__________________________________________________ Chapter 10 ACCEPTABLE DATA AVAILABILITY __________________________________________________ Data must be readily available yet adequately protected. Acceptable data availability is important if an organization is to conduct its business in an effective and efficient manner. However, the data can be too readily available, and allow unauthorized access and changes that could impact the business. The data could also be so protected that they are not readily available to support the business. The right level of availability needs to be established. The second cultural component of the Data Resource Management Framework is acceptable data availability. Developing a comparate data resource that meets the business information demand requires that an acceptable level of data availability be established. Chapter 10 explains the reasons for an unacceptable level of data availability, then presents the concepts, principles, and techniques for acceptable data availability. UNACCEPTABLE DATA AVAILABILITY Data availability is the process of ensuring that the data are available to meet the business information demand, while properly protecting and securing those data. The data must be readily available to support business activities, but they must be protected to ensure proper access and recoverability in the event of a natural or human caused disaster. Data availability includes both the business data and the data resource data. The data resource data, as explained earlier, are a segment of the data resource and are managed the same as any other data. As such, 381