Originally posted by Randy
MOST IMPORTANT!!!!!!!!
No matter what anybody says...You must plan according to "Worst Case Scenario". Anything less, quit wasting your time.
I've only been a part of one disaster contingency plan, so I'm darn sure not weighing in as an expert here, but rather as someone who soon may have to do such a plan for our company, so I need to learn. What I was thinking of (and have seen in the past) was along the lines of what D. Scott mentioned. But this quote from Randy is scary if correct. What is worst case, and where does it end (or does it ever end)? An anthrax attack? A tornado hitting you dead-center? Smallpox? A nuke detonated nearby (better have all that magnetic data backed up many, many miles away!)? 40 days and nights of rain?
Maybe, like everything else, there are contingency plans and then there are contingency plans. Seems to me the Pentagon's contingency plans need to be more detailed and wider in scope than those for a small manufacturer of customized golf carts in Jersey. Maybe the first thing Al or anyone else developing a contingency plan should do is first think long and hard on the scope -- exactly how far do we want to go with this? What do your customers expect? What do your shareholders expect? At what tiny probabability level do you want to quit? Personally, if I'm that golf cart manufacturer in Jersey I may want a contingency for hurricaines, fire, or week-long power outages, but I'm not gonna develop a contingency plan for a nuclear blast. Just one opinion.
Mike