Elements of Systems Modernization for the Social Security Administration (1991) / Chapter Skim
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Appendix B: Letter Report to Gwendolyn S. King
Appendix B: Letter Report to Gwendolyn S. King
Pages 73-80
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From page 73... ...
King Commissioner Social Security Administration Department of Health and Human Services 6401 Secunty Boulevard Baltimore, Maryland 21235 Dear Commissioner King: The Department of Health and Human Services has asked the National Research Council to conduct a two-phase review of the Social Security Adm~n~stration's (SSA) information systems modernization and agency strategic plans.
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From page 74... ...
Critical Functions The Social Security Administration should limit its disaster recovery strategy to a chosen set of critical functions rather than planning to back up ad of its processing functions, because fuR backup is impractical SSA managers have based SSA's disaster recovery plans on the assumption that it will continue to perform virtually all: of its functions, albeit more slowly. The SSA's Disaster Recovery Plan - NCC Critical Operations (undated)
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From page 75... ...
Via this memorandum, SSA decided that it would continue to pronde for backup and recovery using a contractor-fu~shed hot site in lieu of SSA-owned facilities. Interestingly, this decision stipulated that the SSA's selected backup strategy would provide for niinimum processing capacitor rather than a full-capaci~ backup.
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From page 76... ...
It may even accelerate the buildup of the deferred processing backlog. Strategic Goals for Disaster Recovery The Social Security Acimin~stration should explicitly identify the goals and objectives that its disaster recovery plarl must satisfy, because this will facilitate systematic and defensible planning.
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From page 77... ...
Before reaching consensus on a favored alternative that the agency should adopt for improved disaster recovery, we considered the following major options: Commercial Hot Site The first and most pressing concern that must be addressed is what the SSA will do immediately following a disaster. In the hot site alternative, SSA must plan to ',bridge" the initial period following a loss of the NCC: until a more suitable facility can be acquired or the NCC restored.
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From page 78... ...
Furthermore, we have concerns regarding operational, management and control, and cost issues associated with such a strategy, which are not the subject of this letter report but we be addressed in our phase 2 report. Planning Approach The Social Security Administration should systematize its planning approach as suggested below to provide a sound basis and justification for Recision Our role was necessarily limited to monitoring and reviewing new developments and ideas' interacting with SSA's analysts and managers, and helping to facilitate a direction and focus to SSA's disaster recovery planning.
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From page 79... ...
This will establish periodic of computer runs and the time frame for reestablishing operations. This is also related to the workload volumes for the critical functions that wall be encountered following a disaster, that is, how fast a backlog is likely to accumulate and how large it can get before recovery itself is jeopardized.
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From page 80... ...
The second site approach is more costly than the present commercial hot site, but the commercial hot site costs will increase when the essential communications are added. We believe that the costs of a second site are not prohibitive, especially when considering the effect of payment errors on the trust fund.
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