Operational continuity: among practical measures to reduce downtime impact in a CAD/IT environment, which pair is most directly effective?

Introduction / Context:
Downtime costs money. In engineering and design shops, practical preparedness can turn an outage into a short interruption instead of a day lost. The most effective steps are those that restore functionality quickly without waiting on vendors or logistics.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• We consider immediate, tangible mitigations rather than long-term community initiatives.
• Critical hardware failures and workstation outages are typical downtime sources.
• Rapid replacement or failover reduces mean time to repair.

Concept / Approach:
Stocking critical spares (for example, power supplies, GPUs qualified for CAD, disks/SSDs, fans) enables on-the-spot swaps. Maintaining an extra, pre-imaged workstation provides a cold standby so a user can resume work immediately while the failed unit is diagnosed. A user forum program is useful for knowledge sharing but does not directly cut outage duration the way spares and standby hardware do.

Step-by-Step Solution:

Verification / Alternative check:
ITIL-style practices emphasise spare parts and hot/cold standbys for critical roles as primary methods for reducing service interruption length.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:

Common Pitfalls:
Failing to keep spares compatible and tested; not updating the standby image, leading to delays during switchover.

Final Answer:
Both (b) and (c).