Office of Emergency Management
Recovery
Recovery efforts begin immediately after an emergency or disaster. These efforts involve returning and restoring Kennesaw State University to a sense of normalcy. This can include infrastructure repair, restoring utilities, clearing debris from roadways, or rehousing students. Long term recovery efforts include rebuilding, counseling, and long-term planning. Recovery also involves reviewing the actions that were taken during the response phase to see what lessons can be learned and what best practices should be adopted as the mitigation and preparedness phases begin again.
After an emergency event has occurred, Kennesaw State must have the capability to conduct critical operations during an emergency and to resume other operations rapidly and efficiently once the immediate crisis has passed. While the impact of an emergency cannot be predicted, planning for operating under such conditions can mitigate impacts on our people, our facilities, and our mission.
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Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP)
The major document that is used in recovery is the Continuity of Operations Plan, or COOP. The purpose of the COOP is to ensure continued operations of critical functions in the event of an emergency and to ensure a rapid response to any emergency situation requiring continuity plan implementation. The COOP contains administrative and academic department plans that allow them, and their respective sub-departments, to define their critical assets, personnel, and functions.
The Kennesaw State Office of Emergency Management is currently in the process of improving KSU’s COOP capabilities. The KSU COOP will be built around the departmental plans to create an overarching, university-wide approach to continuity of operations during and after an emergency.
We use a planning tool called Owl Ready. It is a cloud-based continuity planning application designed for universities and colleges, and it allows users to easily create their plans by answering a series of questions. Once complete, it can be saved, viewed online, or printed. It’s a user-friendly approach to creating COOP plans.
