Disaster Recovery Plan

Business vulnerabilities are constantly increasing. Every organization should feel compelled to make an appropriate Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP) to keep its network secure and stable. Companies find it an absolute necessity to develop disaster recovery policies and procedures in response to the various circumstances, problems and their consequences. Any organization that prepares itself for Disaster Recovery should keep in mind these three main points.  Prevention, Anticipation, and of course, Mitigation. Prevention is the act of avoiding those disasters that can be prevented. Anticipation is to plan and develop adequate measures to counter unavoidable disasters. Mitigation is to effectively manage the disasters, and thereby minimize the negative impact.
With that in mind, developing a good IT disaster recovery plan will enable your organization to minimize potential economic loss and disruption to operations in the face of a disaster. In addition,  it will aid in recovery, ensuring that the assets of the organization are secure, and pave way for business continuity in the most resourceful manner.

Developing The Plan

1. Constitute a Disaster Recovery Team

Organizations should form a DR team that will assist in the entire disaster recovery operations. The team should be composed of core members from all departments with a representative from upper management. Furthermore, the team will also be responsible for overseeing the development and implementation of the DR plan.

2. Perform Risk Assessment

A risk analysis and business impact analysis should be conducted. This includes possible disasters, both natural and man made. By conducting an analysis of the impact and aftermath in disaster scenarios, the security of crucial resources can be determined.

3. Prioritize Processes and Operations

The organization’s critical requirements for each department must be determined with respect to data, documentation, services, processes, operations, vital resources, policies and procedures. They should all be categorized and ordered based on priority as Essential, Important, and Non-essential.

4. Data Collection

Complete data about the organization must be gathered and documented.
It should include:

  • Inventory of Forms
  • Policies
  • Equipment
  • Communications
  • Important Telephone Numbers
  • Contact Details
  • Customer Details
  • Equipment
  • Systems
  • Applications and resources description
  • Onsite and Offsite Location
  • Details of Backup Storage Facility
  • Retention Schedules
  • Other Material and Documentation.

5. Creating the Disaster Recovery Plan

The Disaster Recovery Plan should be created in a standard format that would enable detailing of procedures and including essential information. All important procedures should be completely outlined and explained in the plan. Plans should have step-by-step details of what is to be done when disaster strikes. Moreover, It should also outline procedures for maintaining and updating of the plan, with regular review by the Disaster Recovery team and top personnel of the organization.

6. Testing The Plan

Finally, the developed Disaster Recovery Plan should be tested for efficiency. Testing provides a platform where an analysis can be made as to what changes are required, consequently allowing you to make appropriate adjustments to the plan. The plan can be tested using different types of tests such as Checklist tests, Simulation tests, Parallel tests, Full interruption tests, etc.

Preparation Is Key

Utilize Our 3-Step Process
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  • Plan

  • Prepare

  • Protect

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