What's a disaster recovery plan?

What Is the Meaning of Disaster Recovery Plan?

• Answer:

  Businesses, governments and organizations around the world face a number of potential disasters from natural disasters such as severe weather or earthquakes to manmade disasters such as terrorism or accidents. In any event, these entities must be prepared, and the best way to be prepared is to have a good disaster recovery plan. Analyzing the Risks Disaster recovery planning begins with a thorough risk identification and analysis process. The organization takes the time to identify the various risks that threaten its operation and then assigns a likelihood of occurrence to each risk. Next the risks are prioritized and the disruptive potential to the business is measured and assigned a dollar value. his step is referred to as business impact analysis, and it is the step that helps the organization to determine where to invest money in risk strategy development. Developing Risk Strategies An organization may take one of several approaches to the various risks that it has identified in risk analysis. One approach is to accept the risk, and this is usually the approach when the likelihood of the risk materializing is low and the impact to the business is low. Another approach is to mitigate the risk by implementing procedures that protect to some degree against the impact. Taking backup tapes off-site is an example of a risk mitigation approach. A third strategy is risk elimination. This approach is typically taken when the cost to eliminate the risk is low and the impact of materialization is high. Sometimes a simple procedure change can eliminate a risk entirely at no real cost to the company. The fourth approach to risk is to share the risk, and this is typically accomplished by acquiring insurance against the risk, such as flood or fire insurance. Planning for Disaster and Recovery After the risk analysis and strategy development, true disaster recovery planning can begin. There are many standard components of a disaster recovery plan, the most typical being good data backups and off-site storage of the backup media. In addition, plans should be made for choosing an alternate location, commencing repairs to the original site, communicating with employees and news media, paying bills and employees and returning to the original site when it is ready. While this may sound simple, the complexities of any given organization can make this a very difficult and time-consuming task. A company must be committed to meeting its fiduciary responsibilities to shareholders and employees by developing a thorough disaster recovery plan. Publishing the Plan Once the plan has been developed and documented, it should be published and distributed to the appropriate people in the company. For each company this might be a different set of people. The plan should also be updated periodically and republished if necessary. As with data backup tapes, this plan should be stored off-site in hardcopy and electronic form for easy retrieval in the event of an emergency requiring its activation. Testing the Plan Testing the disaster recovery plan periodically is necessary in order to demonstrate the validity of the plan. The plan should be tested in stages, beginning with table-top exercises and proceeding to more realistic disaster scenario exercises. The goal of the test is to identify gaps, so a failure to actually recover data is not a failed test. After testing, the test results should be documented and the plan should be refined and updated. Training the Team A good disaster recovery training plan helps everyone to learn and understand what is expected of them in the event of a catastrophic event. It is essential that such information as where to report, whom to call, websites to access or any other instructions be conveyed and understood by each employee. Education of the employees of the organization is a key component of the plan and essential to the success in the event of a disaster. Summary In essence, having a well-documented and tested disaster recovery plan in place means that company has a far better chance of survival should the unthinkable happen. Identifying and evaluating the risks, determining strategies, documenting emergency plans and training the individuals who will perform the recovery are all indispensable components of a solid disaster recovery plan.