What It Takes In Disaster Recovery Planning

By Judy Sullivan


Survival and continued operations in any organization largely depends on the level to which the management is aware of potential risks facing the organization and their ability to come up with a plan that is capable of minimizing losses and returning operations to normal level within the shortest time period. Disaster recovery planning is a continuous process that aims at establishing a step by step action plan to be followed before, during and after a tragedy.

Given that the plan is developed to protect an organization from total collapse in case of any unfortunate event, whether man-made or natural, it must be tested and certified before being adopted. In most of the occasions, the outcome of the planning process in normally documented into a formal manner and all employees directed on their roles as outlined in the document. The primary objective is to be caught prepared, orderly recovery and general organization stability.

In addition to minimizing loss and ensuring quickest possible recovery in case of a disaster, this plan also ensures that standby systems are serviceable and reliable, reducing needs for decision making in chaotic situations by making sure that course of action is well understood by all those who are involved. It also reduces the insurance premium rates as insurance companies are more comfortable with comprehensive and functional disaster recovery plans (DRP).

The process of disaster recovery planning starts from the top level management. Both the board of directors and the chief executive officers must approve and be committed to the plan. A planning committee is then established with representatives drawn from all functional areas in the organization. The key figures in this committee are the data processing manager and the operations manager.

A typical DRP involves several stages. It starts from understanding of the interconnections of all organization resources and activities followed by assessment of its vulnerability areas. After getting the insight on how organization can get affected in case of a disaster, a short term plan is developed. This will assist in developing a longer term recovery plan, prioritizing all areas of vulnerability. The planning is continuously tested and updated to respond to changing needs of the business.

The DRP has become a necessity in all industries and is a requirement by law in some firms due to several reasons. Many firms primarily depend on computer networks and electronic systems which are prone to failure. In addition to this, dealing with accidents in a proper manner reduces insurance claims. For this reason, insurance firms normally charger lower premiums for firms with better DRP.

The strategies are then documented in a formal plan with specific steps that can be followed in the unlikely event. It also specifies the backup systems to be put in place and how to regularly maintain them to ensure they are always functional and responsive. The plan is then put to a thorough test involving checklist tests, simulation tests, parallel test and a full interruption test before final approval and implementation.

A disaster recovery planning goes beyond off-site storage or even backup processing. Well documented and very comprehensive DRP should able to address all critical aspects must be developed. This, just like liability insurance will provide some level of comfort and reduce the level of financial loss. Other than this, the probability of occurrence of adversity is also minimized.




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