SWOT Analysis Management Theory and Practice

Question: Discuss about the SWOT Analysis for Management Theory and Practice. Answer: Introduction: The approaches of Marilyn Moor, the chief information officer(CIO) and Paul Robinson, director of pharmacy are based on the needs of their own department. Marilyn has to take solution considering the organizational needs that is more suitable for the entire organization on the functional and cost perspective aspect whereas Robinson has to meet the needs of his own department (pharmacy) as well as staff nurses that are needed for the performance of entire organization. When the solution of Marilyn is considered, it provides an elaborate automation that could be carried out organization-wise. This solution is cost justified and completely verified. It gives answer to all the concerns of organizational domain integration based on SWOT analysis which is most needed for an organization before implementing any new project (Pestle, 2014). It gives required time for stabilizing the earlier implantation strategies to become completely functional and so it becomes the cost justified method that is capable of increasing revenues of the organization which might be needed for the future implementation. This solution has analyzed the impact and futurity of decision (Gupta, 2006). It also emphasize on a long term planning approach which is necessary for welfare of the patient. The demerits of this solution are the increased period of time needed for planning, purchasing and implementing the solution. It is difficult to get organizational acceptance to implement it. As far as Robinsons approach is concerned, it is appreciated and accepted by the pharmacist and staff nurses and gains their support completely. It also provides the solution at the earliest that might have apparent positive effect on the total patient care which is the primary concern of LMH. But it requires half of budget of the organization that is allocated for the most needed hospital functional operations and patient care, which may endanger the growth of the hospital operations. The implementation of the smart-IV pumps will meet only the requirements of pharmacist and staff nurses but not other staffs. It has not considered the direct and indirect expenses (Tomey, 2004). The automation process involved in the integration of the new system into the EMR may be complicated and more time consuming. It may create a culture in organizations vision making departmental needs as most important. By analyzing the merits and demerits of both approaches, the approach by Marilyn seems to be appropriate as it gives the long-term and more stable solution. It is in accordance with the goals and vision of organization too. It is wholly cost justified and assures a permanent approach that is necessary for patients care. On the other hand, the pharmacist and staff nurses were able to perform nicely with older methods. Based on the given scenario, at first the mediator (leader) should read and understand the organizational goals (Prasad, 2009). The mediator should consider the strategic planof an organization before implementing any departmental or organizational innovations.Both the approaches should be evaluated todetermine their value to the hospital organization and patients.The approach that could be easy for purchasing, installing and integrating should be selected. It is better to have many rounds of discussion with both the groups before implementing. During discussion, a mediator should be thorough about the merits and demerits of both approaches. The main function of a mediator is to perform the cost analysis for both the approaches. Basically a mediator should be impartial and neutral to both groups and should exert an assertive way of communication (Tomey, 2004). The solution should be presented in such a way that it is accepted by both the groups. The mediator should perform budget (financial) and statistical analysis that involves the calculation of the cost implications that is involved in projecting the expected outcomes of both approaches. A leader (mediator) should make conscious and purposive creation by coordinating with other departments (Prasad, 2009, Potter, 2004). The mediator should assess the available resources including time, man power, etc for implementing (Tomey, 2004). He/ She should view the organizational risks and benefits of implementing these solutions and its impact on the organizational development. It is the mediators responsibility to promote the discussions on both the approaches to long term approach rather than short term approach. He/ she should help these groups to perform SWOT analysis before projecting their approaches (Pestle, 2014). All the approaches will have both merits and demerits yet the approach with limited demerits that is not affecting the complete function of the hospital organization should be preferred. The aim of mediator should be giving total patient care with all means but the budget of the hospital should be considered and should provide quality care within this limit. These methods should be practiced before implementing LMH. The mediator should also make the discussion groups to focus on the difficulties experienced while using EMR system and discuss the time needed for stabilizing LMH. At the end the main role of mediator is to make both the groups to understand the merits and demerits of their solution. Reference Gupta, C. B. (2006). Management theory and practice. Sultan Chand Sons: New Delhi Pestle analysis. (2014). The SWOT Analysis: Defining your Organization Needs. Retrieved from https://pestleanalysis.com/swot-analysis-definition/ Potter Perry. (2004). Potter and Perrys Fundamentals of Nursing. St. Louis, Missouri: Elsevier Prasad, L.M. (2009). Principles and Practice of Management. Sultan Chand Sons: New Delhi Tomey, A. M. (2004). Guide to nursing management and leadership. Mosby: Elsevier. Wager, K Lee, F. (2013). Health care information systems: A practical approach for health care management. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

The Burberry Company Marketing Report

Executive Summary The Burberry brand is an icon in the British fashion industry. But in for many decaes it is a company that no longer mattered when it comes to the new generation of consumers. Their problems were exacerbated by the over-licensing of their brand, global recession that severely affected the fashion industry and the work of counterfeiters.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on The Burberry Company Marketing specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More However, their most seriously challenge was their inability to correctly apply marketing tools. But when they decided to hire experienced business leaders who knew how to deal with the new economy and the new generation of shoppers they were able to turn things around. Some of the most effective steps taken were the segmentation of the market, marketing mix, and utilisation of digital commerce. But the firm cannot rest on its laurels. They still need to improve their market mix and the way their segmentation of the market. There is also a need to look into their use of digital technology to ensure that the hype they created actually translated into sales. The bottom-line is still the true measure of success. Introduction The global luxury goods market is multi-billion industry. This is comprised of apparel and other accessories. The Burberry firm is taking a significant slice of this market but this is not the only type of business that it is into. The Burberry brand is also a significant player in the fashion industry. In the United Kingdom alone the fashion industry is already worth  £20 billion. However, the recent recession has negatively affected the global luxury goods market as well as the fashion industry. This is not the only problem that the company is facing it is also trying to solve the challenge of stiff competition from other producers of high-end apparel. There is also the problem with counterfeiters. The struggles of the Burbe rry brand cannot only be blamed on the recession and counterfeiters. There are also issues with regards to how they had marketed their products and developed their image in the past 150 years of existence. They had problems when it comes the over-licensing of their name and their failure to evolve and adapt to changing times. But in recent years the world has seen a major comeback from Burberry. The secrets of its success will be detailed in this report. It has something to do with their knowledge and application of marketing principles. This includes market segmentation, positioning, marketing mix, and digital commerce.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Findings Background Information Burberry is a company that was established in 1856 in the United Kingdom but today boasts of sales outlets as far as the United States and Japan. It became an iconic brand in the 20th century b ecause it was popularised by celebrities and foreigners who were enamoured with a no nonsense British style as well as the Burberry check that has become instantly recognisable all over the world. But in recent years the brand had fallen on hard times due to intense competition, negative effect of counterfeits goods and the mismanagement of the licenses that were given out to business partners. Today, the Burberry brand is on the rebound thanks to perceptive business leaders that were brought in to fix the problems that ail the company. The following is a more detailed view of what occurred in the past and the changes that were made to make Burberry relevant even after 150 years of existence. The Environmental Factors that Affected the Marketing of Burberry Environmental factors played a major part in the transformation of Burberry from a fledgling company into a global brand. But before going any further it is important to point out what it means. According to experts, environmenta l factors comprise the marketing environment and it is â€Å"the range of external and internal factors that affect the way in which an organisation interacts with its markets.†[1] Another way to look at a company’s marketing environment is to see the actors and forces that affects its ability to develop and maintain successful transactions with regards to its target market.[2] Burberry’s marketing environment consists of a macro-environment and a micro-environment. Macro-Environmental Analysis A company’s macro-environment is composed of all the complex and uncontrollable variables that when taken together forms a framework within which it is able to conduct business.[3] This includes government regulations, current events that indirectly or indirectly affected the operations of the company and a host of other issues that are mostly beyond the grasp of the corporate leaders of Burberry.[4] One aspect of this firm’s macro-environment is the fact th at it operates within a global luxury market. In recent years Burberry’s macro-environment is greatly affected by the recession. It has been reported that the global luxury market declined by around nine percent. This is a direct result of the economic downturn that forced many customers to develop austerity measures and as many are aware, in the event of cost-cutting measures, the first thing that consumers can live without are luxury goods. Since Burberry is not the only company that sells premium products the recession has created intense competition among the players in the luxury global market.[5] This is an environmental factor that Burberry has limited or zero control and the best way that the company can do is to adapt to the changes that occurs externally.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on The Burberry Company Marketing specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Finally, the firm was greatly affected by the proliferation of counterfeit products. According to company representatives the actions of counterfeiters is damaging to the reputation of the company and will erode confidence in the Burberry brand in the long run. This is because a customer will buy an item that they believe is an authentic product coming from authorised dealers of Burberry products and will later experience problems commonly associated with shoddy manufacturing practices. As a result they will no longer trust the Burberry brand. Even if this happens all over the world this is an example of a macro-environmental factor that the company has some control and they deal with it by partnering with other firms that sell luxury goods to prevent counterfeiting. They also partner with government agencies in countries where counterfeiters are doing brisk business. Not all of the macro-environment factors that directly affected Burberry was necessarily bad for the firm. The weak pound was beneficial to a struggling firm whe n consumers suddenly discovered that Burberry products are priced competitively as opposed to other luxury brands. A major consequence of that is the influx of overseas visitors to the United Kingdom because these shoppers can see that the products are priced cheaper. This was made possible by the fact that the firm continuous to create products that are classic in design and therefore these items can still be used for a very long time and added to the benefit of buying the Burberry brand. Micro-Environmental Analysis The firm’s micro-environment on the other hand is composed of all the variables that are closer to the firm and to some extent it can be controlled.[6] One example is the decision to create different product lines to cater to different segments of the luxury goods market. Another example is the target market that the firm chooses to serve and the kind of distribution system that they will utilise to increase the efficiency and lower overhead costs. Another aspec t of the micro-environment is the way the company developed its image. It came to a point when British and American consumers saw Burberry as an Asian brand therefore lowering its perceived value in the eyes of these consumers. They also saw the firm as nothing more than a raincoat company. The apparel produced by the company became widely accessible even to average consumers that the clientà ¨le belonging to the upper middle-class bracket began to look at Burberry with a certain level of disdain. If that was not enough mismanagement of the company’s resources and neglect in terms of taking care of the image of the company led to over-licensing and soon the iconic check brand began to flood the market. People began seeing the Burberry brand stamped on many products from court shoes to baby buggies. Since these are part of the micro-environmental factors that are affecting the firm, the company has relative control over it. This means that they can do something to minimise th e negative impact to their business.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The company was able to hit two birds with one stone when it pulled back and became more conservative when it comes to giving licenses to business partners. As a result the market is no longer flooded with Burberry products. It suddenly became a premium brand once again in the eyes of the customers both the new and the old. By dealing with the licensing problems the company was also able to focus more on developing their products. This proved to be beneficial when the firm decided to segment the market and focused on their target market. Criteria and Segmentation Methods Used Segmentation is the deliberate process of not looking at the market as a whole but breaking it down into groups of people that share similar needs, characteristics and aspirations.[7] It also means knowing the target market well in order to give them what they want or may want in the future.[8] This means that a firm utilising this strategy is not overly concern with mass marketing and trying to get their produ cts into the hands of as many people as they can. It is now clear that consumers have a wide array of products to choose from and they will definitely buy something that fits their needs and not some generic product created for everyone. The segmentation method that was adapted by Burberry was to look at their traditional source of revenue and the type of customers that were loyal to the brand. They were able to determine that the Burberry brand was known for its iconic check but at the same time limited its appeal to customers who belonged to a bygone era of waterproofed raincoats and love for everything that is British. They realised that they need to change and transform its image if it wants to penetrate other markets especially those outside Europe and the emerging markets that can be found in booming China, India, and Russia. Segmentation Strategy Over Time In the case of Burberry the segmentation evolved through time. Not a long time ago Burberry focused on producing a luxury ready-to-wear and accessories line that will serve consumers within UK. After a major success of repeatedly doing the same thing, the company began to realize that it made money from foreigners coming in as tourists and attracted to the the cultural aspect of the brand and buying some as some form of a souvenir. But that was all that there is into their segmentation process. However, in the late 20th century up until the early part of the 21st century the urgency to create segmentations in the market could no longer be denied. As a consequence there is now a product and brand hierarchy. In the past there was nothing similar to this strategy but today one can find that there is such a thing as a Burberry Prorsum, Burberry London, and the Burberry Brit.[9] The Burberry Prorsum is the high-end of all three. It is the byproduct of the fashion shows held annually and created for the purpose of providing fashion forward items that were on display in the catwalk to paying customers who ar e eager to have a piece of the collection. The image of this brand was enhanced when it was made known that celebrities like Victoria Beckham, Liv Tyler and Gwyneth Paltrow were some of the clients that pay good money to acquire products under the Prorsum line.[10] The second tier is labelled as Burberry London and it is comprised of apparel that are priced in the mid-range and in addition these are designed to be used in week day or work wear. Obviously this is more affordable than the Prorsum line but it caters to people that wanted quality but less expensive clothing that can be used in the offices or in their businesses. It has to be smart and yet at the same time with enough substance and style to capture a particular segment of the market, specifically the professionals who needed a work wear that is of high-quality and yet more affordable than those found in the Prorsum product range. According to Burberry the Burberry London product line is composed of the more tailored prod ucts and at the same time uses beat check and tonal check branding strategies.[11] The segmentation of the market also prompted the firm to delineate the biggest apparel segment and thus giving rise to Burberry Brit which is a product range that caters to those looking for more casual wear. In the case of the Brit the company decided to be more innovative and thus created a more contemporary version of the core iconic check of the said brand.[12] The main reason for creating these changes is to target a segment of the market and a company spokesman said that their goal was to attract a new group of luxury consumers that are new to the brand and yet at the same time maintaining their connection to the old way of doing things and this means using the iconic check. Another consequence of segmentation is to develop new markets outside the UK and even outside Europe. Thus, in 2010 European sales accounted for 44% of sales while the Americas accounted for 27% and Asia Pacific follows with 24% in sales.[13] In addition emerging markets added to the revenue by pumping in 10% this includes sales coming from China, India, Russia, Eastern Europe and the Middle East.[14] Marketing Mix Variables A company controls four important elements of marketing and these are: product, price, distribution and promotion.[15] If the firm is able to combine all four together to create a potent market mix then it will result in a matrix that will enable the company to reach a particular target market.[16] In other words consumers are not going to buy a particular product simply because of its quality but as a result of a well-crafted market mix. Surely the quality of a particular product figures highly in the decision-making process, however, that is not the only consideration or the only factor that will make a consumer decide to buy a particular brand. The corporate leaders at Burberry realised that it is not enough to produce a high-quality product like the Burberry check there is a ne ed to determine the correct price and the proper way to market it so that the people who can afford will go out of their way to buy their products. Aside from that the Burberry brand also made the decision that it is now time recreate the firm so that it will not only be known as a producer of trench coats and apparel linked to British culture. Thus, they began to focus more on their segmented markets and as a result of that came up with different products such as men, women, and children’s wear. They also sell shoes, perfumes, and accessories like handbags, leather goods, and scarves.[17] Rationale of Marketing Mix Variables The purpose of creating this marketing mix is to increase revenue by tapping into markets that was not possible with the old set-up. By being creative when it comes to product offerings, pricing, marketing and even the logistics behind the distribution of the said products can easily increase Burberry’s slice into the luxury goods market. Their de cision to change their marketing mix yielded results in 2010 based on the number of global retail stores. They had 139 retail stores located all over the globe as well as 140 concessions, 44 outlets and 97 franchise stores.[18] The company scored big when it made the decision to modify the way they sell their products. Instead of relying on traditional direct retail stores they now added digital commerce by selling items online. They also created a system wherein they can sell wholesale to prestigious department stores such as Harrods and Selfridges. At the same time the market mix is made more interesting by licensing deals that allow other companies to tap into the Burberry brand when manufacturing and selling products such as perfume, eyewear and watches. The company makes money in a different way and this is done through royalty income coming from licensing channels such as firms that are located in Europe, North America, and Asia. The best example of applying the principles of creating a marketing mix can be seen in the firm’s decision to develop the Burberry Brit. In this product range the company made available more affordable and at the same time sporty apparel. In 2009 the company started selling jeans and casual wear. However, there is still no mistaking the fact that these products came from Burberry because one can expect quilted jackets and over-sized wool duffel coats for women and for men there are chinos and cotton tees.[19] Digital Marketing Tools One component of e-commerce is the use of computer software and hardware to deliver â€Å"advertising content† to consumers. Traditionally, the job of advertisers centered on the use of TV and radio ads. The problem with the old method is cost-efficiency. Companies can spend a lot of money for TV ads, without realizing that consumers can easily change channels or go to the bathroom during commercial breaks. The use of technology in marketing will eliminate this wastage because â€Å"ad vertising content† can be delivered where consumers are sure to focus on the message. Advantages of Digital Marketing Tools In a global business environment competition is intense. The only way to survive is to ensure that the Burberry is always one step ahead of its competitors and in order for the firm to do that it has to develop a quick and effective decision-making process.[20] There is only one way to achieve that and it is to have access to all the pertinent information regarding sales forecast, market conditions, sales, production data and other information that is required by business leaders most especially the CEO to make crucial decisions.[21] Burberry quickly understood the importance of an information system that will keep leaders well informed.[22] On the other hand it was easy to understand the challenges in moving from one method of doing business to one that is more technology based.[23] According to experts in the field, â€Å"In the past, companies have st ruggled to make decisions because of the lack of data. But in the current environment, more and more organisations are struggling to overcome ‘information paralysis’ – there is so much data available that it is difficult to determine what is relevant.† [24] This clearly explains the need for more intelligent data management systems even if executives are having a hard time adjusting to technological changes. Nevertheless, they have to adapt or perish. On the other hand it is imperative for senior executives to learn how to use IT without having to spend time going through the fundamentals on how to use the PC or learn the intricacies of software and hardware. The solution that was adapted by the company was to use supply chain management software. This was complemented by digital marketing schemes using Facebook, YouTube, and podcasts. They also launched the social networking website called the Artofthetrench.com.[25] This is where people come to share phot os of themselves wearing the Burberry’s trademark trench coat.[26] They also have their own YouTube channel and developed an iPhone app that allow their customers to buy online. In the short-term the company has already seen a 60% growth in e-commerce. This means that there is tremendous potential but much has to be seen in later years of the company is able to capitalise on new technology and new way of marketing their products using the World-Wide-Web. Disadvantages of Digital Marketing Tools The disadvantages of using digital marketing tools is the significant cost that are added to their system. Aside from the expense there is no way of efficiently maximising the fact that there are hundreds of thousands of unique visitors to the site. It may seem like they have created something significant but without the ability to translate these activities and the hype it generated into sales then the company is simply wasting resources for something that does not affect the bottom-l ine of the company. Conclusion The Burberry brand is an icon in the British fashion industry for more than a century. It has suffered setbacks because of mismanagement and the inability of past leaders to properly apply marketing principles. But when perceptive business leaders were hired to correct some of the glaring mistakes the company was able to reverse its fortunes. One of the best strategies used was the segmentation of the market. This was followed up by the cration of product ranges like the Burberry Prorsum, Burberry London, and the Burberry Brit. This allowed the company to offer a wider set of choices for its clientà ¨le and as a result were also able to penetrate markets that were inaccessible in the past. Recommendations The firm has to continue looking into improving the way they delineate their products to be able to take a bigger slice of the fashion industry. This means that when it comes to the Prorsum line they should create luxurious items that will give them the ability to make in roads into the market currently dominated by brands like LVMH and Gucci. At the same time they should create products that would allow them to improve their casual product lines. There is also a need to take a closer look at their digital marketing and determine if they are converting website visits into actual sales. It is simply too early to celebrate victory in terms of the way they were able to increase awareness of their products. The bottom line is still the measuring stick for success. References Botha, J., Strydom, J., Brink, A. (2007). Introduction to Marketing. Cape Town, South Africa: Juta and Co. Ltd. Carr, N. (2004). Does IT Matter?: Information Technology and the Corrosion of Competitive Advantage. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. Ennew, C. Waite, N. (2007). Financial Services Marketing: An International Guide to  Principles and Practice. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann. Gabriel, H. (2010). Come back Burberry Again and Again. Khosrowpou r, Mehdi. (1997). Managing Information Technology Resources and Applications  in the World Economy. PA: Idea Group Publishing. Leondes, C. (2005). Intelligent Knowledg-Based Systems: Business and Technology in the  New Millenium. MA: Kluwer Academic Publishers. Nemati, H., Barko, C. (2004). Organizational Data Mining. PA: Idea Group Publishing, Pathak, J. (2005). Information Technology Auditing: An Evolving Agenda. New York: Springer. Platner, M. F. and Smolar, A. (2000). Globalization, Power and Democracy. Baltimore, Maryland: The John Hopkins University Press. Pride, W., Hughes, R., Kapoor, J. (2010). Business. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning Roberts, J. T. (2000). From Modernization to Globalization. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers Ltd. Weinstein, A. (2004). Handbook of Market Segmentation: Strategic Targeting for Business.  New York: The Haworth Press. Footnotes Ennew Waite (2007), p.70. Kotler Armstrong (2010), p.129. Botha, Strydom, Brink (2007), p.185. Roberts (2000). Platner Smolar (2000). Ibid. Weinstein (2004), p.4. Ibid. Gabriel (2010), p.1. Gabriel, p.1. Gabriel, p.1. Gabriel, p.1. Gabriel, p.1. Gabriel, p.1. Gabriel, p.1. Pride, Hughes, Kapoor (2010), p. 348. Gabriel (2010), p.1. Ibid. Case study p. 3 Carr (2004). Khosrowpour (1997). Leondes (2005). Pathak (2005). Nemati Barko (2005), p.2. Gabriel (2010), p.1. Gabriel, p.1. This report on The Burberry Company Marketing was written and submitted by user Damari Herman to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Business Plan Essay - What Kind of Essay Should You Write?

Business Plan Essay - What Kind of Essay Should You Write?If you are working on your business major or you are applying to a business major program, you will want to learn about what kind of essay to write for your Business Plan Student Sample essay. Here is some advice on how to approach this.When I was in school, the Business Plan Student Essay samples required a lot of reading and research to give a good description of my personality and interests. Although it is not easy to write an essay for a sample, there are things that you can do to make it easier.One thing that you should do is to read through every part of the essay that you wrote for the business plan Student Essay sample. Try to figure out what is important to you. After all, these are samples that you will be using as a basis when it comes to writing your own essay. This will help you organize your thoughts and prevent you from having rambling sentences.Some of the writing processes that are involved with the process co llege students go through when they apply for business programs. It is a long process to find out if you are accepted. You will need to spend a lot of time filling out applications, making calls, and taking courses. Writing an essay is a part of this process.The way that you write your essay will depend a lot on the way that you see the world. You will be looking at a large variety of topics for your essay. Because there are so many things to look at, it is recommended that you take a look at other essays that have been written by students in the class. Take notes about the topics they were looking at and write about those topics.One problem that students who are workingon Business Plan programs face is that their basic writing skills are weak. It is not uncommon for students to be unable to put together a good sentence. However, they usually have poor vocabulary skills, so they might not be able to put words together in the right way. Therefore, when they write their own essays, th ey are not going to be able to come up with good sentences.Another problem that a student who is working on the Business Plan can encounter is that they lack the writing ability to be able to deliver the information in a clear and concise manner. There are people who know how to use the Internet well enough to deliver good essays. Because this is a program where you are evaluated based on the details of your personality and interests, this is not going to be something that you are able to take lightly.You should take some time to look over the requirements for the Business Plan Program Sample essay before you start to write your own. This will help you think about what you can do to make it easier for yourself. These essays can be very challenging, but you will be able to increase your chances of being accepted if you are willing to put some effort into them.

Active Directory Recovery Planning Essay Example

Active Directory Recovery Planning Essay Example Active Directory Recovery Planning Essay Active Directory Recovery Planning Essay Active Directory Recovery Planning for Small and Large Organizations By Alan Klietz Algin Technology LLC Algin Technology Copyright  © 2007 Algin Technology LLC. All Rights Reserved. Microsoft ® Windows ® and Active Directory ® are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Algin Technology LLC 3055 Old Highway 8, Suite 35 Minneapolis, MN 55418 E-mail: [emailprotected] com Telephone: +1 866 488 6657 +1 612 235 2100 Fax: +1 612 235 2108 Table of Contents Introduction Small Organizations Scenario: Grace Community Church Large Organizations Scenario: General Products Corporation OU-level and object-level recovery Branch Office Recovery Disaster Recovery Forest-wide recovery Testing Major or Irreversible Changes Staff Training Domain Consolidation and Restructuring Recovery Best Practices Backup Schedule Restore Order SYSVOL Best Practices for Restoring SYSVOL Recovery Technical Issues AD Database Size ESE page corruption SYSVOL Recovery SYSVOL Restore Types Group Policy Containers and Version Synchronization EFS Key Recovery Guidelines for EFS Key Recovery USN Rollback What is USN Rollback? How to Avoid USN Rollback How to Fix USN Rollback 10 10 11 11 11 12 12 1 1 1 3 3 3 5 5 5 6 6 6 7 7 7 7 7 8 8 8 9 9 Backup Expiration Lingering Objects What are Lingering Objects? How to Remove Lingering Objects Administrator Password Recovery 12 13 13 13 13 Active Directory Recovery Planning for Small and Large Organizations Introduction Active Directory ® (AD) is a distributed directory system developed by Microsoft ® Corporation to serve a wide variety of organizations from small offices to large multinational corporations. In addition to traditional irectory information such as phone numbers and job titles, Active Directory contains the Identification and Authentication (IA) credentials for the users of a Microsoft Windows ® network. AD determines the security boundaries (â€Å"domains†), access rights, and usage policies for your network. Because Active Directory is a central component of Windows IA, developing a recovery plan is essential for reliability and availab ility of your network. The requirements of your AD recovery plan will be influenced by several factors, including your organizational size, your security and reliability requirements, and your budget and resource availability. Small Organizations A small organization usually has a limited budget and staff. Often the most significant requirement is the need to limit Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) while serving the mission of the organization. Scenario: Grace Community Church Mary is a volunteer who runs the computer system for the church staff at Grace Community Church. Because it is a small organization with a limited budget, Mary needs to be frugal in budgeting expenses. In planning church’s Windows network, Mary decides on Microsoft Small Business Server with Active Directory as the most economical choice. Mary now needs to develop an AD maintenance and recovery plan. Mary’s AD recovery plan includes the following considerations: Running a small domain with a single server. Recovering AD if the single server fails. Minimizing capital and maintenance costs. Running a domain with a single server: Microsoft generally allows only one Small Business Server (SBS) domain controller in an Active Directory forest (Q884453). Intended for small organizations, the SBS computer is often the only domain controller for the entire organization. Recovering AD if the single server fails: With one server there are three basic methods for recovering AD: 1) Restore the entire System State and the Windows files from the system disk. 2) Move only the AD database and related data files. 3) Rebuild the AD forest. Method 1: Restore the System State and Windows disk. This method copies the entire Windows operating system and all related files from the system disk (typically C:). 1 Active Directory Recovery Planning for Small and Large Organizations The advantage of this method is that all settings and installed applications are copied with complete fidelity, and it can be accomplished without any external tools. The disadvantage is that the replacement computer must be hardware compatible. In addition, any bugs, viruses, bad drivers, or other causes of system instability will also be copied to the new computer. Microsoft does not support restoring a system state backup from one computer to a second computer of a different make, model, or hardware configuration (Q249694). Even if the source and destination computers appear to be identical makes and models, there may be driver, hardware, or firmware differences that can prevent successful transfer between the source and destination computers. Method 2: Move only the AD database. This method copies only the Active Directory database and related data files. These include NTDS. DIT, EDB*. LOG), the System Volume (SYSVOL), DNS settings, and security credential files. The advantage is that you can move AD to a computer running on different hardware. The new computer can be any make or model. And you can install AD on a â€Å"clean† computer, eliminating any instability issues. The disadvantage is that you need to re-install applications and re-apply settings. Method 3: Rebuild a new AD forest. This is the default fallback option. It requires unjoining and rejoining all member computers, creating all new user accounts, and issuing new passwords. All user desktop settings will be lost, including icons and desktop application settings. Private user files and folders, such as My Documents, saved e-mail messages, and Web Favorites will need to be manually copied on each desktop computer from the old dead accounts to the new accounts. Because of the amount of work required this should be considered the method of last resort. Minimizing capital and maintenance costs: Running AD on a single server instead of two can cut in half the initial hardware and software capital expenses as well as ongoing maintenance and Software Assurance fees. However you need to take into account the organizational cost of having your AD server down during the time it takes to replace it. A plan should take this into account and consider options to limit downtime. For example, you can select in advance a designated non-server PC that you can press into service on short notice. A single server environment can work to your advantage in controlling costs if you understand the tradeoffs when developing your AD recovery plan. 2 Active Directory Recovery Planning for Small and Large Organizations Large Organizations Large organizations have diverse and complex IT requirements. These often dictate the need for sophisticated AD recovery management techniques. Scenario: General Products Corporation General Products Corporation is a large corporation with several divisions and branch offices. It recently acquired another corporation and is in the process of consolidating domains and servers. Robert has been tasked with creation of an AD recovery and management plan for General Products. The AD forest contains several domains, some of which were independently managed prior to consolidation. Robert’s AD recovery management plan includes the following considerations: OU-level and object-level recovery Branch-office recovery Disaster recovery Testing major or irreversible changes Staff training Domain consolidation and restructuring OU-level and object-level recovery Active Directory is a distributed database system. Within a domain AD uses multi-master replication between domain controllers (DCs) such that each DC contains the same copy of the domain’s objects. Queries for objects in other domains are delegated via referral to a domain controller for the target domain. Computer and user objects in a domain can be grouped into an Organizational Units (OUs). The number and grouping of OUs usually reflects the business structure of the organization. AD allows delegation of management at the OU level. The objects in AD are managed using the Microsoft Management Console (MMC). MMC provides a tree-like structure for managing OUs, computers, and users (see figure). 3 Active Directory Recovery Planning for Small and Large Organizations OU-level or object-level recovery is needed when an administrative user inadvertently deletes or modifies an OU or an individual object. AD does not provide a way to recover from administrative errors. (In other words, there is no â€Å"undo† capability. ) Recovery of OU or individual objects is possible using an object-level database recovery utility such as NetProâ„ ¢ RestoreADminâ„ ¢. These utilities create a shadow database to track changes to AD in order to provide an â€Å"undo† capability. Object recovery is important for domains that require high availability, or that have many domain controllers hosting the domain, or that have other requirements where a domain-level restore would be inconvenient or impractical. Object recovery does not undo global or irreversible changes (page 5) or system errors (page 8). Deleted user accounts or group memberships can be restored manually using an authoritative restore with NTDSUTIL. However the procedure is complex and error prone and is not recommended. For details see the Microsoft Knowledge Base article â€Å"How to restore deleted user accounts and their group memberships in Active Directory† (Q840001). 4 Active Directory Recovery Planning for Small and Large Organizations Branch Office Recovery General Products has several branch offices, with a small number of employees at each site. As a general rule your Active Directory topology should match your organizational topology. At General Products each branch office has its own domain. Since a domain is also a security boundary, having separate domains helps to limit the propagation of a security breech in a branch office from compromising the main computer center. (OU-level delegation is mainly functional and does not provide strong protection. ) Depending on reliability and budget requirements, a branch office can be assigned one domain controller. The case of a single domain controller at a branch office can be handled similarly to the Small Organization scenario. Your plan will need to judge the tradeoff between reliability and cost. Disaster Recovery Floods, fires, and earthquakes can cause damage or loss of your entire computer center. Offsite backups are essential, and backup tapes/discs should be rotated to a secure remote location on a regular basis. The root domain of the AD forest and other important domains should have offsite replication, with remote accessibility via VPN or dedicated links. Two or more geographically separated computer centers should house DCs for important domains to provide distributed redundancy to mitigate against power failures or network disconnections. The consolidation of WAN network providers means that you need to carefully consider the physical routes of the alternate connections between your sites. Otherwise, a backhoe digging a trench in Chicago may cut all your backup connections between your west-coast and eastcoast operations. A VPN connection using the public Internet (using a high hopcount in the routing table) can take advantage of the Internet’s dynamic routing capability to temporarily replace broken dedicated links. Your recovery plan should include a contingency for moving operations to a replacement data center in case of a long-term outage. For example, you can establish a reciprocity agreement with another organization or contract with a commercial data recovery center to host your servers. Forest-wide recovery Some changes to the AD configuration are permanent and irreversible. These include adding new types of objects to the database schema or elevating the Forest Functional Level. Global changes will propagate throughout the entire forest and affect all domain controllers in your organization. Once made, these changes generally cannot be rolled back. The only supported recovery method is to restore the entire AD forest. For more information on AD forest recovery procedures see the Microsoft technical paper, â€Å"Best Practices: Active Directory Forest Recovery†, microsoft. com/downloads/details. aspx? familyid=3eda5a79-c99b-4df9823c-933feba08cfe 5 Active Directory Recovery Planning for Small and Large Organizations While forest recovery might be an option for a small site, it is clearly a disastrous situation in a large organization. Your AD recovery plan should focus on preventative steps. The best preventative method is to carefully test major or irreversible changes on an offline copy of the AD forest (see below). Testing Major or Irreversible Changes Microsoft recommends that you validate the compatibility of all security-related configuration changes in a test forest before you introduce them in a production environment (Q823659). This is especially important before making major or irreversible changes to your AD configuration, such as elevating the Domain Functional Level or the Forest Functional Level. You can use either a physical computer or a virtual machine (VM) for your testing. A VM is the recommended choice, as it is easier to â€Å"reset† and can guarantee network isolation because it does not run on real network hardware. UMove works with VMware ® and with Microsoft ® Virtual Serverâ„ ¢. VMware Server is a free product that allows you to run Windows Server as a virtual machine. It can be installed on any host computer that is already running Windows Server. vmware. com/products/server/ Offline testing is also important before attempting domain consolidation or types of major restructuring (see below). When conducting your testing it is generally not necessary to clone AD from every domain controller. Usually cloning one domain controller from each affected domain is sufficient. Exception: if you are testing changes to replication settings you should clone all of the affected DCs. ) Staff Training In addition to offline testing, offline training is important as a preventative measure to avoid administrative errors. Staff responsible for managing Active Directory should have access to an offline copy at least one domain controller for training purposes. Ideally it should be a VM with a snapshot capability for quick reset. Domain Consolidation and Restructuring Corporate mergers or reorganizations often require the consolidation or restructuring of a number of domains. Domain consolidation can be accomplished offline, with new replication and DNS settings established in a virtual environment. When tested and approved, the restructured forest can copied en masse to the live environment. 6 Active Directory Recovery Planning for Small and Large Organizations Recovery Best Practices The following guidelines are recommended when writing the recovery procedures in your AD recovery plan: Backup Schedule Establish a procedure to make periodic backups of Active Directory. For a small organization where AD is relatively static a weekly backup may be sufficient. A large organization where AD is changed frequently should be backed up daily. Backups can be incorporated into your standard backup procedure for the System State. Also be sure to back up the system disk (usually C:). This is because the System State does not include all information required to move AD to a replacement computer. For a list of all files required to move AD to a replacement or test computer see http://utools. com/help/StagingFolder. asp. UMove can be used to create a minimal-sized . BKF file so that you do not need to back up the entire C: disk daily. An object-level recovery utility should also be considered where changes are frequent or high availability is important (page 3). Establish a snapshot schedule for the shadow database, at minimum daily and more often if needed. Restore Order When restoring multiple domain controllers, Restore the forest root domain before other domains. Restore the parent domain before the child domain(s). In each domain, restore the domain controller with the PDC emulator role before non-PDCs. Restore DCs offering DNS before other DCs. SYSVOL Best Practices for Restoring SYSVOL The System Volume (SYSVOL) contains a shared copy of the domains public files. It includes the files that define the domains Group Policy settings and the domains user logon scripts. Using the File Replication Service (FRS), the files in SYSVOL are kept identical on every domain controller in the domain. When restoring SYSVOL, If the domain has only one domain controller select authoritative restore of SYSVOL. When restoring a non-PDC select non-authoritative restore of SYSVOL. 7 Active Directory Recovery Planning for Small and Large Organizations When restoring all the domain controllers, first restore the PDC and select authoritative restore of SYSVOL. For the remaining domain controllers select non-authoritative restore of SYSVOL. For more information on SYSVOL recovery see page 9. Recovery Technical Issues The following technical issues need to be considered in the operational section of your AD recovery plan. AD Database Size The file WindowsNTDSNTDS. DIT contains the bulk of the Active Directory database. The size is roughly proportional to the number of objects stored therein. It is typically 200 MB for a small organization and 1-10 gigabytes for a large organization. It rarely exceeds 10 gigabytes except when a single domain contains a very large number of users/computers (100,000 or more). If you have a very large number of users or computers, you should consider splitting up your organization into multiple domains to reduce the size of the NTDS. DIT file. This will make it easier to create daily/weekly snapshots without running out of disk space. It will also improve your security by allowing you to subdivide your organization into smaller security domains. Remember, a domain is a security boundary. ) Smaller security domains help to compartmentalize and reduce the impact of security breeches. The NTDS. DIT file can become fragmented due to many additions and deletions of objects. If the file is excessively large, you can defragment it offline (Q232122). Minimizing the size of the NTDS. DIT reduces the risk of exposure to ESE page corruption (see below) . ESE page corruption Due to the demand for disk manufacturers to produce disks at lower prices and higher data densities, hard disk drives (HDDs) are not as reliable as those manufactured several years ago. In particular, bad disk sectors are more common. Bad disk sectors can be ignored in many cases (e. g. , in media files). However, a bad disk sector in the NTDS. DIT file is catastrophic. NTDS. DIT is an Indexed Sequential Access Method (ISAM) file. The software component that accesses the file is called the Extensible Storage Engine (ESE). ESE stores ISAM data in pages. The size of each page is 4096 bytes (the same as the size of a disk block in the NTDS file system). Each page contains a checksum. The checksum is used to detect corruption of the data page, typically due to a bad physical disk block or a bad bit in a memory DIMM. When backing up Active Directory with NTBACKUP, ESE copies the data out of NTDS. DIT and feeds it to NTBACKUP. During the backup ESE recomputes the 8 Active Directory Recovery Planning for Small and Large Organizations checksum of each data page and compares it to the value stored on the disk. If the ESE checksum does not match, the entire backup is aborted. NTBACKUP will terminate prematurely and the backup will be unusable. The Event Log for Directory Services will report â€Å"a read verification error occurred† (0xC80003FA) or â€Å"a disk I/O error occurred† (0xC80003FE). The error message will include the page number of the ESE page that contained the bad checksum. There is no documented way to fix a page with a bad ESE page checksum. The only recovery option is to restore the entire Active Directory database from a clean backup. The best way to prevent ESE page corruption is to use a high reliability disk system with RAID (Reliable Array of Independent Disks) and a high-reliability memory system with ECC (Error Correction Codes) in a server-class computer system. It is important that you detect ESE page corruption early so that errors do not compromise the integrity of Active Directory. The best way to detect ESE page errors is to make daily backups of the AD database. UMove can create daily scheduled backups of the AD database. During the backup it will report ESE page corruption via e-mail notification. You can then restore a clean AD database from the previous day’s backup. Replication from other DCs will bring the restored DC up to date. Running AD on a desktop-class computer system that does not have RAID or ECC protection increases the risk of ESE page corruption. SYSVOL Recovery SYSVOL and the Active Directory database are closely coupled. They contain cross-reference links between them. When you restore the AD database you must also restore SYSVOL. The File Replication Service (FRS) replicates the contents of SYSVOL to all of the domain controllers in the domain. Its purpose is to ensure that the files in SYSVOL are always identical. SYSVOL Restore Types There are three types of methods for restoring SYSVOL: authoritative, nonauthoritative, and normal. An authoritative restore causes other domain controllers to replace their copies of SYSVOL with the copy on the restored computer. Conversely, a non-authoritative restore causes the restored computer to replace SYSVOL with a copy from an authoritative domain controller. You can select an authoritative versus non-authoritative restore of SYSVOL by checking the box in NTBACKUP, â€Å"When restoring replicated data sets, mark the restored data as the primary for all replicas. † (See figure) 9 Active Directory Recovery Planning for Small and Large Organizations Group Policy Containers and Version Synchronization The Active Directory database is tightly coupled to SYSVOL and they must be restored together as a unit. This is because the AD database contains Group Policy Container (GPC) objects, which are connected to the Group Policy files in SYSVOL. GPC objects are stored in AD under a Distinguished Name (DN). The DN is CN={GUID}, CN=Policies, CN=System, DC=your-domain, DC=com, where {GUID} is a globally-unique identifier for the Group Policy object. The GPC object contains the attribute versionNumber. It must match the Version attribute in the corresponding file at WindowsSYSVOLdomainPolicies{GUID}gpt. ini. If the version numbers go out of sync the system will refuse to apply the Group Policy objects. The result is that your policies may not be enforced (Q814609) If you do an authoritative restore of AD using NTDSTIL and include the GPC branch, you need to also restore SYSVOL authoritatively as shown above. Otherwise the version numbers may go out of sync. UMove automatically synchronizes the GPCs in AD with the GPOs in SYSVOL. EFS Key Recovery The Encrypting File System (EFS) encrypts folders and files on the NTFS file system. EFS provides for a recovery agent to protect against the accidental loss of your encrypted files. A recovery agent is a privileged user who can recover data from an encrypted file if the original user forgets his/her password (or if the original users account is deleted). 10 Active Directory Recovery Planning for Small and Large Organizations When the Administrator account logs on to the first domain controller in a domain, Windows Server will automatically generate an EFS Recovery Agent certificate and store it in Active Directory. This allows the Administrator account to recover encrypted files. However, the private key for the EFS Recovery Agent certificate is stored outside of Active Directory, in an undisclosed location. It is stored only on the first domain controller in the domain. This means the Administrator must directly log on to the first domain controller in order to recover encrypted files. (This is presumably for security reasons. ) If you shuffle domain controllers, for example by adding a second domain controller and then deleting the first domain controller, you will lose the private key for your EFS Recovery Agent certificate. You will not be able to recover any previously encrypted EFS files. Once the private key is lost it can never be recovered. Guidelines for EFS Key Recovery If your organization uses EFS, you should take into account the recovery of the EFS Recovery Agent private key in your AD recovery plan The EFS Recovery Agent private key is stored on the first domain controller promoted in the domain. If you lose the first domain controller you will lose the EFS private key. UMove will copy the Administrator EFS private key when moving AD to a new domain controller. USN Rollback What is USN Rollback? A domain controller tracks objects in AD based on their Update Serial Numbers (USN). Every object in AD has a USN. As objects are modified, the USN increases monotonically, like an odometer on a car. The latest USN on each DC is called the â€Å"high water mark†. During replication each DC compares its USN high water mark with the USN high water mark of its neighbors. USN rollback happens when an older copy of Active Directory is restored but the computer fails to notify the other domain controllers that it was rolled back to an out-of-date copy of AD (and therefore that its high water mark has rolled back). If you restore AD from a . BKF file, the restored computer recognizes that its high water mark has rolled back, so it notifies the other DCs (by changing its invocationID). The other DCs respond by â€Å"playing back† all changes made to AD since then, bringing the restored computer up to date. However, if you restore AD from the image of a dead computers disk that is outof-date (for example, if you restore an old disk image created with Norton Ghost), the computer will be unaware that it has been rolled back. If the restored disk is 11 Active Directory Recovery Planning for Small and Large Organizations lder than the most recent actual disk that successfully replicated with the other domain controllers, any more recent changes made to AD on other domain controllers will not be â€Å"played back† to the out-of-date DC. This is because the restored DC is unaware that it has been rolled back. How to Avoid USN Rollback To avoid USN rollback, use one of the following procedures: Restore AD from a . BKF file instead of a disk image. Restore AD from an image of the most recent disk that had replicated with the other domain controllers. You can create a disk image using Norton Ghost. How to Fix USN Rollback To correct USN rollback use one of the following procedures: Restore AD again, this time using a . BKF file instead of a disk image. Restore AD again, this time using the image of the most recent disk that had replicated with the other domain controllers. Last-ditch recovery method: Run DCPROMO. EXE to demote the domain controller, then re-promote it again. You may need to erase the metadata for the demoted DC before promoting it again. (See the Knowledge Base articles below. For more information about USN rollback see the Microsoft Knowledge Base articles â€Å"How to detect and recover from a USN rollback in Windows 2000 Server† and â€Å"How to detect and recover from a USN rollback in Windows Server 2003†. http://support. microsoft. com/kb/885875 http://support. microsoft. com/kb/875495 Backup Expiration When restoring a backup file, Active Directory generally requires that the backup file be no more than 60 days old. The limit is 180 days if the AD forest was originally created using Windows Server 2003. Your AD recovery plan should require that backups of AD be made at regular intervals, at least monthly (and preferably weekly or daily). In an emergency situation, UMove can restore an expired backup. However you may encounter problems due to lingering objects (see below). 12 Active Directory Recovery Planning for Small and Large Organizations Lingering Objects What are Lingering Objects? If attempt to you restore an backup that is expired, you may encounter problems due to â€Å"lingering objects†. When a DC deletes an object it replaces the object with a tombstone object. The tombstone object is a placeholder that represents the deleted object. When replication occurs, the tombstone object is transmitted to the other DCs, which causes them to delete the AD object as well. Tombstone objects are kept for 60 (or 180) days, after which they are garbagecollected and removed. If a DC is restored from a backup that contains an object deleted elsewhere, the object will re-appear on the restored DC. Because the tombstone object on the other DCs has been removed, the restored DC will not receive the tombstone object (via replication), and so it will never be notified of the deletion. The deleted object will â€Å"linger† in the restored local copy of Active Directory. How to Remove Lingering Objects Windows Server 2003 has the ability to manually remove lingering objects using the repadmin console utility from the Windows Server 2003 Support Tools, located on the Windows Server CD. Use the option /removelingeringobjects. See below for more information. For more information on lingering objects and how to remove them, see â€Å"Outdated Active Directory objects generate event ID 1988 in Windows Server 2003† and the topic â€Å"Lingering Object Removal† in the TechNet white paper How the Active Directory Replication Model Works. ttp://support. microsoft. com/kb/870695 http://technet2. microsoft. com/windowsserver/en/library/1465D773-B763-45ECB971-C23CDC27400E1033. mspx Administrator Password Recovery Good security practices dictate that you change passwords regularly, especially passwords for privileged accounts. You can use Group Policy to enf orce a password-change policy, requiring passwords to be changed at a regular interval. (When enabled the default is 42 days. ) If you restore AD from a backup made prior to the last password change, it is possible that you may no longer remember the old Domain Administrator password in the estored database. To avoid being â€Å"locked out† your AD recovery plan should arrange to record the prior passwords for the Domain Administrator account, going at least as far back as your AD backups. If you forget the old Domain Admin password UMove can overwrite it during the restore process. The account will be re-enabled if necessary. 13 Conclusion Active Directory is a critical component for implementing your organization’s computer security policy in a Microsoft Windows environment. Every organization, large and small, should have a plan in place for recovering Active Directory. Your recovery plan should consider and explore possible types of failure (hardware, administrative error, network disconnection) and analyze the necessary tradeoffs between reliability versus cost in recovering from each type of failure. Preventative steps (for example, offline testing) should be included in your plan where practical. This is especially important to avoid the need for forest-level recovery. 14

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