Depending on your situation, you may be relying on borrowed, donated, and free equipment and services. You’re probably wondering how to start. Here are the most important things to think about as you rush to get services restored and functional using this equipment.
Working on your Business Impact Analysis (see the Triage chapter) as soon as you practically can is still a priority. You’ll need it to move out of crisis mode. In the meantime, you may have found generous donors who have lent or given you equipment to help you through the immediate future. If you are fortunate enough to have been offered help – accept it! And while you’re doing so, be aware of the following points so you can avoid some of the common pitfalls of using technology tools that have not been prepared specifically for you.
BORROWED TECHNOLOGY
If you’re using another organization’s computer, or one loaned to you by a friend, you probably can’t wipe the machine and set up a fresh account. But you still need to safeguard your organization’s data from loss and corruption, as well as accidental disclosure once you return to a more stable environment, while respecting the constraints imposed by the equipment’s owners.
+ Set expectations with the lender
Make sure you and the lender understand what’s acceptable and who carries responsibility if anything goes wrong. If there are known issues with the equipment, you need to know about them before deciding if it’s suitable for your organization. A written agreement will help make sure you know where you stand if things don’t work out. If the equipment is particularly valuable, you might want to have a formal contract.
+ Set up a separate account
This helps separate your information from the machine’s owner. It makes it easy for you to see what’s yours, stops you from accidentally deleting the owner’s data, and lets you adapt your environment without affecting theirs.
All recent versions of Windows, Macintosh, and Linux allow for the creation of additional user accounts. For Windows, look under the User Accounts or a Users and Passwords section of Control Panel. For the Macintosh, look under the Accounts system preferences pane.
+ Get a firewall and virus protection in place
See Appendix C for suggested security products.
+ Transfer to new equipment properly and promptly
- Back up all of your data from the borrowed equipment.
- Move your backups over to your new equipment.
- Check to assure that everything is working well. Ideally, arrange for an overlap period of a month when you use your new equipment, but still have access to the old if you find out something isn’t working well.
- Once you're sure everything has been successfully moved to your new equipment, delete all of your data and the accounts you were using from the old machines. If possible, reformat the borrowed machines (this will destroy all of the data in the owner’s accounts as well).
DONATED TECHNOLOGY
If you’re using donated computers and equipment, this equipment is not likely to be in the same condition as the equipment you are used to working with, so functions and features you may rely upon may not be available to you. Go slowly at first, making sure that the software and hardware you are using will be adequate for the task at hand. Trying to shoehorn a project or application into an ill-fitting computer system can result in significant wasted effort and time. If you are unfamiliar with the systems you’re using, keep things as simple as possible until you learn how to effectively use the tools you have at your disposal.
As soon as you’re able, reformat the hard drive and reinstall the operating system and your software.
USING FREE SERVICES
A lot of companies are offering free use of their online products to organizations affected by Hurricane Katrina. If you’ve lost everything, these might be just what you need to get back on your feet. But entrusting your information to an unknown system could also be a costly mistake that will hurt your organization in a few months time.
Make sure:
+ To KEEP IT SIMPLE. Don’t try to implement new ways of doing business that you’re not familiar with, unless this is absolutely necessary. Consider keeping important information in simple spreadsheets, or even in paper folders, and re-entering it into your data systems once they are up and running
+ It takes less time to learn a new system than to recover your old one.
+ You can download any data you’ve entered (for free!) in an acceptable format when you’re ready to move back to your old system (or on to a new one)
+ The discounted or free services you're using are going to be available, at an acceptable cost, long enough for youto transition to something permanent. (After all, you don’t want to be scrambling again in three months). If the offer doesn’t state a time limit, investigate further.
See Appendix C for a list of free or inexpensive online services for nonprofits.