We then clicked on the Library Tab of the Library Tools menu and then selected Library Settings.
The next screen will allow us to select the “Incoming E-Mail Settings” configuration menu.
Select “Incoming E-Mail Settings” under the Communications area. We will not configure how emails are received by the Current_Status Document Library.
There are three options to configure how documents are received by a Phoenix for SharePoint Document Library under the Group Attachments in Folders:
- Save all attachments in the root folder
- Save all attachments in the folders grouped by e-mail subject
- Save all attachments in the folders grouped by e-mail sender
For the first example demonstration we are using the following options:
- Save all attachments in the root folder
- Do Not Save the original e-mail
Once these settings are saved as per the above configuration we will go into my local email client, which is Microsoft Outlook, and send an email to the Phoenix for SharePoint Document Library.
The email address we need to send to is current_status@ad.disasterrecovery.com
Once the email is sent we can return to the Phoenix for SharePoint Document Library we e-mailed. Here is the Current_Status Document Library once it has received the e-mail with attachment.
In the following screen shots I will click on the Report (our Phoenix for SharePoint 2010 Installation Guide – a little shameless self- promotion !-)
The PDF document when clicked on.
In this next screen shot we will look at the contents of the actual email that was sent to the Document Library. Here is the e-mail deposited into the Document Library.
When we click on the e-mail it will open the core of the message into a Web Browser. You can contrast the following screen back to the original e-mail that was sent in to the Phoenix for SharePoint Document Library .
Now, let’s change it up a little bit. In this next example we will change the way a Phoenix for SharePoint Document Library receives e-mails with attachments. Back at the Current_Status Document Library we will change the way electronic files are saved to the Document Library. In this example we will store the inbound email and attachment as within a Folder that has the same name as the Subject line of the original e-mail.
You have seen how we send an email to a Phoenix for SharePoint Document Library so we will spare you a repeat of the process and scree shots. Ok, be better show it anyway!
Here is what the new results look like as of the change to the Document Library inbound e-mail settings to save the e-mail and the attachment within a Folder bearing the e-mail subject title as its name.
Root Folder of the Document Library
Within the Febrar 2012 Reports folder. Notice I made a spelling mistake in the subject of the e-mail when I sent it. The SharePoint Document Library will reflect such Human Effects!
If you click on the Word document it will open in Word.
If you click on the e-mail it will open in the Web Browser or ask you to save it and open it in your e-mail (*.eml) compatible client application.
Now we will send a new e-mail to the same Current_Status Document Library. This time I will indeed spare you the client e-mail picture. Consider the e-mail with attachment to have been sent. And look, a new folder was ceated in the Current_Status Document Library with the name of the user that send the email to the Document Library.
Given the current configuration the above folder that is based on the user`s e-mail address will contain both the e-mail and the attachment. Let`s have a look inside the newly created folder.
And there it is, both the email and the attachment sent from the user.
Well, that concludes our new Feature of the Week. I think I will e-mail this one to a Phoenix for SharePoint Document Library for archiving so that I can use it in the future!
About KingsBridge
KingsBridge offers private businesses and government organizations a unique combination of industry knowledge and cost-effective disaster recovery / business continuity solutions. KingsBridge products and seminars provide the tools to assess possible threats and create tailored plans which mitigate risks and minimize losses in the event of a disruption to business. KingsBridge is headquartered in Ogdensburg, New York, with an office in Ottawa, Canada. For more information visit us at www.DisasterRecovery.com.
Filed under: KingsBridge Disaster Recovery | Tags: business continuity, business continuity software, business disaster, business impact analysis, concordia, Continuity of Operations, COOP, costa, costa concordia, disaster preparation, disaster recovery, disaster recovery software, KingsBridge Disaster Recovery, Phoenix software
In 2012, KingsBridge will be focusing on talking about the disruption side of Recovery planning. If you have spent any time in this field, or are new to it you’ve seen the millions of photos of hurricanes, earthquakes, fires and devastating floods. Not to make light of these incidents, but for the most part they aren’t likely to impact your business and as you have no doubt learned “If it isn’t likely, don’t plan for it!” or “Don’t worry, we’ve never had any trouble before so why bother to plan now?”. While both of these are valid excuses, realistically you should be planning for what will impact your business… Namely, “Disruptions” not “Disasters”. Let’s take at what I mean:
These top three issues cause nearly 50% of business disruptions: Power failure, IT Hardware failure and Network failure. Hurricanes, Tornados, Fires and Earthquake combined only account for 15%. – Forrester/Disaster Recovery Journal 2010 Global DR Survey
Power Failures, IT Failures aren’t nearly as catastrophic or sexy to surround your message with. As a result, they get overlooked for the more spectacular disasters. But realistically, how many power failures are you likely to have compared to Earthquakes? Plan for the incidents with the highest likelihood.
Still not going along with this train of thought? Let’s use a “disruption” that is in the news right now: the sinking of the Costa Concordia (off the coast of Italy). Most people would look at this and shrug their shoulders saying that these things happen. True, they do, but it comes as a $95 Million disruption to Carnival’s (parent company) revenue from that ship, the ship will be out of service for a year (if not longer) and Carnival is still paying the $580 Million it took the build the ship! The impact of this incident is being felt around the cruising industry and will likely cancel any chance of profits Carnival hoped to make this year. This doesn’t even touch the 14% share decrease that Carnival suffered this week and satisfy the 36% of booked customers who called with concerns. All told, the cost of this disruption will be almost impossible to calculate. All due to the captain of the ship taking it off course to “show off” to others on the boat.
While this does paint a bleak outlook for Carnival and the cruising industry, it will bounce back (eventually) and people will return to their ships just as they did when the Titanic sank 100 years ago.
Is the sinking of the Costa Concordia an Earthquake or a Fire? No. Outside of Carnival Cruise lines is it considered a Disaster (in the BCP/DRP sense)? No. In the grand scheme of Carnival and the cruising industry is it a disruption? YES! As it is more likely to occur (and have an impact on Carnival) than any fire, earthquake or drought.
How does this relate to your business?
Look at your business from a disruption perspective; snowstorms, power failures, computer failures, etc… These are things that happen every day and will never make the news, but will immediately impact your business. Recovery planning is all about limiting the impact to your business and your bottom line. So the next time you talk about Recovery Planning and just shrug it off with “it’ll never happen to me” thoughts, remember this article and make sure you aren’t going to go down with the ship!
RIP to those who died while a passenger or working on the Costa Concordia.
About KingsBridge
KingsBridge offers private businesses and government organizations a unique combination of industry knowledge and cost-effective disaster recovery / business continuity solutions. KingsBridge products and seminars provide the tools to assess possible threats and create tailored plans which mitigate risks and minimize losses in the event of a disruption to business. KingsBridge is headquartered in Ogdensburg, New York, with an office in Ottawa, Canada. For more information visit us at www.DisasterRecovery.com.
Filed under: Knowledge | Tags: business continuity, business continuity software, business disaster, business impact analysis, Continuity of Operations, COOP, disaster preparation, disaster recovery, disaster recovery software, KingsBridge Disaster Recovery, Phoenix software, sharepoint
Welcome to another “Feature of the Week” update. Keeping up to date (pardon the pun) on the most current DRP/BCP plans for your organization is critically important. As we all know, keeping DRP/BCP plans current and accurate is an ongoing challenge. Ensuring that everyone involved in acting upon those updated plans when disaster strikes however is probably even more important, if not more challenging. Having a DRP/BCP Team Member working with out-dated recovery plans can do more damage than the disaster itself. Therefore keeping Team Members current on plan changes and providing them with access to the active plan it very important.
Phoenix for SharePoint leverages Microsoft SharePoint’s ability to send email notifications to Team Members whenever DRP/BCP plan documents are created, changed, or deleted.
How It Works
First, we have configured Phoenix for SharePoint to leverage the SharePoint Server’s Outgoing E-Mail Settings configuration. SharePoint uses the Internet Information Service’s Simple Mail Transfer Protocol feature, which needs to be configured first. Once the email SMTP service is configured on the SharePoint server then we configure SharePoint to support outgoing email in the Central Administration tool. This configuration is done by the SharePoint Farm Administrator.
Once this is configured we are ready to proceed from an Team Manager or Team Member perspective to receive immediate email notification whenever changes are made to active DRP/BCP plans. That’s right, a Team Manager can assign a Team Member to receive notification to plan updates.
In Phoenix for SharePoint the Plan Editor is used to edit and modify DRP/BCP plans. These plans are then published to a Published Plans Document Library. Team Members can subscribe to email notifications for a Document Library. The desire to receive plan update notifications is configured within any SharePoint Document Library or List and can be done by a Site Owner or Site Member.
The Team Member can decide what kind of Notifications they want to receive, the level of change detail the notices are based upon, the frequency in which the notifications are sent, and when they are sent. A Team Manager can also decide which Team Members should receive the notifications.
When an email is sent this is what the Team Member receives.
Notice that within the email is a direct link to “View” the new or updated document. In the image above the Team Member would simply click on the “View Team_Response.pdf” URL link to open the updated document. There are also other active URL links that will take the Team Member directly to the Phoenix for SharePoint solution site.
But wait a second….. not without security you don’t. That’s right. Just because a Team Member received an email notifying them to a new or updated DRP/BCP plan doesn’t give them direct access to the plan without proper security credentials. When the Team Member clicks on the email active URL they will be prompted for their secure login credentials.
Once the Team Member logs in securely they will then have access to the new or updated DRP/BCP plan.
With the DRP/BCP plan now open at the local client workstation it can of course be saved locally so that the Team Member has access to the most recent plan in the event that disaster does actually strike the next day.
Of course Phoenix for SharePoint supports other custom features that can be implemented such as Workflows that forward full copies of updated plans to off-site locations in order to ensure that Team Members always have access to current DRP/BCP plan documentation. Please feel free to ask us about additional customization that can be implemented to accomplish your specific requirements.
Phoenix for SharePoint Team
About KingsBridge
KingsBridge offers private businesses and government organizations a unique combination of industry knowledge and cost-effective disaster recovery / business continuity solutions. KingsBridge products and seminars provide the tools to assess possible threats and create tailored plans which mitigate risks and minimize losses in the event of a disruption to business. KingsBridge is headquartered in Ogdensburg, New York, with an office in Ottawa, Canada. For more information visit us at www.DisasterRecovery.com.
Filed under: Knowledge | Tags: business continuity, business continuity software, business disaster, business impact analysis, Continuity of Operations, COOP, disaster preparation, disaster recovery, disaster recovery software, KingsBridge Disaster Recovery, Phoenix software
The Project Management Dashboard component of the Phoenix for SharePoint Standard and Enterprise editions.
DRP/BCP Plan Development Coordinators have a very challenging position in that they have to coordinate the activities of many people in the organization within across different departments and at many different levels of the organization. And many of the people you need to help you develop the organization’s recovery plans are already working at maximum output. Requiring them to assist you in this very important endeavour is often an uphill challenge. Having access to an integrated documentation planning tool is key to your success.
Phoenix for SharePoint offers a complete Project Management Dashboard that is tailored specifically to the DRP/BCP Plan Development Coordinator role. It will help you ensure that documentation planning tasks are assigned and followed up on and that people are accountable for the aspects of this important effort that they have been made responsible for.
The following screen shot is the Project Status landing page for the Phoenix Dashboard. It provides access to a high level view of how the project is progressing. It uses a combination of Task Assignments and Key Performance Indicators (KPI) within a Business Intelligence (BI) portal to provide Management with a very clear status view of the planning process.
There are three default Projects within Phoenix that allow you to get started quickly on your planning and recovery processes. But of course you can always create more projects! The methodology used for the DRP/BCP plan development process is architected as follows:
Project
- Milestones
- Tasks
The Project
For the Project you can define Start and End dates as well as budget expectations. As the Tasks are completed the project Complete status roll up to the associated Milestones, which in turn roll up to the associated Project itself.
Within each Project, Milestones are defined and associated back to the Project.
Finally, Tasks are created and associated with a Milestone, that is in turn associated with a Project.
The DRP/BCP Plan Coordinator can begin to assign Tasks to individual staff. During the process of doing so they identify the Task components:
Assigned To
Start Date
End Date
Cost ($)
Cost in Days
The assigned staff member will receive an email with a link back to the Task so that they can begin to work with it and perform the planning process. Along the way, as they complete the Task they have been assigned they can update their progress and the status of the Task completion.
As staff complete their assigned Task(s) within each Milestone, the Project Status Dashboard will immediately be updated and the progress of the project will reflect their activity. You and Management can keep live track of how the DRP/BCP planning process is proceeding.
Well, there you have another Phoenix Feature of the Week. Plan development and ongoing management of the plan development process is critical to the successful implementation of your DRP/BCP documentation. Phoenix for SharePoint Standard and Enterprise editions enable the Plan Coordinator to stay on top of the process and ensure success.
About KingsBridge
KingsBridge offers private businesses and government organizations a unique combination of industry knowledge and cost-effective disaster recovery / business continuity solutions. KingsBridge products and seminars provide the tools to assess possible threats and create tailored plans which mitigate risks and minimize losses in the event of a disruption to business. KingsBridge is headquartered in Ogdensburg, New York, with an office in Ottawa, Canada. For more information visit us at www.DisasterRecovery.com.
Filed under: Knowledge | Tags: business continuity, business continuity software, COOP, disaster preparation, disaster recovery, disaster recovery software, KingsBridge Disaster Recovery
This is the third instalment of Phoenix for SharePoint integration features that allow our clients to leverage Phoenix within a SharePoint platform to better prepare themselves to restart their business after a disaster.
The KingsBridge Systems’ DRP-BCP planning solution runs on the SharePoint platform. This Phoenix Feature update shows how two products, Microsoft® Office and Microsoft SharePoint®, contribute to the powerful architectural design of the Microsoft Business Productivity Infrastructure (BPI) with a specific focus on business continuity and disaster recovery requirements. The BPI stack approach suggests that only by thinking at a capability level (for example, “What do users want to do?‖), and then adding the right aspects of capability in each place (client, server, and services), can we create desktop applications that also deliver rich server and services capabilities to information workers.
The attached Feature/Function Whitepaper describes how the 2010, 2007, and 2003 versions of Office work together with the 2010, 2007, and 2003 versions of SharePoint technologies. Although we provide an overview of Office and SharePoint features working together in past versions, this paper focuses on the integration features of the Microsoft Office 2010 experience with Microsoft SharePoint 2010.
The scenarios outlined in this paper show examples of how the power of SharePoint 2010 and related servers can be combined with capabilities of one or more Microsoft Office 2010 applications to deliver rich, intuitive, and easy-to-use capabilities directly into the hands of desktop users. The scenarios cover the following value areas:
- Collaboration Without Compromise
- Bring Ideas to Life
- Anywhere Access
- The Practical IT Platform
The paper concludes that to realize the best user experience with Office and SharePoint integration features, organizations should upgrade client programs to Office Professional Plus 2010 and server technologies to SharePoint 2010.
Here below are some clear examples of how Phoenix leverages some of the mobile capabilities that SharePoint brings to the solution as implemented.
For each and every Document Library there is the ability to connect it to a locally installed Microsoft Outlook email / communication installation.
In this example we have connected the SharePoint Published Plans Document Library to a locally installed on a laptop Microsoft Outlook configuration.
When we integrate the SharePoint Farm Server implementation to our locally installed Microsoft Office installation of the Outlook email / communication program we are asked to validate this request.
Click Yes
If not already authenticated to the site the user will be prompted to login.
Phoenix for SharePoint will now download from the Published Plans DocLib to the Outlook software running on the persons Laptop. When they unplug from the network they take all of the Published Plans with them in Outlook.
From here on in whenever anyone else updates the Published Plans Doc Lib, the next time the user connects to corporate network those updated plans will automatically sync down to the laptop.
The same SharePoint <> Outlook integration is true for Calendars and Discussions.
If there is a Department level Calendar on SharePoint, synchronization between it and Outlook on the laptop can also take place. Simply go to the Calendar in SharePoint and select the Library Tab, then select Connect to Outlook. Here I am in the Compliance Site and I clicked on the Compliance Events Quick Launch Menu. Click on the Calendar Tools Tab (a Calendar is a Library List with a different view).
Select Connect to Outlook.
Then click on Allow.
Then Click Yes to connect this SharePoint Calendar to Outlook.
If the user is already Authenticated they will not be prompted to log in again.
The user will now see their own Calendar in Outlook as well as the SharePoint site Calendar.
The same level of integration is true with default Task Lists and Discussion lists on a site.
About KingsBridge
KingsBridge offers private businesses and government organizations a unique combination of industry knowledge and cost-effective disaster recovery / business continuity solutions. KingsBridge products and seminars provide the tools to assess possible threats and create tailored plans which mitigate risks and minimize losses in the event of a disruption to business. KingsBridge is headquartered in Ogdensburg, New York, with an office in Ottawa, Canada. For more information visit us at www.DisasterRecovery.com.
