Disaster Recovery Plan 101
By Patrick Ramsay
A disaster recovery plan (DRP) is used to describe how an organization plans to deal with potential disasters. While it may seem straightforward, many factors must be accounted for. Disaster recovery planning utilizes an analysis of the whole business to gain an understanding of essential operations that must continue. DRPs consist of three basic parts: preventive measures, detective measures, and corrective measures. Preventive measures will try to keep a disaster from occurring. Detective measures are taken to discover the presence of any unwanted events. Lastly, corrective measures attempt to restore a system after a disaster takes place.
What factors determine your DRP?
The right plan will vary from one business to another based upon many different factors. Factors such as the type of business, the processes involved, and the level of security needed will help determine your unique DRP for your business. DRPs can be utilized for natural disasters and man-made disasters.
Why have a DRP? Some of the benefits of a DRP are:
Providing a sense of security
Minimizing risk of delays
Guaranteeing the reliability of standby systems
Providing a standard for testing the plan
Minimizing decision-making during a disaster
Reducing potential legal liabilities
Lowering unnecessarily stressful work environment
One major component of a DRP is the call tree. A call tree is a telecommunications chain for notifying specific individuals of an event. These are especially helpful if an organization must reach key personnel after regular business hours and notify them of a problem. In order for a call tree to be successful, employee contact information must be kept up-to-date and employees should provide multiple ways they can be reached. In small or midsize businesses, call trees are typically carried out manually. In these cases, each person on the call tree contacts the next person on the list and that person contacts the next person until everyone on the call tree has been reached. The last person on the call tree calls the first person and the loop is complete. Once everyone is informed of a disaster, people can start fulfilling their specific duties within the DRP.
Most businesses are ill-prepared to handle disasters. Only about 50 percent of companies even report having a DRP, and of those companies that have a DRP, many have never tested their plans. Don’t let your business get caught in the dark in the face of a disaster. Develop a proper disaster recovery plan!