From the September issue of the Statewide Voice:

A new software planning tool is being utilized to help move the UA system towards prudent preparedness procedures regarding business continuity in case of emergencies.

The new software program, Kuali Ready, will increase the university’s ability to continue “essential operations” at the department level during and after a disruptive event. This type of preparedness is known as business continuity. Once the software application is finished within all university departments, it will produce a continuity plan for the university; Kuali Ready uses an “all hazards” approach and prepares for events that may be natural, technological or man-made incidents.

Preparedness is at the forefront of priorities for Alaska Governor Sean Parnell. Parnell created the Statewide Continuity of Operations Planning Initiative in 2011 and tasked state departments to develop continuity plans.

The Kuali Ready software launch is in response to the governor’s initiative. The deadline for the software launch and plan design is March of 2014. Parnell and Emergency Management have established this timeline. This software launch will be a systemwide effort. The software is being branded for each campus and being named accordingly: UA Ready, UAF Ready, UAA Ready and UAS Ready.

Rick Forkel, director of emergency management, has been involved in the procurement and management of this effort. Additional team members consist of Randy Pommenville of UAF, Dan Garcia of UAS, and Manch Garhart of UAA. Toni Abbey is the project manager assigned to the program, and Kate Wattum is responsible for public relations efforts.

The initiative will begin with a pilot group from each major administrative unit. Departments including research, student housing, facilities and information technology, which are all considered critical functions within the university, will participate in the pilot launch of the software application beginning around September 2012. The software is projected to be unleashed to the greater UA system around March 2013.

The efforts and data from these pilot groups will allow Emergency Management to better understand the systems vulnerabilities and where to apply preparedness resources to mitigate disruptions in operations.

After the pilot period and plan design changes, the software will be released to the larger UA community. The pilot is tentatively scheduled to last for six months.

Kuali Ready is designed specifically for higher education and increases the ability of the institutions speed of recovery during and after a disruptive incident.

More about Kuali Ready is available at http://www.kuali.org/ready. Updates to the progress of this statewide initiative will be on going.