ICPSR Crisis Communications Plan
Purpose
This document is the Crisis Communications Plan for ICPSR, as specified in the ICPSR Disaster Planning Policy Framework. It is intended to outline the scope, crisis communication role, and procedures for communicating a crisis related to ICPSR business continuity.
Scope
The plan covers internal and external crisis communications related to ICPSR business only (it does not cover ISR or University of Michigan communications). The ICPSR Crisis Communication Plan is limited to crises that impact business continuity at ICPSR while the rest of the University of Michigan campus, in general, continues to operate as usual. This distinction is necessary because for crises that impact the entire campus or a significant part of the campus, ICPSR will defer emergency communications to the University of Michigan and ISR enabling ICPSR staff to follow campus protocol. Only after the University of Michigan and ISR have determined it safe to address business continuity issues associated with specific departments or centers would the ICPSR Crisis Communications Plan be enacted, whether enacting the ICPSR plan occurs physically on campus or from offsite locations.
Emergency Communication Procedures
This plan does NOT impose procedures for initially reporting emergencies.
NOTE: In the event of an emergency, ICPSR staff should dial 911 for the purposes of dispatching the appropriate authorities/first responders (e.g., police, fire, ambulance).
Crisis Preparation
Crisis Communications Role
The Crisis Communications role is a component of the Disaster Response Team. Once the Disaster Response Team determiners the level of crisis, the crisis communications role is responsible for developing appropriate internal (staff) and external (partner/member/data user) messages to share regarding business continuity issues at ICPSR. The staff member serving in the crisis communications role will prepare a report and debrief the Director's Group and Council on any emergency communications actions and results.
Staff Contact Information
Staff telephone numbers will be on file with a vendor for the purposes of enacting telephone calls to staff with updates on the emergent situation. Staff can decline to have their telephone numbers submitted to the call vendor; however, staff are advised that it is then their sole responsibility to garner updates through other communication vehicles. Human Resources is responsible for the maintenance, update, and business relationship with the call vendor.
Crisis Communication Procedures
The primary communication methods for staff and partners/clients/data users will be the posting of the situation and updates to applications that are not hosted by ICPSR. These applications include: ICPSR's warm backup site, The ICPSR Blog, ICPSR's Facebook page, and the staff Intranet (staff only). In addition, staff who have agreed to be included in the telephone tree will be contacted by telephone, if deemed necessary. Archive/project managers will be responsible for contacting their sponsors by telephone (if operable) based upon the crisis level. Last, if email is functional, email blasts to staff will also be conducted.
Intra-organizational Communication
In the event that ICPSR deems it necessary to communicate or coordinate its emergency response or result to the university or the media, the Crisis Communications Team should contact the Director of Communications at ISR for coordination purposes. Only members of the Crisis Communications Team are to manage such external communications; other ICPSR staff should direct any questions to the Crisis Communications Team and should refrain from any direct comments to outside sources about emergent situations.
Crisis Communications Center
The center will be the same location (meeting place) identified by the Disaster Response Team.
Communications Template
Whether by telephone, email, or posts, the Crisis Communications Team shall include the following core elements in all crisis communications sent to staff or partners/members/data users:
Date/time of the update communication
Brief statement of the emergent situation
Brief statement of status and actions under way
Expected resolution date/time (if resolution is indefinite, note as such)
Date/time of next expected update
Plan Dissemination
The plan shall be disseminated via a minimum of four activities/events: 1) Included in new hire orientation, 2) Included in annual supervisor training, 3) A standing agenda item in staff meetings, and 4) Summarized in an ICPSR newsletter.
Crisis Response
After any emergency action has taken place and/or notification of a disaster/business interruption has occurred and has been assessed by the Disaster Response Team, the team will begin to assess communication needs and capabilities (based on power availability, Internet access, etc.). The team should enact the Crisis Communications Plan.
Crisis Communications Plan
The plan has two has two components:
Communication actions based upon crisis level (length) of business interruption (business interruption is defined as ICPSR's inability to deliver its product and/or support processing/interactivity with its systems)
Communications to three primary audiences based upon crisis level:
ICPSR Staff/Select ISR Staff
ICPSR Partners/Clients
ICPSR Member Institutions/Data Users
Crisis Level Definitions
There are three crisis levels:
Level One: Delivery interruption and/or inability to support processing/interactivity operations for less than two hours.
Level Two: Delivery interruption and/or inability to support processing/interactivity operations for two hours or more, but with prospect of reinstating operations within a known timeframe, for up to two days.
Level Three: Delivery interruption and/or inability to support processing/interactivity operations where reinstatement of operation is unable to be determined with any probability or is determined to be greater than two days in length.
Appendix A contains a crisis communications grid that applies these levels.
Post-Event Evaluation
The Crisis Communications Team shall solicit feedback from the three audiences as well as analyze the efficiency of the plan via a debrief with team members. The report shall include any recommendations for changes and enhancements to the plan.
Maintenance and Testing
Appendix B contains the recommendations for crisis communications that were incorporated into the Disaster Planning at ICPSR: Short-term Action Plan. The Crisis Communications Plan should be included in any emergency drills and evaluated annually by the Disaster Planning Committee. The plan will be reviewed every two years to incorporate any updates.
Resources
Key resources cited or used for the Crisis Communications Plan include:
Crisis Communications Plan: Outline, prepared by Digital Preservation Assistant, Lance Stuchell, during a summer 2008 internship and revised in developing the ICPSR Crisis Communications Plan.
Disaster Planning at ICPSR: Short-term Action Plan, March 2009
ICPSR Digital Preservation Policy Framework, June 2007 [model and source for disaster planning at ICPSR]
National Institute of Standards and Technology. Contingency Planning Guide for Federal Information Systems. NIST Special Publication 800-34 Rev. 1. Nov. 2011.
Appendix A. Crisis Communications Grid
| Who | Level One | Level Two | Level Three |
|---|---|---|---|
| ICPSR Staff/Select ISR Staff* | No formal communication made. | Staff report to work as usual; updates to crisis status are emailed, posted to a warm backup website, ICPSR Blog and Facebook accounts | Staff phone tree activated with directions on reporting to work; updates to crisis status are emailed, posted to a warm backup website, ICPSR Blog and Facebook accounts |
| ICPSR Partners/Clients | No formal communication made; however, courtesy calls by Archive Managers are strongly encouraged. | Archive phone tree dedicated to project managers with message to contact partners/clients to provide periodic updates; updates to crisis status are posted to a warm backup website, ICPSR Blog and Facebook accounts | Archive phone tree dedicated to project managers message to contact partners/clients to provide periodic updates; updates to crisis status are posted to a warm backup website, ICPSR Blog and Facebook accounts |
| ICPSR Member Institutions/Data Users | No formal communication made. | Updates to crisis status are posted to a warm backup website, ICPSR Blog and Facebook accounts; email alert sent if listserv is available | Updates to crisis status are posted to a warm backup website, ICPSR Blog and Facebook accounts; members and data users who sign up as "fans" of ICPSR on Facebook to receive periodic email updates broadcast via the Facebook application; email alert sent if listserv is available |
*Assumes The University of Michigan campus/Perry Building is safe to enter and the crisis is related to ICPSR business continuity.
Appendix B. Requirements to Enact Crisis Communications Plan
These requirements were identified in developing the communications plan and are reflected in the Disaster Planning at ICPSR: Short-term Action Plan:
Conduct two reviews of the crisis communications plan annually
Develop and maintain an ICPSR Staff Phone Tree that covers the Disaster Response Team, senior management, archive managers, and full ICPSR staff
Designate phone tree manager with responsibility to keep phone tree updated and to activate the phone tree at the request of the Disaster Response Team during an emergency
Ensure that the response to an emergency identifies individuals who are responsible for posting information to ICPSR's communication vehicles (e.g., warm backup sites, Facebook, ICPSR Blog, email listserv, as available)
Include crisis communications in ICPSR disaster preparedness drills