Agenda Index City of Vancouver

ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT

TO: Vancouver City Council

FROM: Director of Information Technology

SUBJECT: Improvement to Information Technology Business Continuity Capabilities

RECOMMENDATION

THAT Council approve the relocation of key information technology infrastructure from City Hall to the Emergency Communications Centre (E-Comm), to provide improved business continuity capabilities in the event of a major disaster. Total capital costs of $495,000 will be funded from the Information Technology Long Term Financing Plan. Additional annual operating costs of $95,000 will be funded through an increase in the operating budget.

GENERAL MANAGER'S COMMENTS

The General Manager of Corporate Services RECOMMENDS approval of the foregoing.

COUNCIL POLICY

On July 23, 1996, Council approved a "Long Term Financing Strategy - Information Technology Replacement Program", that recommended, amongst other things:

- THAT Council approve the financing strategy as outlined in this report to provide a sustaining source of funds for information technology implementation and renewal.

PURPOSE

The purpose of this report is to seek approval to relocate core information technology infrastructure from City Hall to E-Comm to minimize the risk of losing key information systems in the event of a major catastrophe like an earthquake.

BACKGROUND

The recent events in New York and Washington have heightened awareness of the need to enhance the business continuity capabilities at the City.

A study during 1998 by the Giga Group of 582 companies who activated their disaster recovery plans found that 50% of the causes were natural (ice storms, flooding, earthquake) and that the other 50% of the causes were caused by technical reasons (power, network, hardware, software). In most instances there is a significant time lag between the event and the restoration of reduced computer technology capabilities. Time and resources are further expended to return to normal operation from the operation during the recovery process.

DISCUSSION

As the City's dependence on information technology has grown, so has the awareness that several key locations, housing network hubs or concentrations of equipment, are relatively vulnerable to either natural catastrophes, like earthquakes, or man-made catastrophes, either inadvertent or deliberate. If one of these key locations was lost, it would take weeks or months to find an alternate site, buy and re-configure the necessary equipment, restore data, and re-connect to the network. During this time, the City would be hampered in its ability to provide emergency services and severely constrained in its ability to provide normal services.

A general strategy to address this risk has been developed.

Technology priorities during and after an event have been established as:

The approach is to locate equipment in secure sites that have been built with a high degree of earthquake resistance, with redundant network links so that if one fails the other can still support connectivity. The E-Comm building is the first choice for such a site, but other facilities like the proposed Chess Street Fire Training Centre are also being considered. In the longer term, the strategy envisions several such sites, with data and functionality "mirrored" (i.e. duplicated) across them, removing single points of failure.

The cost of each step of this strategy will have to be weighed against the resulting reduction in business risk, and will be reported on a case by case basis to Council in future years.

This report recommends a first step towards implementing that strategy - the relocation of core information systems to the E-Comm facility. It will provide significantly increased assurance that these systems will continue to function, and their information will continue to be accessible, in the event of a disaster. Associated costs include the physical move, some additional equipment, and the implementation of high-speed data links from E-Comm to the City network. Additional annual operating costs of $95,000 are estimated for the telecommunications connectivity and additional equipment maintenance.

Should a major event occur which would cause either destruction or exclude access to City Hall, the City would be disrupted until either the computer room and equipment is rebuilt or made accessible and functional. Timings for recovery are measured in weeks and months to return the city to a fully operational state.

An analysis suggests that the hardened E-Comm facility offers the most secure and most cost-effective alternative. E-Comm has been designed to withstand major natural events like earthquakes and has capabilities for sustained operation until City hydro, and other facilities are restored. By housing the major applications like SAP, GIS, E-mail at E-Comm, the city can be and is ready as soon as possible. The key information remains available to the recovery teams without interruption. Service to the citizen and staff is maintained.

This proposal improves upon past plans by providing near continuous operation. Network connectivity to all sites is vulnerable, however, redundancies are provided at the major sites of City Hall, Yards, Police, Main Library, and E-Comm.

This is the first step of a continuous improvement process. Mainframe operation recovery is being planned as part of phase 2, and improved network conductivity to community centres and branch libraries along with fire halls are future enhancement.

Funding requirement for this phase is as follows:

Component

One - Time

Annual Recurring

Network Connectivity1

$141,000

$50,000

Tape Storage System

$194,000

$45,000

Relocation of Servers:

$150,000

  

Contingency

$10,000

  

Total:

$495,000

$95,000

1 This estimate anticipates the successful negotiation of a contract with Urban Networks for the use of their optical fibre in exchange for underground duct space, as approved by Council on Jan 22, 2002

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

Funding for this initiative will come from the Information Technology Long-Term Financing Plan, in which a total of $16.3M has been budgeted for Information Technology infrastructure replacement and upgrade over the 2001 - 2004 period. Approximately $13.5M of this budget has not been committed.

CONCLUSION

The benefit to the City for relocating its major applications and computers to E-Comm is continuous operation during and after major events. The City maintains its capabilities. The City is able to focus on the event and the public rather than technology recovery actions.

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