Continuous Availability: Disaster Planning for your Controlled Environment

If you have critical data in your facility, you need to ensure it’s protected in the face of disaster. Here is a guideline on how.

Whether it’s manmade or natural, many manufacturers with cleanroom facilities are vulnerable to disaster. Three main concerns should this occur are security, risk management, and business continuity. Should any of these be compromised, it would be catastrophic. Therefore, a disaster recovery plan is necessary to any organization with something to lose.

When thinking of continuous availability, you need a strategic approach. You want to develop scope, context, and management commitment. Following that, define all company roles and responsibilities to know every business process within the organization. Assign staff to define risks and the business impact of each.

With these things identified, you’ll be able to develop a strategy, plan, and procedure for business continuity in the face of disaster. Your technology solutions will fit into this crucial step. This complex task should include three areas:

Data protection – a number of disasters can destroy data, so protecting it needs to extend beyond onsite storage. Hosting it offsite will increase your chances of data survival in the case that the unexpected occurs. How far away the offsite storage should be is dependent upon what kind of risks you face.

System recovery – make sure you’re current on updates and maintenance for your servers, platforms, operating systems, hypervisors, networks, and backup software and hardware. You want to ensure that these systems can recover your applications.

People, processes, program – if a catastrophe occurred today and employees had to work remotely tomorrow, would they know what to do? Equip your staff with the proper training, workspace, and equipment they need to function in the face of disaster. Have a document that details the steps of your recovery. Include how to redistribute the workload across your organization. Also consider your critical suppliers – can you still operate if this happens?

You must continually test and analyze these processes throughout the year, performing mock disaster scenarios, and making improvements when necessary. There are companies that specialize in disaster recovery who can help you optimize your business continuity program. For other cleanroom needs, like validation, verification, and construction, contact Gerbig Engineering Company. Our experts understand the needs of your facility no matter the industry. Call 888-628-0056 or email info@gerbig.com.