Operating Effectively Through Disaster
Get Tech Ready
HandsOn Tech New York City
Get Tech Ready: Prepare for Disaster
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Why is it important to prepare?
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Where to begin?
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New York Cares as case study
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What happened before, during and after the storm
to prepare and protect:
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Website○
Database○
Backups○
Phones○
EmailWhy Prepare?
● Prepared organizations function better
Where to start?
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Ask what if....
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Who usually makes governance decisions for your
organization?
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Determine what is essential to function based on
your organizational mission
Website-
Long & Short Term Essential- Because it
is the primary means of communication with our
volunteers.
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Newyorkcares.org is ran through a hosted enviornment- since 2010.●
The entire configuration can be moved & copied.●
Other service providers- GoDaddy.com, Dotster, &Database-
Long & Short Term Essential-
Single source of volunteers and sign-up’s.
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Essential for operations = in the cloud.●
Important data for the website is available in SalesForce.File Server-
Long Term Essential, Short Term
Nonessential
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Moving important documents to an offsite
location.
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Important documents were moved to Salesforce
Back Ups-
Essential- “Consider the entire city is a
failure.”
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Back up everything on a daily basis●
"Shadow Copy"Telephones: What Did New York Cares Do?
Before:
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Set up voicemails appropriately
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Know how to check your Voicemail remotely
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Print out a list of your coworkers cell phone and
home numbers
Telephones: What Did New York Cares Do?
During:
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Rerouting calls- this can be hard to do if the local
switch is also down
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We utilized Google voice to forward incoming calls
to our main line to a separate number
Telephones: Best Practices and Tips
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The on call-emergency phone did not utilize google
voice
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Moving phones to a cloud based system
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why this is more manageable for smaller nonprofits○
Ability to give voice traffic highest priority○
Set up a hosted VOIP from the beginning Shortel Ring CentralEmail: How to Prepare
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Apply for Google for Nonprofits account
○ free domain names
○ easy migration of emails
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Prepare with onsite email server
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Prepare with offsite email server
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Enable LogMeIn
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Apply for Google for Nonprofits account
○ free domain names
○ easy migration of emails
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Prepare with onsite email server
○ change destination of emails
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Prepare with offsite email server
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Enable LogMeIn
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Regularly backup emails
Email: How to Prepare
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Apply for Google for Nonprofits account
○ free domain names
○ easy migration of emails
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Prepare with onsite email server
○ change destination of emails
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Prepare with offsite email server
○ no migration necessary
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Enable LogMeIn
Email: How to Prepare
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Apply for Google for Nonprofits account
○ free domain names
○ easy migration of emails
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Prepare with onsite email server
○ change destination of emails
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Prepare with offsite email server
○ no migration necessary
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Enable LogMeIn
○ access your work computer from anywhere
Email: How to Prepare
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Apply for Google for Nonprofits account
○ free domain names
○ easy migration of emails
●
Prepare with onsite email server
○ change destination of emails
●
Prepare with offsite email server
○ no migration necessary
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Enable LogMeIn
○ access your work computer from anywhere
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Regularly backup emails
Email: During a Disaster
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Account for Everyone
○ add new users
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Effective communication
Email: During a Disaster
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Account for Everyone
○ add new users
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Effective communication
○ when no office is available
Email: During a Disaster
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Account for Everyone
○ add new users
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Effective communication
○ when no office is available
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What did New York Cares do?
○ We were able to communicate a day after Sandy ○ Allowed us to provide volunteers
Email: After a Disaster
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Switch to on site server
○ Let staff know that switch is being made
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Enable LogMeIn
Email: After a Disaster
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Switch to on site server
○ Let staff know that switch is being made
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Enable LogMeIn
○ staff may have transportation issues
○ staff can work remotely while accessing work computer
Email: After a Disaster
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Switch to on site server
○ Let staff know that switch is being made
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Enable LogMeIn
○ staff may have transportation issues
○ staff can work remotely while accessing work
computer
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What did New York Cares do?
○ began to receive 1500 emails a week ○ enabled Logmein for remote staff
Lesson Learned: Preparation Paid Off!
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Data was protected●
Website remained up●
Employees could work safely and efficiently from home●
Volunteers could sign up●
Many Hurricane Sandy victims received the timesensitive help they needed because we prepared
