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Global Disaster Recovery Site
Delivering accurate and reliable data on a daily basis is key to our long term success as TAM data suppliers. The impact of data loss and the inability to continue the data production process for an extended period of time may be enough for us to jeopardize our credibility in a market. The Global Disaster Recovery Site (GDRS) has been implemented to reduce the potential of losing any critical data to a minimum.
The primary objective of the GDRS is to ensure business continuity for all AGB Nielsen Media Research operating countries, in case of any event of 'force majeur'. This is achieved by effectively re-establishing the critical operations remotely within the shortest possible time and with the minimal loss of data.
The GDRS service provides each operating company with the security of knowing that there is a complete back up of their systems outside their country. Furthermore ensuring that data production including polling can be carried out immediately from remote if a localized problem occurs that doesn't allow for 'business as normal'.
The System:
The core of the GDRS system is the daily procedure of transferring the local operating country's most recent databases and configuration files to the Corporate Support Centre, based in Switzerland. This information together with all historical data is then backed up in a unique and secure place.
This data transfer is an automated daily procedure. In order to ensure information confidentiality, the operating countries are required to encrypt the overnight data files that they send to the GDRS centre. All transfers of data between the operating countries and the GDRS centre are done using secure internet connections. Within the GDRS Centre, only the Global DRS manager can access any of the data stored on the local operating country's DRS server.
How it Works:
Given that the main objective of the GDRS is that of ensuring that each company can within the shortest possible time (max 24 hrs) continue its regular tasks of polling, data production and delivery, together with daily panel management tasks, it might be useful to look at how the process works.
Should it not be possible for the local operating country to begin its daily polling procedure, this process will be carried out from the GDRS centre; whereby the respective country's international DRS polling script is initiated, based on the most recently saved database and configuration folders that the local operating countries have transferred to the GDRS.
If the difficulty relates only to a problem with the local operating company's phone lines or modem system, once the panel households have been polled, the data is transferred back to the local company office where the production process resumes as normal.
However should the problem be more complex, it is possible for the staff of the local operating country to continue carrying out their normal overnight data production and panel management tasks, using the data polled by the GDRS.
This is done by connecting to the local company's unique Production Server situated in the GDRS site. All that is required is an internet connection and a browser, obviously the better the internet connection the more efficient the performance but even with an analogue modem it is possible to continue working. This set up ensures that the Daily data production can continue as normal, but with staff working from home, out of dedicated rented offices or any other place where there is an internet connection.
This continuation of the TAM data process is possible due to the fact that in the GDRS site, the local company's Production Server is always 'online' and by utilising the 'remote desktop' application, a seamless connection can be made to the respective country's remote DRS server.
Through the GDRS service, AGB Nielsen Media Research can ensure that even over an extended period of time (eg. the time required to establish new offices in the event of a fire or flood) the daily production process can continue and the local operating company is able to guarantee their clients a continuation of the regular TAM service.