Knowing where you stand in your County’s IT Priorities

 Introduction  What is a COOP?  Department Priorities vs. County IT Priorities  Planning to Continue Operations in the Short Term  Q&A

 Sonja Rowland, PMP  King County Elections IT Project Manager  17 years of IT Project Management Experience  Spent 9 Years with King County IT Dept. as an IT Project Manager  Managed tail end of Business Continuity Program for KCIT  I view things from an IT Perspective

 A Continuity of Operation Plan (COOP) should be written to ensure that agencies are able to continue operation of their essential functions under a broad range of circumstances including all-hazard emergencies.

 Our priorities: ◦ With integrity and a commitment to innovation, we provide all citizens the opportunity to participate in and protect the democratic process.  Our county’s priorities: ◦ Life (Health Care; Emergency Management) ◦ Safety (Sheriff, Jails, Courts)  Whose priorities do you think come first when IT develops their COOP/Business Continuity Plan? ◦ County’s priorities – Life and Safety

 Find out where we overlap…what is our common denominator? ◦ Communication  How will our county communicate? ◦ Media ◦ Phones (VoIP) ◦ (Active Directory; Outlook Services) ◦ Web (Network Connectivity; Web Servers)  What is your county’s plan for bringing up these services?

 Ensure your plan timelines map to the county IT timelines when it comes to service uptimes  Work with vendors on alternate solutions ◦ Can they host your services? ◦ Can they keep a back up of your files?  Work with the OSOS and other Counties on alternate solutions ◦ Alternate data center locations ◦ Like systems ◦ Back up solutions ◦ Remote work locations

 Checklists ◦ Used more than the written plan  Make them useful  Post them  Share them  Make them readily available and accessible to key staff

 Alternate Power ◦ Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) provides only a short period of power ◦ Generator  Building  Portable ◦ Power bricks

 Alternate connectivity options ◦ Is your location served by two, separate internet connections?  If so, this may serve you well in the event of a disaster. ◦ Other options for internet connectivity include:  Using your cell phone as a hot spot (this would need to be part of your service and assumes your cell phone will have service)  MiFi service (this is a wireless service that typically connects 5 devices)

 Laptops and tablets ◦ IT Departments will likely not have extra for you. ◦ Ensure you do the following:  Keep them charged  Keep them up to date (regular updates to them as part of your IT support plan)  Turn them on and test them regularly

 Telecommunications Priority  Register for Government Emergency Telecommunications Service (GETS) – for public telephone ( emergency-telecommunications-service-gets) emergency-telecommunications-service-gets  Register for Wireless Priority service (WPS) – for cellular (including MiFi) priority service (

 Checklists, checklists, checklists  Complete, share and post  Assign owners for regular reviews and updates  Reach out to your IT department as well as our counterparts in other counties  Register for GETS and WPS  Do what you can financially to prepare ◦ UPS, generators, co-location, laptops, tablets, MiFi, power bricks, etc.