Sr. Disaster Recovery Specialist (Manager)
Sidra Medical and Research Center
Total years of experience :22 years, 1 Months
.Establishing a Disaster Recovery planning Process, including resilience strategies and recovery objectives for Active/Active, Active/Passive and Active/Standby, utilizing EMC VPLEX technology
.Responsible for the technical planning, tabletop exercises, testing, and co-ordination of the Disaster Recovery activities
.Design, Develop, review and implement the enterprise wide Recovery plans to meet recovery time and recovery point objectives (RTO and RPO).
.Lead the efforts of documentation and testing to ensure the continuity of operations and availability of critical resources in the event of a disaster
.Establish and document the gathering of cross technology domain Disaster Recovery plans, and test scenarios
.Identify time-critical functions, recovery priorities, and inter-dependencies so that recovery time objectives can be set
.Lead and supervise multiple technology domain end-to-end Disaster Recovery plan assessment and proof of concept testing.
.Work with all stakeholders to ensure that all Recovery issues are understood, raised and resolved
.Initiated a DR maintenance program (call tree update/test-change management review- awareness-testing-contract maintenance-SLA review-sign off)
.Manage SMEs, vendors and suppliers to ensure meeting the defined scope
.Develop and implement procedures for response and stabilizing the situation following an incident or even
.Develop processes to maintain the accuracy of the DR capabilities and the plan document In accordance with best practices and organization’s strategic direction
.Establish applicable procedures and policies for coordinating continuity and restoration activities with external agencies while ensuring compliance with applicable statutes or regulations
.Manage SMEs, vendors and suppliers “"Philips, Cerner, Infor/Lawson, Dell, etc." to ensure meeting the defined scope
.Conducted several workshops, a tabletop exercise and a full DR test event.
-Assessing process and setting plans for business continuity course and development
-Developing plans and accurate estimates for completion of data mapping specifications
-Interviewing key members of the organization to establish clear dept. coverage processes
-Providing leadership and guidance to team members participating in assigned projects
-Setting quarterly and annually update program including call tree updates, Evacuation plan/Drill, application ranking update, call tree test, BCP, test sign off, BIA update, team training, independent peer review and BCP head sector sign off
-Produce Business Impact Analysis, DRP and BCP, RTO, RPO documentation and data flows
-Building teams from various divisions forming a BCP system
-Translating business strategy, business goals, and business processes into IT and vice-versa
-Managing requirements, integrity and continuity via change management and reprioritization
-Infrastructure support including desktops, procurement, web development, telephony, etc.
-Oversee day to day operations including budgeting, contracts and relationship management
-Analyzing and matching between departments/entities primary and support rolls
-Verifying and auditing IT procedures, change control and processes
-Meeting deadlines and ensure customer satisfactions is accomplished
-Develop relationship with business partners and internal/external team members
-Handling government relation issues and contracts
-Developing Disaster Recovery, High Availability and Business Continuity plans through calculated planning (risk assessment and mitigation)
-Created DRP & BCP testing process/documentations and participated in several tests
-Training leaders on BCP practice and tools
-Clients (TorStar, Citi, ESI, Health Canada) and customers training and support
-Conducting Business Impact Analysis (BIA) for all plans
-Developing plans and failover strategies for WAN, LAN, UNIX, infrastructure, etc.
-Creating, leading and motivating employees and Sr. Management teams (Emergency Recovery Team, Crisis Management Team and Technical Recovery Teams)
-Coordinated a team from 5 departments (Network, Database, PM, IT Security and NOC)
-Facilitate communications between internal departments in order to support BCP strategies
-Interviewed, consulted and instructed project managers, managers and team leaders towards the plan accomplishment and to meet deadlines
-Track preparedness and manage risk in contingency plans
-Define/Document Disaster strategies, recovery objectives, and response plans
-Establish framework and roadmap for DR recovery testing and coordinate tests
-Ensure Disaster Plans are current and within industry best practices
-Align technical recovery plans with the Technology Services escalation process
-Conducted/promoted disaster recovery awareness and training for all functional areas.
-Verify and audit all IT support procedures, change control and processes
-Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity coordination and development
-Coordinated highly organized teams by setting targets, delegation, workload, coaching, motivation, training, evaluation, review and development
-Administered and trained teams on LDRPS system functionality
-Developed a communication command center for all level of incidents and escalations
-Ensured staff availability, call tree accuracy, application and facility availability
-Maintained standards and procedures for IT operations, business/disaster recovery documentation and maintains a library of support and resumption procedures.
-Provided continuous evaluation of business continuity risks, recovery strategies, BIA, RTO, RPO, call tree testing and current recovery capabilities for all business departments
-Identify and assess business and technology processes risks and preventive measures
-Coordinated testing and maintenance of business continuity and disaster recovery plans and developed processes that minimize IT risks and restore IT capabilities
-Coordinated the implementation of projects and acting as the key contact in organizing projects flow (BC/DR attestation, LDRPS, IVR, TSM, mainframe, LAN, BI-SAP, voice, etc.)
-Conducting annual auditing practices internally and externally
-Conducted quarterly review, training and awareness for all business areas BC Coordinators
-Tracked all training and certificates are completed on annual basis
-Responsible for activating plans, drill, call tree and training on regular basis
-Evaluate and manage infrastructure, voice/data, RFPs and service providers accounts
-Work with senior management to coordinate departmental efforts and assist in building an accurate forecast
-Maintained policy, procedures, documentation, auditing and technical knowledge level on all aspects of company’s applications and system operation
-Interfaced with all business groups and service organizations and directly with the customer base on critical escalations, call resolution and to collect feedback for further improvement
-Acted as the SPOC (single point of contact) for DR, escalations and outcome resolutions
-Planning and developing department strategy based on risk/GAP assessment, customer satisfaction, business requirements and support abilities