Tool to help units maintain essential functions during emergencies
December 5, 2013
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In early 2014, a new web-based Continuity Of Operations Planning (COOP) tool will help Purdue units develop, store and deploy plans to continue essential functions after events that disrupt normal campus operations.
The tool, which takes the form of online software, will be useful for situations such as the recent widespread power outage.
Called READY-Purdue, the software will be free and available to all Purdue units, says Ron Wright, director of campus emergency preparedness and planning, and Jefferson Howells, assistant director of campus emergency preparedness and planning. It will be accessible through its own Web portal and hosted off campus so as to be accessible at all times.
The software will allow individual units to develop a plan to support business and/or academic continuity during or immediately after emergencies such as power outages, natural disasters, and building malfunctions or interruptions. The software will include administrative input from the Campus Emergency Preparedness and Planning Office, which will assist unit members with plan construction, implementation and evaluation.
Using READY-Purdue, units will be able to create continuity-of-operations plans that can be stored and accessed online, copied to emergency flash drives, or printed and used in hard copy form if necessary, Wright and Howells say. The software will encourage the participation of all unit members in the creation of these plans, and it will help identify operational gaps and vulnerabilities within departments and in interdepartmental processes,
More details about READY-Purdue will be available in the coming weeks.
For more information about READY-Purdue and Continuity of Operations Planning, contact Howells at 49-9269 or jfhowells@purdue.edu.
Writer: Amanda Hamon, 49-61325, ahamon@purdue.edu
