On April 7, 2020, CU*Answers published and announced the gap analysis report detailing the results of the spring high-availability rollover test performed from March 8th through March 15th. During the rollover event, live production for CU*BASE is redirected from systems at the primary data center in Grand Rapids, MI, to identical systems at the secondary data center located 750 miles away. Core processing operations is performed from the secondary data center for a minimum of one week, before returning to the primary site. Near real-time data replication is used to keep systems in sync 24/7 between data centers.
CU*Answers schedules and conducts live production rollovers every six months involving all online credit unions to test their capabilities to recover core processing applications promptly and effectively in the event of an unplanned disruptive incident. “The environment is constantly changing,” said Jim Lawrence, VP of Business Continuity, “internally within the data center through the vendor network and credit union branch, before reaching the member. With change comes the need to frequently test to ensure our recovery strategy will hold up when called upon.”
With every test, gaps and weaknesses are exposed and corrected. Rather than just announce each rollover event, CU*Answers has a history of sharing the gaps and corrective actions taken in the form of a report, published for each in-network credit union to review, and to the public at large, reflecting the investment and effort put into the corporate Business Continuity program.
The reports are available from the CU*Answers website, as well as details about the CU*Answers high availability program, including information and resources to assist credit unions in the design and testing of their own continuity and recovery programs.