Contingency Planning & Outsourcing, Inc.

Software and Services for Disaster Recovery, Business Continuity, COOP and Emergency Management

Higher Education

The Problem Addressing preparedness for a campus requires Disaster Recovery Planning for Information Technology, Business Continuity for Administration and Student Affairs, and Emergency Management for student, faculty and staff safety. Often, the responsibility to address preparedness falls to someone in IT, Risk Management or Campus Safety. However, whoever it is, it is usually an added responsibility to their existing job and not a full time assignment. Even if it were a full time position, the magnitude of what needs to be addressed can be overwhelming. Colleges and universities are like small towns or cities. They have many buildings, thousands, even tens of thousands of people, a dependency on Information Technology, their own police and fire departments, and so on. Resources assigned to develop and maintain response and recovery plans are just not able to address the totality of the tasks required. It’s only natural to reach out for a software tool to assist in plan development and maintenance. However, most tools are too expensive, too complex at the planner level and certainly at the end-user level. Often times, software tools are purchased and because of their complexity never fully get implemented, yet because of the license agreement they must be paid for year after year. Also, service can be very poor or non-existent. Attention is drawn to the need for a plan when the subject has been made visible by the media in covering recent events or something has happened on campus. Then, a focus on plans and planning receives great attention and procedures are written, resources are rallied to provide immediate attention. However, “time” has a way of fading memories and life goes on. Without a viable software tool to make the management and maintenance of policies, procedures and information gathered, possible the plan becomes outdated and ineffective. Unfortunately, this is the life cycle of “preparedness” on many colleges and universities. The need to quickly alert students, faculty and staff of an immediate or pending danger is absolutely essential in today’s higher-education environment. However, for many colleges and universities, the price for an effective method and system is cost prohibitive.

The Solution CPO has developed a methodology and supporting software system, CPOtracker™, which has been effectively assisting the education sector in developing and maintaining Disaster Recovery, Business Continuity and Emergency Management Plans for over 5 years. The same methodology and system has been in use effectively assisting some of the nation’s largest companies for over 15 years. Yes, they have the same problem; developing and keeping Plans current. Service While we have a proven methodology and software tool, we also know how important support is in applying the methodology and system to your college or university and university system. CPO provides training and application support as well as a Help Desk to ensure success. We realize that developing and maintaining Plans is not a “one- time” project, but rather a living, ongoing effort. Software Planning Tool CPO’s plan management software, CPOtracker, is available in several editions designed to fit any size college or university budget. The university may purchase a perpetual license and install the system on the university’s web server or the university may subscribe to CPO’s Hosting Service, where CPO will maintain the CPOtracker system at the current release, which will be available to any authorized individual via any computer having an Internet connection. Highlighted Features Applying CPO’s methodology and software system will allow you to always know the degree of readiness at the single or multi-campus level for IT, Administration and Emergency Management and you will be able to produce supporting Readiness Reports. • Generate Plans - automatically generate the Disaster Recovery, Business Continuity and Emergency Management Plans for implementation and distribution whenever changing information within dictates • Automatic Notification - quickly notify via text, voice and email all those relevant to the immediate situation • Import Contact Information - easily maintain personnel contact information • Document Management - who is assigned what policies, procedures and other documents comprising the emergency response and recovery Plans and what the update status is • Tasks Management - who is responsible for conducting fire, team walk-throughs, and when have they been done and were there any issues needing to be addressed, etc. • Readiness Reports - the university can produce Readiness Reports indicating how ready the various departments are or the entire campus is in their effort to effectively respond to and recover from any emergency and disaster situation • Multi-campus Capability – has the “optional” capability to separately manage any number of universities in a university system. With one software system, each university can comply with a standard format and method for preparedness and share common information.

Readiness and Emergency Preparedness for Colleges and Universities The CPO methodology and CPOtracker system address all of the requirements for complying with NIMS/ICS, some of which are listed below: • Complies with NIMS and ICS required structure and assignments • Incorporates the four phases of emergency management: Prevention-Mitigation, Preparedness, Response and Recovery • Training for university personnel in emergency management procedures • Coordination with local law enforcement, public safety, public health, mental health agencies and local government  • Provides the capability to communicate university emergency management policies and reunification procedures • Provides for “sustainability” via “accountability” to keep Plans current • Roles and responsibilities are clearly defined • Tabletop exercises and drills are conducted as well as full-scale exercises  • Plans are developed and are maintainable at the department, campus and university system level   • Procedures supporting all anticipated emergencies and infectious diseases including pandemic planning     

© Contingency Planning & Outsourcing, Inc. 2016