Disaster Recovery Planning

The Disaster Recovery Plan is the most important item in your armoury. It is what you will turn to if there is indeed a disaster or other serious incident. Hopefully, you will never have to use it, but if you do, it can be the difference between the loss of your organization and its survival. It is therefore absolutely critical that it is workable - that it is of sufficient quality to guide you through the crisis. Shortcuts here are sheer folly.

We sometimes encounter organizations who already have a plan, BUT have little idea how it was generated. Further, the plan itself is sometimes too complicated to understand. Imagine how much harder it might be to grasp these requirements in the midst of disaster!

If a disaster recovery plan does not already exist, it will be necessary to initiate the preparation of the first version of such a plan. In order to initiate a planning project for the first time, the Board and/or top level management would normally receive a proposal. Projects as important as DRP development should be approved at the highest level to ensure that the required level of commitment, resources and management attention are applied to the process.

The proposal should present the reasons for undertaking the project, and could include some or all of the following:

Increased dependency by the business over recent years on computerised production and sales delivery mechanisms, thereby creating increased risk of loss of normal services
Increased dependency by the business over recent years on computerised information systems
Increased recognition of the impact that a serious incident could have on the business
Need to establish a formal process to be followed when a disaster occurs
An intention to lower costs or losses arising from serious incidents
Increased likelihood of inadequate IT and information security safeguards
Need to develop effective back up and recovery strategies to mitigate the impact of disruptive events
Avoidance of business failure from disruptive incidents.