Activation and Recovery

Roles and Responsibilities

RACI Matrix

The University has developed a RACI (Responsible / Accountable / Consulted / Informed) matrix for key entities/functions that will be involved in the DR efforts from the University and high-level activities to be performed by them.

RACI Matrix as follows:


(Click to enlarge the RACI matrix)

Key Entities and Activities

The following table outlines the high-level activities to be performed by the key entities during an IT disaster recovery process:

View Key Entities and Activities

Key Entities

Key Activities

IT Operations Service Desk

  • Responsible for identifying, logging and initial triage of incident
  • Responsible for notifying the leadership including CIO of a major disruption in IT systems, applications and infrastructure
  • Responsible for escalating the IT DR incident to the relevant resolver group (Infrastructure Team for IT related incidents) in a timely manner per SLA
  • Providing update on open incidents to the end users and all relevant parties involved
  • Managing IT disaster incident closure, documenting closure notes, and informing the relevant parties of the resolution

Chief Information Officer

  • Responsible for activating Disaster Recovery Plan
  • Overall management of the DR effort
  • Act as primary point of contact with relevant Executive Owners and Vice-Chancellor / Deputy Vice-Chancellor
  • Approve major activities for IT recovery
  • Provide expertise, guidance, and direction to the Infrastructure Team

Infrastructure Team

  • Primary responsibility for recovery IT systems, applications and infrastructure impacted by the disaster
  • Take technical direction from the senior Infrastructure personnel and execute IT activities
  • Identify the need and manage the communication with system vendor
  • Documenting resolution steps and lessons learned during the DR effort in consultation with the Operations Service Desk

Other Resolver Groups (BST, CSAT)

  • Assist in the recovery effort as required by the Infrastructure team
  • Provide update on the tasks assigned to the Infrastructure team

System Vendor

  • Responsible for the recovery of the vendor managed system as per the contractual agreement with The University
  • Provide support / assistance in the recovery of the vendor managed system as per the contractual agreement with The University
  • Participate in post incident investigation and documentation as required
  • Communicate with the Infrastructure team throughout the DR effort

Public Relations

  • Manage communication with media and other parties external to The University in conjunction with HR and executive leadership

Chief Information Officer / Executive Owners

  • Manage communication with Staff and Students as required
  • Coordinate IT DRP requirements and recovery processes

Activation of the IT Disaster Recovery Plan

  1. The University will activate this IT DRP in response to a critical incident resulting in an actual or potential disruption to critical University systems.
  2. The main IT DRP activation process will include:
    1. In the event of a Critical Incident, the Vice-Chancellor, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Finance, or the relevant Head of Campus will convene a Critical Incident Management Team (“CIMT”) headed by a CIMT Coordinator
    2. The CIMT will assume responsibility for managing and directing the incident. This may include liaising with Emergency Services, coordinating evacuations, notifying staff or student emergency contacts, and managing internal and external communications
    3. The IT DRP is activated by the Chief Information Officer to manage the IT DR incident that has reduced or eliminated the IT service team’s capacity to support The University’s IT systems, application and infrastructure.
    4. The BCP is then activated should the Vice-Chancellor or Deputy Vice-Chancellor deem the incident to be Gold level.

Refer to the Critical Incident Management Procedures for the detailed process to follow in the event of a Critical Incident and the responsibilities of Critical Incident Management Team (CIMT) and CIMT Coordinator.

High Level IT Disaster Recovery Sequence

Below is a high-level IT disaster recovery sequence diagram that represents the relationship between key entities / functions at the University that are responsible for the recovery of the IT systems, applications and infrastructure.


(Click to enlarge recovery sequence)