Computer Crash Holds Key Lessons

Virginia has learned the hard way the dual lessons of understanding what their systems support and why redundancy may be a good idea.

A hardware failure in a mainframe computer that supports numerous agencies caused the system to crash June 19, affecting, according to first reports, the state's employment commission and the departments of Motor Vehicles, Social Services, Taxation and Transportation.

Just a couple of days later, the state learned just how many state operations and Virginia residents were affected by the crash, according to an article by the Richmond Times-Dispatch. The newspaper reported that:

-- at least a fifth of Virginia government agencies, including some of the largest, lost computer services;

-- state and local police couldn't check driver's licenses and vehicle registrations;

-- more than 14,000 child-support payments could be delayed;

-- consumers couldn't examine corporate records;

-- some agencies were temporarily unable to pay end-of-fiscal-year bills.

The extent of the fallout from the cash is an example of the limited scope governments have of just how integrated their systems are with other government operations. Because of that, the crash also showed Virginia's IT managers just how important redundancy is for major systems. Marcella Williamson, who works in the Virginia Information Technologies Agency, told the Times-Dispatch: "We're going to install some redundant hardware to prevent this from happening again."

But the system was supposed to have redundancy built in. Obviously, it didn't work.

Could there be some lessons here for federal agencies now facing the recently issued Homeland Security Policy Directive 20, which requires agencies to develop a continuity of operations plan?