Preparing For The Worst

Contingency plans offer quick fixes for system failures

By Staff -- HOTELS Magazine, 6/1/1999

Even the best-laid plans may crumble when the clock strikes

midnight at the turn of the millennium. While it's a scenario

no one wishes for, the possibility of chaos is something

every systems operator must carefully consider.

Problems could come in a variety of

forms, so the best contingency plans, the answers to those "what if?" questions,

address all of the specifics for handling system failures.

And they go beyond solutions for specific fiascoes to

address the bigger picture-how an organization responds

to unforeseen circumstances. Here, in part one of a two-part

series, we discuss the first, component-based aspects

of contingency planning.

Operators must master their systems, learning what failures

are probable and considering any that are possible. They

must understand how to react to each type of error, whether

it affects an accounting system, an alarm clock or an elevator.

The reaction plan must clearly indicate what types of workarounds

are available for floundering devices and who is responsible

for instituting those emergency measures.

"This is pretty straightforward stuff if a hotel has

instituted all of the other steps correctly," says

Y2K expert Jeff Randolph, senior manager, real estate

and hospitality consulting practice, KPMG, New York. Hotels

have the foundations for contingency plans already laid

if the program office fulfilled its mission of doing

an inventory of systems with potential problems, testing

systems, assuring vendor due diligence, remedying problems,

and re-testing. The directors of Y2K read where potential

problems lay, so addressing them is a direct process.

Templates For failure

System operators should first develop a template documenting

all aspects of each system with a propensity for Y2K problems.

Every type of failure a system can experience should be

charted, including all errors and their root causes. Any

given system can suffer from a vast array of failures, and

any one of these problems could crop up on the eve of the

new millennium. Anyone interacting with the system at the

turn of the century should be able to view a system template

that identifies output and reveals its cause.

An error message on a system, after all, does not necessarily

indicate a Y2K failure. Operators must create documentation

that will enable users to determine whether a problem is

the result of a Y2K shutdown or a basic error a system could

experience on any given day.

With an elevator, for instance, a common breakage could

be responsible for a fire code appearing on a report panel,

needlessly sounding alarms. A Y2K error, on the other hand,

might result in a surge of countless hazard messages appearing

on the elevator system's report panel.

The common breakage may have a quick fix, one that the

property has handled before. The Y2K problem requires an

altogether different sort of treatment. To keep a hotel

functioning smoothly, the staff first needs to be able to

determine whether problems are Y2K-related. The best contingency

plans help staff solve problems even if they aren't Y2K-resultant.

Offering Alternatives

Contingency plans must offer alternatives

for those systems which have clearly entered Y2K distress.

Any plan relying on vendor support is tenuous at best. "Vendors will

help out, but they will be really busy," Randolph says. "Think

out beforehand what you're going to do, so you're not

on permanent hold with them."

Randolph recommends finding ways to work around the problem.

If an elevator system is shut down with error messages and

refuses to function properly, a contingency plan's worst-case

scenario might call for posting an employee in the elevator

with a fireman's key, shuttling guests from floor to floor

with Y2K crisis-inspired, personal service.

Whatever action the contingency plan recommends, instructions

should give a response timeline, detailing when steps should

be taken. It should clearly identify the individual responsible

for setting contingency plans in motion. And the plan must

address the possibility that it may not offer all of the

answers.

In next month's Y2K Solutions, we'll discuss the ultimate

contingency plan: how to proceed if everything, even the

contingency plan itself, falls apart.