When an emergency occurs, whether manmade or natural, the university’s immediate concern is for the safety of those involved. But what happens after the situation has cleared? Classes, research and day-to-day operations all must resume as quickly as possible.
That’s where Eun-Joo Ahn comes in.
As ϳԹ’s business continuity manager, Ahn works to make sure each university department will be equipped with the proper plan to resume business functions, should they be interrupted.
A year after joining ϳԹ in this new position, she has made significant strides in laying the foundation for the business continuity program. Recently, she launched to provide the basic information for all university departments to begin preparing business continuity plans.
“We’re not here to create extra work for people, but to organize their thought process, so in that crisis moment, they can say, ‘OK, we have a plan for this,’” Ahn said.
But being prepared doesn’t mean that department leaders must be overwhelmed by the worst-case scenarios. Instead, Ahn takes a methodical approach, first working with employees to create a business impact analysis.
The business impact analysis is a critical exercise where departments prioritize their main functions in terms of how they support the overall mission of the university and how long it can tolerate not being operational without adversely impacting the institution. Then, the department must determine the resources that are pertinent to continue operations—including employees, vendors, supplies, equipment, systems and applications.
With that information in hand, the department can best assess how to address the loss of any of those resources, should that happen. The business impact analysis forms the foundation for business continuity plans, where departments document procedures and operational guidelines that they will follow to resume operations. The university has recently acquired a new software tool that will aid in this process, called Kuali Ready, which is a popular continuity planning tool used by institutions of higher education. Kuali Ready is a user-friendly software designed to require minimal training before usage.
“[Departments] must take ownership of their plan,” she said, noting that her role is more facilitative in nature. “We’re here to help them think through the process, but the plan ultimately belongs to the departments.”
With these preparations, a department can respond to any situation with a plan.
In Ahn’s prior position as a business continuity manager at South Jersey Industries, a natural gas company with multiple divisions and facilities dispersed over 2,500 square miles in New Jersey, Ahn helped departments prepare for life after a disaster. For example, when Hurricane Sandy hit the east coast in 2012, departments at South Jersey Industries were ready with plans in hand (which, Ahn said, luckily were not needed).
Though she doesn’t face the “highly critical, immediate danger” situations with which a natural gas facility deals, here at ϳԹ, Ahn must contend with significantly more buildings and employees—a challenging situation Ahn said she enjoys.
“The opportunity to work at a university where I feel like innovation and forward thinking is a part of our ethos was really exciting,” she said. “Here, I find that there is much more creativity and momentum to tap into. These will help drive the process of exploring the what-ifs of business continuity planning, and define our responses to these situations.”
There’s so much more to Ahn than just her job here at ϳԹ—get to know her better with this week’s five questions.
