Establishing IT Service Continuity, transition and automation

for a leading financial institution in Dubai

Client challenges

“ Enabling Effective
IT Service
Continuity process
by automating and
The client was facing the multiple challenges related to IT
service continuity. Post discussion with ProVise, client decided
to initiate an IT service continuity project to overcome the
following challenges.
 Identifying IT critical services and its infrastructure
requirement for service continuity
rationalization of  Rationalizing RTO / RPO values and communicating to business

”
on MTD
RTO / RPO  Evolving strategy for identifying alternate site and plan testing
 Testing IT services in alternate site and operationalization
 Automation of switch over to alternate site

Scope of work

The IT senior management of the bank took the advise of the ProVise to initiate an IT disaster recovery project.
The client already have an IT service management system working, ProVise advised the client to look at
continuity from a service point of view. Client was convinced and awarded the project to ProVise. The brief
overview of the scope of work is establishing IT service continuity process for IT critical systems, develop and
maintain IT service continuity plan and procedures. Develop test plans, switch over procedures and testing
Key Achievements:
ProVise Approach  Successfully implemented
and transitioned the
service continuity plan to
We followed the approach of Thought Leadership to Benefit Realization in alternate site
order to establish a self sustaining and continually improving IT service  Developed organization
continuity framework meeting the following objectives: specific switch over plans
including run book for
 Conducted Business Impact Analysis / Risk Assessment;
effectiveness
 Formulated Service Continuity Strategy and Plan;  Successful completion
 DR plan includes procedures including Run Book; switch over and switch
 Co implemented Service Continuity Strategy and Plan; back of critical IT services
 Engaged with IT resources and developed scripts for switch over and  Successful completion of
automation and
back; rationalization of RTO
 Developed scenarios for switch over testing and on job training ;
 Automation of Switch over / back testing carried out existing BPA tool;
 Continuous improvement by measuring success of service continuity by KPI’s

Value Delivered

ProVise delivered the following value to the client:

 Management Feedback: Provided management with an evaluation of the IT services preparedness in the
event of a process disruption. Provided management with an independent assessment relating to the
effectiveness of the IT continuity plan and its alignment with the business continuity plan and IT security policy
 Ownership and Accountability: We shared the ownership and end to end accountability to drive every
stakeholder and ensure service continuity for IT services tested in record time.
 Time constraints and dependencies: In order to achieve compliance with Central Bank regulations,
Coordinated with multiple vendors, defined the timelines and milestones very clearly along with roles and
responsibilities.
 Communication: Our team established a well defined communication plan with the client team as the number
of stakeholders involved was high. Roles and responsibility of the team was well communicated to each
stakeholder involved.