Table of Contents 
2.0 Continuity of Operations Program and Critical Services
The Ministries of Community and Social Services, Children and Youth Services and the Office of Francophone Affairs have developed a Continuity of Operations Program (COOP) to ensure maintenance of the critical functions and services for which each Minister is responsible, during and after an emergency.
The COOP plans provide both a strategic and operational framework for the provision of critical services during an emergency and for full business resumption after an emergency.
The COOP plan for each of the 159 ministry business units:
- establishes the responsibilities of ministry employees for COOP and implementation;
- identifies and prioritizes critical services to be provided during an emergency;
- identifies the interdependencies required for the provision of critical services (e.g., infrastructure, people, information technology and financial resources, and internal and external service providers);
- includes an information technology business continuity component;
- establishes priorities for the resumption of ministry services and activities that are made partially or temporarily unavailable by an emergency;
- identifies the staff, equipment and other resources available to manage the emergency;
- identifies pandemic influenza planning activities;
- includes a communications strategy; and
- includes a business resumption strategy.
In developing local COOP plans, each business unit:
- conducted a Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment (HIRA) to help identify areas of potential vulnerability and examine current control measures and/or recommend control measures to mitigate against the hazards;
- undertook a Business Impact Inventory and Analysis of critical services; and
- developed Recovery Strategies for each business service (both critical and non-critical).
2.1. 2008 COOP Enhancements
The 2008 business unit COOP Plans feature a number of enhancements including requirements prescribed by the Emergency Management and Security Branch (EMSB), Ministry of Government Services (MGS). The enhancements include:
- more detailed business unit COOP plan procedures and preparations for a pandemic;
- enhanced local joint planning with other ministries and stakeholders;
- improved capability to deliver services from alternate sites;
- reports on tabletop and active exercises conducted to test business unit COOP plans;
- status reports on orientation of business unit staff on MCSS/MCYS pandemic plans and preparations;
- enhanced identification of I & IT disaster recovery plans associated with time critical services and areas requiring further development to support time critical services; and
- documented procedures and protocols where Building Committees have been established.
2.2. Time Critical Services, Dependencies and Recovery Strategies
MCSS, MCYS and OFA have identified critical services, time criticality, dependencies and overarching recovery strategies at the ministry level. Each business unit has identified additional critical/non-critical services, dependencies and recovery strategies applicable to their respective areas.
The immediate focus of the ministry-level COOP plan and business unit COOP plans is the resumption of time critical services in order of priority. For this reason, the procedures for each Program Recovery Team are outlined in terms of the hours and days after the COOP plan is activated. Some services must be continuous, such as youth custody facilities and detention facilities, and residential care for children and adults. Other services can be suspended or degraded for hours, days or even weeks without adversely affecting clients or the general public.
Detailed recovery strategies for critical services with a recovery window of 15 days are in COOP plans. Strategies are also outlined for the restoration of other services.
It should be noted that in the event of a disruption to business operations resulting from a legal strike situation, “essential services” are those negotiated by signed agreement between the employer and the bargaining agent and may vary from those services deemed critical by management in other circumstances.
2.3. Alternate Service Delivery Location (ASDL)
Ministry COOP plans include a section on identifying an alternate service delivery location to conduct delivery of critical programs and services from a location other than the primary workplace in the event of any service disruption short of a community emergency. Where applicable, a signed Memorandum of Understanding with the ASDL is in the business unit’s COOP plan.
A recovery box is secured at the Alternate Service Delivery Location. The recovery box enables the Program Recovery Team to access all necessary requirements in order to resume business at an alternate location.
2.4. Training for Emergency Management Staff
During 2008, the Emergency Management Unit (EMU) coordinated a number of meetings, teleconferences and training sessions for the Regional Emergency Managers and COOP Leads. Two-day meetings for the PMD Regional Emergency Managers took place in February and October 2008. Individual meetings with MCYS-YJS Leads were held throughout the year.
In April 2008, a special one day training session was held for all corporate office COOP leads.
Both EMU staff and Regional Emergency Managers/COOP Leads continue to take advantage of Emergency Management Ontario (EMO) and MGS sponsored training opportunities which include sessions on developing table-top-exercises, Basic Emergency Management training and the comprehensive Business Continuity Planning training course (DRI). The EMU staff, PMD/YJS Regional Emergency Managers, and some COOP Leads attended the World Conference on Disaster Management June 15-18, 2008.
The EMU established a number of working groups to address Exercises/Notification Drills, Pandemic Planning, Critical Services and I&IT Dependencies, to ensure the ministries’ COOP plans were consistent and that they incorporated the 2008 COOP requirements. PMD/YJS REMs and COOP Leads were provided with the tools developed by each of the working groups.
2.5. Critical Infrastructure
Critical infrastructure refers to the basic structural foundation for the two Ministries. It relates to assets or systems that, if disrupted or destroyed, could have a negative critical impact on the health, safety, security and economic wellbeing of citizens or adversely affect the continual delivery of critical.
2.6. Information Technology COOP Plan
The Children, Youth and Social Services I & IT Cluster has developed an Information Technology COOP Plan to ensure the continuity of information technology services and systems. It identifies mission critical and other I & IT services and outlines potential hazards that can compromise the continuity of information technology services, strategies for restoring interrupted services and methods of mitigating hazards. The plan outlines a number of strategies for ensuring that MCSS/MCYS/OFA services can be restored in defined time limits following a business interruption. The plan also outlines hazards and threats for which there are no current systems that would guarantee timely service resumption or restoration of lost data.
The CYSS Cluster continues to work with its business partners to further identify mission critical applications and additional risks and recovery strategies related to ministry-specific systems. It is also researching options for additional disaster recovery capacity.
The Youth Justice Division (YJD) coordinates information technology continuity planning in partnership with the Justice I & IT Cluster, which is responsible for disaster recovery planning for the Youth OTIS system and all other YJD applications and services.